Sturgeon Baits

With my new found interest in Sturgeon fishing, I need to know what type of baits to keep an eye out for.  What brands and what kinds.  Are they cured, brined, fresh?  How do you store it?  Any info would be great.

Thanks in advance everybody.

Nothing works all the time so I like to try different things.  The small fish are faster so stinky baits tend to catch more of them.  Start fresh and local if you want to target bigger fish.    If its a slow day, go stinky - the old standby sandshrimp and worm combo will get bit for sure but it may not always be a dino picking at it.

I don't really have the option of "fresh" over here.

Deepcolor is the man when it comes to sturgeon so if I say anything that he contradicts I would recommend listening to him. He has given me a lot of really good insight into sturgeon fishing.

First, I think that fresh means NOT pickled/brined/preserved. Thus frozen baits count as fresh.

Personally, I have used sandshrimp+worm combo to good effect, but I would say that I was catching smaller fish. My thinking is that big fish are motivated when they smell something that is potentially a good sized meal for them. I doubt that a 5' sturgeon is going to hunt very hard for a nightcrawler, although I would imagine that it would eat it if it stumbled upon it. A smaller fish smells a nightcrawler and knows it to be the smell of something worth searching out. Thus, I think that bigger fish will be attracted to fish or squid smells since they are potentially a good sized meal for them. I caught 10 on anchovies on Saturday and deepcolor was slaying them with squid.  I further believe that most sturgeon spend some time in the ocean or near it and thus learn what squid are.

I also think that it makes sense that the smell of the bait creates a trail in the water and the stronger the scent the longer the trail. If the bite is slow you want to increase your attraction zone by using more scent. Since I believe that most of the time smaller fish will move further to feed than larger fish a smellier bait will invite more small fish - although I do not think it discourages large fish. Also, I think that this is why it is important to keep putting your bait into the same place. There are likely fish you have not yet caught that were also following the scent trail from your previous casts and are now in the area.

I am really hoping for someone with a gopro to do some underwater filming of sturgeon fishing. I think it would be pretty mind-blowing to watch what goes on near different baits and scents.

All good points pdxf.  On a slow sturgeon day, I saw another angler catch a pikeminnow on his sturgeon rig.  He cut it up for bait and sent it right back down.  It only took a few minutes for him to catch a dino when nothing else was working.  I've seen salmon bellies work well too.  I think they eat what is there.  Trying to figure it out is the fun part. 

And yes...frozen and naked is almost as good as fresh.  I always start with naked squid and move to pickled only if its really slow.

I've never seen any squid or fresh herring over here.  Is there an online resource for ordering or maybe special ordering from the grocery store?

I do have access to great Xxxxxx fishing over here. DC, were you just using plain xxxxxx fillets or did you do something to them?  It would be worth it for me to take a day and go catch 50 or more over here

Thanks guys!  I'm already trying to find an excuse to go below McNary

I don't do anything to them.  But they weren't really working that day either.  The anchovies were.  And squid.  It changes.  Bring a few things with you each time you go.

I have read about a lot of folks use the grocery stores for bait here in Oregon. I think that I read on ifish that safeway was a good place to get cheap squid. When I lived in Pittsburgh my favorite channel cat bait was the smelt I would but at the local grocery store, Giant Eagle for any other Pittsburghers out there .

Salad shrimp
Prawns
Calamari
Tuna Balls
Bacon (yes, bacon)
Hotdogs

They'll all catch sturgeon on a given day and they're all available at your local grocery store.

-Spot-

Fresh bait, then frozen, I never use pickled but often use brined baits.  Squid at the asian markets, 3lb boxes for less than $5 (always have some in the freezer).  Sand shrimp and Night crawlers,  smelt used to be king but they  are almost gone and the canadian ones don't work as well.  Herring and anchovies are ok.  Fresh Crawfish fished whole but slightly crushed can be awesome as can other "Fishes" planter rainbows, tilapia among others etc.  Fresh clams work great too.  Lamprey were great but now illegal as bait, floater salmon can rock but oh god the smell.  I use last seasons cured chinook eggs with great success when retention opens   Day in day out squid is where its at, cheap, tough and they like it

Fish size can often times have more to do with where you are fishing in the "hole" than what you are using.

Spot I can't believe that you did not warn folks that if they use a bacon wrapped hot dog for bait make sure that they do not fish alone. It is really hard to get even a barbless hook out of your own mouth

On a serious note, do folks always use a whole squid? On the East coast squid strips are a popular bait. It seems that at least slicing a squid up a bit would help tie it to the hook and make it ooze out a bit more scent.

I also agree with Pelagic that you if you are fishing over small fish or over a high density of small fish then you will catch a lot of small fish. Some advice I read says move if you are catching a lot of small fish, other folks say the opposite (wait and you will eventually catch a big fish). I can not find any scientific information on sturgeon schooling habits. This is another reason we need some gopro visual data

Squid, Shrimp, Sand Shrimp, Smelt, Shad, Herring, Anchovies

I can't say I have caught any more sturgeon on one bait over the other above mentioned baits, but for each one there is a different technique that has increased my hook-up rate.

The use of brined bait for Sturgeon for me has had more to do with how firm it will stay so they aren't mushy- especially if it has been frozen. Brined baits tend to stay on the hook without getting flung off or picked off by the Sturgeons soft mouth. Especially it seems, if you are casting and/or are in faster moving current. THIS had been my biggest issue:  keeping your bait on your hook! You can spend a lot of time watching the tip of your pole that has a bare hook! There is the "half-hitch" method of holding your bait when using fish but what I have been using for shrimp, squid, and sandshrimp that I HIGHLY recommend is the stretchy elastic thread wrapped around your baited hook. Now I don't go through a fraction of the bait as I used to!

You can buy spools of elastic thread in the fishing isle at Bi-Mart but you can find it almost any crafting/fabric department for less. Any way you buy it, it is cheaper than paying for more bait, and your hook-ups WILL improve!

Erik

Hey browneysvictim, I am a big fan of the stretchy thread as well. Even sandshrimp and anchovies stay on the hook quite well when wrapped thoroughly. I have not tried the half hitch thing, but I keep it in my mind in case I run out of stretchy thread.

Half hitches are great for longer baits, think herring, squid, etc, as they keep the bait straight and less likely to spin (which becomes more of a problem when the flows increase) and cause tangles.

Half hitches are great for longer baits, think herring, squid, etc, as they keep the bait straight and less likely to spin (which becomes more of a problem when the flows increase) and cause tangles.

Is there any advantages to the half hitches versus just wrapping the stretchy thread right on up the leader so that the bait lays flat? They both seem to achieve the same ends through slightly different mean. I have been using the stretchy thread approach and it seems to work well (bait is still straight when I reel it up). However, an anchovy is the biggest bait I have used. Does the stretchy thread approach start to fail for longer, bulkier baits or is it a matter of not wanting to use a ton of stretchy thread on longer baits? Any input would be appreciated!