Sterlet

Quick facts

How to identify it

Unmistakable as a sturgeon: a scaleless, elongated body armoured with five rows of bony scutes, a long, narrow, upturned snout and a ventral, protrusible mouth used to suck food from the bottom. The sterlet is told from other sturgeons by its fringed barbels — the four barbels in front of the mouth carry small side fringes — by its lower lip split in the middle, and by its high count of lateral scutes, usually 56–71, which are pale and closely set. The back is grey-brown to almost black, the belly whitish. Young Russian sturgeon have a shorter, blunter snout and smooth barbels, and hybrids stocked in put-and-take ponds are often heavier-bodied.

Where it lives

The sterlet is a fish of large, fast, well-oxygenated lowland rivers: the Danube and its big tributaries, the Volga and Dnieper systems, and in the west the upper Danube and a few reintroduction rivers. It lives in the main channel over gravel and sand, holding in deep troughs, on the downstream side of gravel bars and in the strong flow below dams and confluences, where it feeds on the bottom in current. Unlike its relatives it never migrates to the sea. In winter sterlet gather in deep, quiet holes and stop feeding; in summer they spread out along the main current. Reservoirs on big rivers hold them too, and pellet-fed sterlet are stocked in many commercial ponds, where their behaviour is very different.

Season and behaviour

Sterlet spawn in April to June on gravel in strong current, when water reaches 12–17 °C, migrating upstream within the river to do so; most countries protect them with a spring closed season, and several protect them completely. They feed from late spring through autumn, mostly at dusk and by night, on insect larvae, small crustaceans, molluscs and worms picked from gravel and sand, and rising, slightly coloured water after summer rain brings them onto the feed. Warm summer nights are prime time on the Danube. From late autumn they retreat to deep winter holes and become almost dormant. They are shoal fish, so one catch usually means more nearby, and they rarely fight hard, tending to spin and roll on the line.

Fishing methods

Where sterlet may be fished, the method is simple bottom fishing in current: a running ledger with a flat or gripper lead heavy enough to hold on gravel, a 40–80 cm hooklink of 0.20–0.25 mm and a small, strong hook — sizes 6–10 — with a bunch of worms. Cast to the edge of the main flow at the tail of a gravel bar or the head of a deep trough and fish overnight; the take is a series of small pulls rather than a wrench, so use a sensitive quivertip or a bite alarm on a light setting. Light feeder tactics with a groundbait rich in chopped worm and bloodworm work on slower reaches and in reservoirs. Use barbless hooks, unhook the fish in the water or on a wet mat, never lift it by the gill or snout, and return it quickly.

Baits and lures

Sterlet feed by touch and smell along the bottom, so soft, scented natural baits win. A bunch of dendrobaena or small lobworms is the classic, followed by red worms, maggots, bloodworm bundles, small mussels and freshwater shrimp; a piece of worm tipped with maggots keeps the hook bait moving in the current. In stocked ponds the fish are used to sinking pellets, and halibut pellets, soft hookable pellets or a pellet-and-worm combination outfish everything else. Keep baits small — the mouth is a narrow suction tube — and keep groundbait fine and dark so it does not bring in bream and carp.

Tips from the bank

1. 01Fish the seam where fast water meets a deep trough, downstream of gravel bars and below weirs and confluences.
2. 02Use just enough lead to hold bottom; sterlet pick up baits gently and drop anything that feels heavy.
3. 03Set bite alarms or quivertips to their most sensitive setting — a sterlet bite is a series of small nods, not a run.
4. 04Fish at dusk and through the night on warm summer evenings, especially after a small rise in the river.
5. 05Use barbless or micro-barbed hooks and unhook the fish in the water or on a wet mat; the scutes cut and the fish bruises easily.
6. 06Never lift a sterlet by the snout or gill cover — support it under the belly with wet hands.
7. 07Where retention is banned or the species is protected, release it immediately and note the catch for the water's records.

Where to catch Sterlet

Waters where Shoalmap's fishing reports list Sterlet.

• Matyér–Subasai-főcsatorna
• Kaspiй teңіzі - Hazar deňzi - دریای خزر - Xəzər dənizi - Kaspiйskoe more - دریای مازندران

Related species

• Barbel
  Barbus barbus

  The bronze powerhouse of fast, gravel-bottomed rivers.

• Wels catfish
  Silurus glanis

  Europe's biggest freshwater fish — a night-feeding giant of deep, slow rivers.

• Burbot
  Lota lota

  The only freshwater cod — a cold-water night hunter that bites best in winter.

• Nase
  Chondrostoma nasus

  The stone-grazing shoal fish of clean, fast-flowing rivers.

Frequently asked questions