Sturgeon presentation

I use up to 1lb weights on the Sac when fishing from shore when the river is ripping. Usually 12oz is my go to to from shore. Flat round weights. Ghost shrimp and eel have been my go to baits up there.

I asked this question in another thread and got zero responses so I'll try here,

Especially upstream of the bay system, crawdads would seem like a good bait, natural and pretty tough for staying on a hook,  Anybody ever used them specifically for sturgeon?

I catch a decent amount of sturgeon and the bait changes depending where you fish.  In the bay, ghost shrimp is king.  In the delta from Martinez to Pittsburg I always go wtih grass shrimp if they got em, eel or roe if not.  Napa River I go with pile worms or frozen shad, if the diaper stripers leave the bait alone long enough you'll get a sturgeon hit.  I think what's most important though is learning to read a bite and knowing when to set the hook.  Different areas also have hot depths where sturgeon hang out at, this just comes time time and experience but flat muddy areas deeper than 10 feet near a drop off is a good bet.  There's more to it but like I said it's all just experience.  Once you start catching them you'll realize they aren't as rare as you thought they were.  Good luck and enjoy your time out.