Sturgeon in the Backwaters?

Over the years fishing the backwaters of the Mississippi River I find the fish go in cycles. Some years I catch a ton of bass, other years more northern, crappies come and go, but the sunnies and blue gills never fail. Now I know time of year plays into that, and obviously location, and what I am using for bait. one method I’ve always had success on is probably the most basic in the fishing world, the classic hook and nightcrawler combo. You really can't go wrong with that combo in the Backwaters in my opinion, you catch a little bit of everything, even a surprise walleye or two. Now if you're a true backwater fisherman you know your going be fishing anywhere from 1-10 ft (10 being deep) of water pending on the backwater pool your on. I rarely find the big drop offs in the backwaters like you would on the main channel. Well one day I saw what I thought was a sturgeon surfacing in the middle of a back water pool near Winona Minnesota. It was no more than 7 feet with very little current in that stretch of river. So I got curious and decided to move away from the weeds and sit out in the middle of the pool. So I switched to a slip weight in place of my slip bobber, and let it sit on the bottom. I was reading 6ft where I was sitting and no kidding with in 20 minutes I hooked into something big. From having some experience fishing sturgeon on the rainy river, I knew exactly what I hooked into. A sturgeon bite can be easily mistaken, but when you feel dead weight at the end of your rod you know it game on. If you don't know what a sturgeon bit looks like, it honestly looks like an aggressive pan fish nibble, a very slight twitch on the end of your rod. I couldn’t believe I hooked into this prehistoric Dino, a fish I personally have never heard about being caught in a backwater pool, should maybe ask more? hmm. It could be more common than I think it is, but catching a sturgeon in the backwaters just wasn’t what I was expecting. Now, I have heard the sturgeon population the river has been thriving, and hear about them being caught more and more each year on the main channel, so maybe it’s a sign of things to come. I’m starting to think maybe I don’t have to drive 7 hours to catch them in numbers like I do on the rainy river. Well thats my sturgeon story, what’s your?

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