08-26-2017, 12:40 AM
Have you ever had a fishing trip where the sun, the moon, and the stars all lined up? I just had one. Had I not experienced this trip I would not have believed it myself.
Let me quickly set the stage. I made my first trip fishing for sturgeon in July 2003 and we got skunked: [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=55932;search_string=sturgeon;#55932"]http://www.bigfishtackle.com/...ring=sturgeon;#55932[/url] . Since that first trip, I have averaged at least two trips a year up there. During all of those trips, the largest sturgeon caught from my boats (I have had three of them) was 8 feet even. That feat has happened three or four times. The largest sturgeon I had personally caught was 7’ 10” and I had equaled that feat at least 5 or 6 times. I have had as my personal goal, for many years, to catch an 8 foot sturgeon. During those years the largest sturgeon I had heard of being caught was a 9 footer.
Don and his son Craig (both sturgeon virgins) were to my house just before 4:00 A.M. on Tuesday morning. We loaded up quickly and made the long drive. We made great time and were fishing by 9:30 A.M. We tried a couple spots with no bites. I suggested we try our luck fishing for crappie for a few minutes. I wanted us to at least catch something and wanted to have a few crappies to try for bait. Over the years, I have tried crappie for bait many times and had caught only a handful of sturgeon on it, but some of the Idahoan hard-core sturgeon anglers use nothing else for bait. We tried for about 20 minutes to catch a crappie in the often great crappie hole with not even a nibble from anything. There was a tree that had recently fallen into the water so I eased over near it to see if anything was hiding near the branches that were hanging in the water. That was where they were hiding and Don and Craig caught several and I finally got one to hang on long enough for me to land it. We kept 8 or so of them for bait and headed to one of my popular sturgeon holes.
I suggested that we put a chunk of crappie on one rod and pickled herring on the other rod. It didn’t take long before I hooked a sturgeon (on crappie) (We ended up catching most of our sturgeon on crappie.) and handed the rod to Craig to reel it in. Craig reeled it in tentatively (as all new sturgeon anglers seem to do) and we had our first sturgeon at 1:30 PM at 5’8”. Don’s turn next at 2:50 P.M. He upped the size to 6’8”. At 5:15 P.M. Craig hooked into his first fish and we could tell it was a good one. After a great battle, we got it landed and measured. His first sturgeon measured 8 feet even! I held back the temptation to accidentally bump him off the boat into the river. At 5:50 P.M. I hooked a good sturgeon and was hopeful that I had finally caught my 8 footer, but once again I equaled my personal best of 7’10”. Don caught one more (5’10”) and we called it a day with five sturgeons landed.
Wednesday we started fishing at 6:50 A.M. We started back in the same hole where we found them the day before. It got off to a fast start with me landing a good one at 7:10 A.M. Once again, I tied my personal best of 7’10”. Folks, this is getting mighty frustrating to keep coming so close to 8 feet but not quite getting there. At 8:20 A.M., Craig hooked into a humongous fish! After a lengthy battle, we got it landed and measured --- 8’5”! For those not keeping score, Craig has caught two sturgeons in his entire lifetime and the first was 8’ and the second was 8’5”. Craig probably didn’t realize it but I had to fight even harder not to “accidentally” bump him off the back of my boat. Don and Craig each caught two sturgeons and then it happened in the early afternoon. I caught a sturgeon that measured out at 8’2”! Finally, after all of these years of frustration, I reached my goal of landing an 8 foot sturgeon. We ended the second day with seven sturgeon landed.
Thursday I wanted to try one of my favorite holes that we hadn’t yet tried. We gave it ½ hour and after having no action moved back to where we had caught all of our sturgeon except for 2. It didn’t take long and Craig lost one and Don landed a 6’3” one. Because I was fishing from the bow of my boat, I had been casting one rod on the port side and my second rod on the starboard side. I had been casting the rod on the starboard side a long ways away from the boat and was having zero success on it. I decided to try not casting it at all. I just dropped my line straight down off the side of the boat and put my rod in the rod holder. After a short while, Don started yelling that I had a fish on. I looked and my rod was bent over. I grabbed the rod and couldn’t get it out of the rod holder. Don didn’t know what to do first (he didn’t know if he should toss the anchor rope, reel in my second rod, or perhaps do something else first). I suggested that he help me get my rod out of the rod holder. With two of us lifting on the rod we were able to get it free and the fight was on big time. I knew it was a large one but not certain how large (they all fight really hard). When we were finally able to see it we knew it was a special fish. Got it measured and it measured a fraction over 8’6”! I couldn’t believe it, I had been trying for so long to finally catch an 8 footer and now I had caught two over 8 feet on the same trip. I ended up catching a second sturgeon straight down which once again added to the excitement. We ended the day at 4:00 P.M. and we caught nine sturgeons on the final day.
I have had trips when we caught way more than the 21 that we caught this trip but I have never had a trip where we caught so many large sturgeon and no really small ones. The smallest sturgeon we caught was 4’7” and the next smallest one was 5’6”. We typically catch several between 3 and 4 feet long and have caught them as small as about 26 inches (with fishing with 6/0 hooks one rarely hooks really small fish).
Great fishing companions and fantastic weather (a little warm but little wind and the wind always blew downriver, which rarely happens) and great fish. I got to try out my new Fin-Nor Offshore spinning reels and I couldn’t have been more pleased. I can cast them a country mile (I purchased them so that I could cast further from shore), they have smooth gears and the drag is the smoothest of all of my sturgeon reels. I landed my largest sturgeon on my Fin-Nor reel that I call my ultra-light. I have two smaller reels (still huge) and two larger ones. I put 65 pound Power Pro on my smaller reels (with 50 pound Dacron leader) and 100 pound on my two larger reels (with 80 pound Dacron leader).
