If at first you don't succeed ... Round Whitefish Expedition

Another day on a Lake Superior tributary finally paid off.  This fish fell for a piece of nightcrawler fished on the bottom. 

 

Comments

Jknuth's picture

Well done sir!

Mike B's picture

Sweet!

mike b

fishingwithpole's picture

Congrats, Corey and Tony! I will follow you guys this summber in New Brunswick... hopefully.

 

FWP

Hengelaar's picture

That's awesome!

Many congrats.

Fishn sure is neat

Gunnar's picture

Cool!

 

Redhorse ID cheatsheets, gars, suckers: moxostoma.com


2020: 10 days fishing 11 species 0 lifers. 2019: 34/45/13 2018: 39/40/5

TonyS's picture

The only decent shot I got of the fish:

The reason these buggers are hard to hook (out the eight I/we have encountered only 2 were hooked "well" - I managed to lose another one yesterday as well):

No Pout last night but I think the tides kept them (and most of the smelt) somewhere that I was not fishing.  Lost a Sturgie about 45" - of course it took the bait I had out for Pout - on the medium power baitcaster and 15lb test...

 

While the Smelt weren't in my spot heavy the smelters did get enough that they gave me gallon of 'em which should last we quite a while.  Only took drinking beer and freezing for 3 hours or so (the wind switched to off the lake and temps dropped from 75* F to 40-ish* F in about an hour.)

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TonyS's picture

Nope.  Most our waters are only open for Lake Sturgeon in the Fall.  The Rainy River (MN) has an almost year-round season but there is a couple week closure around spawning time (though people can target them pre-spawn).  Lake Superior (WI) has a totally year-round season but. all the spawning rivers are closed to Sturgeon fishing

Tyler W's picture

Excellent work guys. I can see why the rounds are so hard to hook. That mouth is tiny and bony. What size hook are they hitting on?

 

 

TonyS's picture

I don't know what size hook Corey got his on but it was tiny.  I got mine on size 6-8 demon circles which run a bit smaller than most brands but that is still a bit too large to be practical in my opinion.  I'd say size 10-12 circles are good option for C&R - for more sure fire hooking but more likely gut-hooks I'd lean towards a 12-14 scud or egg hook and wait until your sure they have it.   Smaller yet hooks would likely work but might not have the gape to get a good hook-up if it is still in the mouth.

Corey's picture

I used a #14 Mustad salmon-egg hook.  But I lost a lot of these fish which shook the hook during the fight.  It finally worked for me, but I think it is a bit too small.  Hook choice is unusually important for this species, I think.  It takes a pretty small hook to even have a chance at these fish, but the very small hooks tear out with maddening frequency because the round whitefish is a fast, hyperactive fish that fight hard and thrash a lot.  I'm not sure which hook would be best, but it needs to be small enough to fit in their mouths but big enough to grab and hold during a fight.  I'm sure there's a better hook for this than what I was using.  I was thinking a heavy-gauge scud hook in #10 might work.  I think circles might be the best choice because they would grab onto the lip cartilage, but I didn't have any small circles along (used them all in Florida).

TonyS's picture

circles seemed to hold well but the ones I used most of the time were probably too big.  I'd agree though #10-12 circle or scud.  That egg hook you had looked even smaller than #14 but hooks vary so much by style. 

 

A net is highly recommended too.  reduces your odds of losing one right at the bank - they are tough to grab...

AvidFly's picture

Congrats Corey!!

Moose439's picture

Hell yeah man, good to see you out on the prowl snatching up lifers. You have had an awesome couple weeks man.