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Written by Dennis Hull
Bite Me Guide Service
There are only a few basic sturgeon rigs and tons of small alterations to the basics click on the below links to see the basic sturgeon fishing rigs. There are several misconceptions out there about rigging up for sturgeon fishing. Lets start with leader length; Most old time sturgeon fisherman will tell you that you want your leader as short as possible so that your bait is tight to the bottom and to this I say NOT TRUE. I have found that by using a longer leader from 3 feet to as much as 5 feet that I hook just as many fish with less fish lost due to them cutting my main line. If you want to use rope for your main line ie 80lb test or bigger then I guess shorter is ok. Oh and if you are going to use the rope and short leaders you better start lifting weight so that your arms will be able to handle the big gear and heavy leads that you will need to hold that rope down on the bottom. I use mostly 50 lb test super braid mainline and sometime as small as 30 lb test and by using the longer leaders I am able to get away with much smaller leads and lighter gear. The only thing to remember is that when you are in heavy current to rig your baits so they don't twirl like a propeller and that they lay out as straight as possible, this is not an issue unless you are in heavy current. To help in keeping the twirling to a minimum always cut the tails and fins off of the bait. Dealing with bait thieves: Bullheads, Squawfish, Crabs can eat a surprising amount of bait in a very short period of time. When I cant seem to move enough to get out of the bait thieves I use maline cloth and wrap my baits in it and tie them up with stretchy thread the sturgeon don't care and the pests cant get it off of the hook. As of late experienced sturgeon anglers have found that in the coastal estuaries that if you use 60 lb monofilament leader and turn you bait around with the head facing upstream and put a winged drift bobber and a couple of beads on it that on allot of days this vibrating slightly suspended bait will kick some butt on the conventional method. Enough rambling click on the links on the top right side of the page to see some illustrations of popular sturgeon rigs.
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