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Let me quickly set the stage. I made my first trip fishing for sturgeon in July 2003 and we got skunked: [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=55932;search_string=sturgeon;#55932"]http://www.bigfishtackle.com/...ring=sturgeon;#55932[/url] . Since that first trip, I have averaged at least two trips a year up there. During all of those trips, the largest sturgeon caught from my boats (I have had three of them) was 8 feet even. That feat has happened three or four times. The largest sturgeon I had personally caught was 7’ 10” and I had equaled that feat at least 5 or 6 times. I have had as my personal goal, for many years, to catch an 8 foot sturgeon. During those years the largest sturgeon I had heard of being caught was a 9 footer.
Don and his son Craig (both sturgeon virgins) were to my house just before 4:00 A.M. on Tuesday morning. We loaded up quickly and made the long drive. We made great time and were fishing by 9:30 A.M. We tried a couple spots with no bites. I suggested we try our luck fishing for crappie for a few minutes. I wanted us to at least catch something and wanted to have a few crappies to try for bait. Over the years, I have tried crappie for bait many times and had caught only a handful of sturgeon on it, but some of the Idahoan hard-core sturgeon anglers use nothing else for bait. We tried for about 20 minutes to catch a crappie in the often great crappie hole with not even a nibble from anything. There was a tree that had recently fallen into the water so I eased over near it to see if anything was hiding near the branches that were hanging in the water. That was where they were hiding and Don and Craig caught several and I finally got one to hang on long enough for me to land it. We kept 8 or so of them for bait and headed to one of my popular sturgeon holes.
I suggested that we put a chunk of crappie on one rod and pickled herring on the other rod. It didn’t take long before I hooked a sturgeon (on crappie) (We ended up catching most of our sturgeon on crappie.) and handed the rod to Craig to reel it in. Craig reeled it in tentatively (as all new sturgeon anglers seem to do) and we had our first sturgeon at 1:30 PM at 5’8”. Don’s turn next at 2:50 P.M. He upped the size to 6’8”. At 5:15 P.M. Craig hooked into his first fish and we could tell it was a good one. After a great battle, we got it landed and measured. His first sturgeon measured 8 feet even! I held back the temptation to accidentally bump him off the boat into the river. At 5:50 P.M. I hooked a good sturgeon and was hopeful that I had finally caught my 8 footer, but once again I equaled my personal best of 7’10”. Don caught one more (5’10”) and we called it a day with five sturgeons landed.
Wednesday we started fishing at 6:50 A.M. We started back in the same hole where we found them the day before. It got off to a fast start with me landing a good one at 7:10 A.M. Once again, I tied my personal best of 7’10”. Folks, this is getting mighty frustrating to keep coming so close to 8 feet but not quite getting there. At 8:20 A.M., Craig hooked into a humongous fish! After a lengthy battle, we got it landed and measured --- 8’5”! For those not keeping score, Craig has caught two sturgeons in his entire lifetime and the first was 8’ and the second was 8’5”. Craig probably didn’t realize it but I had to fight even harder not to “accidentally” bump him off the back of my boat. Don and Craig each caught two sturgeons and then it happened in the early afternoon. I caught a sturgeon that measured out at 8’2”! Finally, after all of these years of frustration, I reached my goal of landing an 8 foot sturgeon. We ended the second day with seven sturgeon landed.
Thursday I wanted to try one of my favorite holes that we hadn’t yet tried. We gave it ½ hour and after having no action moved back to where we had caught all of our sturgeon except for 2. It didn’t take long and Craig lost one and Don landed a 6’3” one. Because I was fishing from the bow of my boat, I had been casting one rod on the port side and my second rod on the starboard side. I had been casting the rod on the starboard side a long ways away from the boat and was having zero success on it. I decided to try not casting it at all. I just dropped my line straight down off the side of the boat and put my rod in the rod holder. After a short while, Don started yelling that I had a fish on. I looked and my rod was bent over. I grabbed the rod and couldn’t get it out of the rod holder. Don didn’t know what to do first (he didn’t know if he should toss the anchor rope, reel in my second rod, or perhaps do something else first). I suggested that he help me get my rod out of the rod holder. With two of us lifting on the rod we were able to get it free and the fight was on big time. I knew it was a large one but not certain how large (they all fight really hard). When we were finally able to see it we knew it was a special fish. Got it measured and it measured a fraction over 8’6”! I couldn’t believe it, I had been trying for so long to finally catch an 8 footer and now I had caught two over 8 feet on the same trip. I ended up catching a second sturgeon straight down which once again added to the excitement. We ended the day at 4:00 P.M. and we caught nine sturgeons on the final day.
I have had trips when we caught way more than the 21 that we caught this trip but I have never had a trip where we caught so many large sturgeon and no really small ones. The smallest sturgeon we caught was 4’7” and the next smallest one was 5’6”. We typically catch several between 3 and 4 feet long and have caught them as small as about 26 inches (with fishing with 6/0 hooks one rarely hooks really small fish).
Great fishing companions and fantastic weather (a little warm but little wind and the wind always blew downriver, which rarely happens) and great fish. I got to try out my new Fin-Nor Offshore spinning reels and I couldn’t have been more pleased. I can cast them a country mile (I purchased them so that I could cast further from shore), they have smooth gears and the drag is the smoothest of all of my sturgeon reels. I landed my largest sturgeon on my Fin-Nor reel that I call my ultra-light. I have two smaller reels (still huge) and two larger ones. I put 65 pound Power Pro on my smaller reels (with 50 pound Dacron leader) and 100 pound on my two larger reels (with 80 pound Dacron leader).
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] Next month I will give the Snake another try.
