Part 2 of Sturgeon fishing from a boat setup

In my last post, I talked about a basic rod, reel and line setup for sturgeon fishing from a boat and today we are going to get into the terminal tackle end of things.

Terminal Tackle is all the other stuff at the end of your pole, once you have the sturgeon rod, reel and line. Swivels, sliders, weights, leaders, hooks, lures, floats, etc. are considered terminal tackle.

Again, this is about setting up your Sturgeon rod for fishing from a boat. Fishing for sturgeon from shore will be different and will have variations.

This is not meant to be the 1 answer covers all for setting up for sturgeon fishing from a boat. This is my method, but has produced good, reliable results over the years.

Here is a list of what you will need (what I use), but I will go into more detail on the use of each item as needed.

• Sinker Slider
• Plastic Bead
• 130lb Dacron Leader
• Lock Snap
• Barrel Swivel
• Hook
• Pool Noodle (Optional)

Let’s break this down into 2 parts. Part 1 we will setup the rod and part 2, we will setup the leader. Part 2 will come in the next issue, so keep an eye out.

Ok, let’s get your rod ready for sturgeon fishing from that boat!

Rod setup

In this section, you will need the following:

• Sinker Slider (size 5)
• Plastic Bead (8mm)
• Barrel Swivel (1/0)

The first thing I do, is break off the T off the sinker slider. It is designed to wrap the line around the T, but I don’t use that functionality and don’t want my line getting caught on it and stop my slider from sliding.

Slide the sinker slider on your main line with the swivel end towards your rod.

Slide the plastic bead on your main line.

Now tie on your barrel swivel using your favorite knot. I use an improved clinch knot for every knot that I tie, regardless of situation. That is the knot that my dad taught me as a kid, many, many years ago and since it works for me, no sense in changing now.

Some say I’m crazy using that knot for tying braid, but it hasn’t failed me, so I’m sticking with it.

Here’s a good link on knots, Animated Knots By Grog

Some folks tie the snap hook at the end of their line, instead of the barrel swivel and that is definitely an option, but as you will see in the leader setup in the next section that is where I put the snap hooks. I don’t think that one is more effective than the other, that’s just the way I do it.

Stay tuned for the next part, Leader Setup.