Sturgeon bait

[bweb]

Okay, so I've always used smelt and "ultra clam" scent fishing for sturgeon and have done okay catching shakers, but I'm looking to not spend $6 on bait since I'm taking a friend out fishing Saturday during free fishing weekend. Anyone know of alternative bait I might be able to find around my kitchen? I've heard of someone using pizza, but I'm not sure if they were joking or not.

 

[BlackTalon]

Sturgeon bait?

Sturgeon bait?

Where will you be fishing at? I do well with squid most of the time. Some use nightcrawlers, herring, etc. Do you have any of that around already? I also saw some salmon "scraps" at my local grocer for like 81 cents a package. I was thinking about that but not sure about legality, haven't looked it up yet.

Evan

 

[Drew9870]

Soak your lawn really good and get some nightcrawlers, I have read on here that a big glob of worms is one of the best sturgeon bait (squid being the best from what I've heard). It is one alternative to buying bait, but you will probably get a lot of bait stolen off your hook by just about everything else.

Another good alternative would be to go catch a bunch of squawfish (or whatever you prefer) and use the fillets (don't damage your favorite filleting knife on the bones )

 

[Anyfishisfine]

The shad are running. You could get a cooler full of bait right now for the cost of gas.

 

[youngbuck307]

yea u would go worms and shad are the only two free things i can think of. O and guys i love to use worms but like drew said a lot of other fish will try to take your bait unless your in a 100 ft hole not to many other fish i know of that like 100ft of water!!! And just a lil thing on the worms beside other fish taking your bait you get a lot of shakers... and they seem to work really really good after a good rain!! just my 2 cents

 

[The Nothing]

Sturgeon are, for all purposes of this thread, like giant catfish. If it is on the bottom of the river and it smells good, they'll eat it.

Now that I have a job again, I'm going to see if I can't pick up some scrap pieces of halibut, salmon, rockfish, cod, sablefish, sole, etc and see how they produce...

But if you've seen some of the stuff sturgeon have tried to eat, you'll see anything can work - like leftover gummy worms (seriously!)

 

[bweb]

Thanks for the advice. You guys gave me some good ideas. I'll be fishing the lower Willamette around the Mary S Young State Park.

 

[Fish Fight]

Smelt
herring
anchovies
Sandshrimp
squid
rollmop (pickle herring)
night crawlers

Shad are for oversize sturgeon. I have not caught any shakers or keepers on shad strips.

I have some tuna bellies that I've been wanting to try but just haven't had the time to get after them.

I have caught them with the gut sack from a gaper clam

scent
sturgeon frenzy
sandshrimp
anise
wd-40
boat wash blue

soak leader in real vanilla extract, not imitation

 

[youngbuck307]

well than im kinda glad i missed the hook set when i was out last week.. i was using a chuck of shad but the thing is i have way to small of a rod to fight a oversize fish on

 

[FishKiller23]

Ive caught Sturgeon on just about all baits. It just depends. There has been times where I was using smelt and killing them then the bite stop and I switched to shrimp and the bite was back on.

Right now I am kinda in the same boat... I am on a tight budget so I try not to buy expensive jars of bait. I have a freezer full of smelt and shad. I'll take shad cut into thin strips or chunks then soak them in salt and vinegar for awhile to firm it up then i'll take left over pickle juice and soak in that for a few days. Ive done very wells with this.

 

[Troutier Bassier]

Shad!

 

[plunkme]

ive seen a dead rat in the stomach of a sturgeon before but shad is good we were feeding the monster sturgeon at bonneville last weekend man they suck up even the 3lber shad

 

[Troutier Bassier]

You were feeding them??? I wanted to do that. too bad i lost 3 there and dident catch any.

 

[youngbuck307]

Shad are for oversize sturgeon. I have not caught any shakers or keepers on shad strips.

Got 2 shakers to the bank today on shad no keeper..........

 

[plunkme]

dont use whole shad just cut them in pieces and tie them to the hook with elastic string and then prepare yourself for anything

 

[FishSchooler]

Dont use WD 40, It kills our environment.

 

[Troutier Bassier]

and it dosent always work, especially for sturgeons. Only salmon steelhead and of course %$#@#@%#$@ Stocker trout

 

[frodog]

Pickeled hearing, smelt and shrimp all worked for me yesterday. I heard an oldtimer sugesting the use of liver or gizzards.

 

[catch me kate]

catch?

catch?

Hey how was your weekend? Any good results?

 

[bweb]

Well, I ended up digging quite a few worms because they were free and did okay. I fished along Mary S Young Park and we got 4 shakers in 2 hours. Not horrible, but not great either. I think I'd use the worms again since they were cheap. Thanks for all of your advise. I think I might try chicken livers sometime. They smell and can wrap around a hook.

Brad