Fish Chris Posted July 9, 2009 Posted July 9, 2009 Try Sturgeon fishing :-( I've never really fished for them this time of year.... but trying to save gas (I have prime Sturgy water 5 miles from my house.... and only a 0 to 2 mile run in the boat). And I've heard about a few getting caught, and lots of jumpers (which of course means they are there ) Anyway, to make a long story short, it would be one thing if you were sitting there all day waiting for a bite, from a fish you were not even sure was there.... But how would it make you feel if you saw maybe 75 jumps, and heard that many more tremendous splashes, some of them maybe 10 feet away from you, from Sturgeon anywhere from 40 to 100 lbs ??? Well, I had 1 pull down Tuesday, but missed on the swing.... and I was even holding the pole when it happened ! Then, yesterday, I had 1 fish pick up my bait (on my micro-light ;-) and start dragging it straight towards me. It took me a few seconds to pick up on what was happening, but just about the time I started to think, "Hey, I need to reel in a bunch of slack and swing..... pop. It drops it :'( :'( :'( That might have been a > couple hours of fish fighting fun < ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Anyway, here's the thing; We often talk about the conditioning of big, old Largemough bass, which might be 10, or maybe 13 years old. How conditioned (slick) do you think a fish would get after 30, 50, heck 80 years of being swung at ??? These fish are just a PITA to stick ! Ahhhh.... but once you do :-) Whoooo Hoooo ! In a lot of respects, Sturgeon fishing reminds me of trophy bass fishing..... Like day after day, throwing a big swimbait, and getting skunked often, but when you finally get one, its something worth bragging about. The other crappy thing is that the good tides only happen "every other week" so next week, will probably not even be worth going..... but you never know Peace, Fish PS, It does give you a crazy feeling, to holding a Bluegill pole, and see this 100+ lb Dino-fish jump right there in the same area where your line is casted But just let me stick a hook in one. I'll worry about the rest later Quote
mrlitetackle Posted July 9, 2009 Posted July 9, 2009 ive always wanted a hand at a sturgeon. and if you hook one on the UL gear, that'll be the most intense experience around :D :D Quote
Fish Chris Posted July 9, 2009 Author Posted July 9, 2009 Hey MrLite, you know I've already caught several on micro-light gear, right ? Talking about feeling powerless But Sturgeon are really no different than most other species. Once you get a hook in one, with micro-light gear, you just have to chase them with the boat, to keep from being spooled, and stay PATIENT ! They will eventually get tired. Of course, so will you Peace, Fish Quote
Super User SirSnookalot Posted July 9, 2009 Super User Posted July 9, 2009 What city do I buy a plane ticket for? Quote
Cigarlover 1 Posted July 9, 2009 Posted July 9, 2009 That's one awesome looking fish. That's one fish I'd LOVE to have the opportunity to fish for. Enjoy em. Â Quote
BassDeaton01 Posted July 9, 2009 Posted July 9, 2009 I would love to hook up with one of those bad boys. Especially with some UL gear...whooo make for one heckuva fight!! Quote
Red Bear Posted July 9, 2009 Posted July 9, 2009 Fish Chris is my hero, lol. the guy should have his own fishing show... Quote
Fish Chris Posted July 9, 2009 Author Posted July 9, 2009 Hey guys... SirSnook, I live up here in Nor Cal, next to the Ca Delta, about 45 miles West of Sacramento. (famous for Largemouth Bass fishing.... But I never bass fish in it). We have pretty good numbers of 72", 100 lb + Sturgy's, with some going over 300 lbs. We have a slot limit of 46" to 66", of which we can only keep 3 per year, inside of that range. I guess they have quite a few larger than 300 lbs up in Washington, Idaho's Snake River, British Columbia, etc. Â Anyway, yes guys, they are some cool, crazy fish ! And they fight like you wouldn't believe, often making screaming runs, followed by big jumps ! If you ever get the chance to fish for them, I highly suggest you do Whooo Hooo ! Peace, Fish Quote
Infidel. Posted July 9, 2009 Posted July 9, 2009 That is an awesome fish. Â What do you consider "Micro-lite"? Â That line coming out of that fish's mouth looks pretty thick. Â Is that just a long leader? Quote
Super User SirSnookalot Posted July 9, 2009 Super User Posted July 9, 2009 SirSnook, I live up here in Nor Cal, next to the Ca Delta, about 45 miles West of Sacramento Have yet to fish that part of the world, will put it on my to do list. Fished charter a couple of times off of Santa Monica. Quote
Ellesar Posted July 9, 2009 Posted July 9, 2009 Zona just finished filming an episode of WGFS where they caught 9 fish on camera that estimated weighing a combined 4800 to 5100 lbs. He had a few pics on twitter. Gotta be a blast to catch. Quote
mrlitetackle Posted July 10, 2009 Posted July 10, 2009 Posted by: Fish Chris    Posted on: Today at 12:15pm Hey MrLite, you know I've already caught several on micro-light gear, right ? ... Talking about feeling powerless Smiley But Sturgeon are really no different than most other species. Once you get a hook in one, with micro-light gear, you just have to chase them with the boat, to keep from being spooled, and stay PATIENT ! They will eventually get tired. Of course, so will you Wink Peace, Fish actually i wasnt aware of that!!! thats simply amazing man, and i actually just found your website as well (within the last couple of days)...... i must say, you are one great fisherman!! my hats off to you..   i knew it from this site, but not to the depths that i found on your site!!! dare to say.... one of the best!!!! Quote
DINK WHISPERER Posted July 10, 2009 Posted July 10, 2009 That thing is a beast Chris! Forget the light tackle though! I would make that guy do back flips with my swimbait set-up, LOL! Â Â Â ;D Quote
Fish Chris Posted July 10, 2009 Author Posted July 10, 2009 Thank you guys. I'm flattered by a couple of your responses. But in reality, I'm just really blessed to fish as much as I do, in the places I do.... Or to put it another way, lots of great fishing opportunities, with plenty of time time to capitalize on it. Any of you would have the same (or greater) success. Oh hey Infidel, that is not line coming from this fishes mouth. Those are the fishes barbels. On my micro-light rods (regardless of the species I'm fishing for) I always use a 2/10 braid. Certainly a lot stronger than 2 lb mono.... but on the other hand, I wouldn't dare treat it like 10 lb mono either, because of the zero stretch factor of braid. It matches up great on a rod rated for 1 to 4 lb mono (or 2 to 6) and I put about as much pressure on a fish with it, as if I was using say 6 lb mono. Another nice thing though, is that because of the thinness of this line, I can cram about 180 yards of it on a very small (UL) spinning reel. And the more line you have, the more time you have to get your anchor out of the way, and get caught up to the fish. Anyway, I've been showing off that same photo above for a couple years now. So, I think its about time to go and outdo myself I saw a few jumpers which were probably bigger Weds. And I was thinking about just using both of my micro-light setups the next time out  : Might be easier to fool one of these big suckers (no pun intended on the super light gear anyway + like I always say, just let me stick a hook in one, and the game will be 3/4's won  Peace, Fish Quote
Super User SirSnookalot Posted July 10, 2009 Super User Posted July 10, 2009 You're being modest Chris. Â I have a ton of experience catching big fish and I don't think I could l land one like that on ul, even if I was as young as you........lol Quote
Super User SPEEDBEAD. Posted July 10, 2009 Super User Posted July 10, 2009 Chris, in your pic you posted I notice another person's arm there. I thought you only went fishing by yourself? Â Just an observation... Quote
tyrius. Posted July 10, 2009 Posted July 10, 2009 Chris, in your pic you posted I notice another person's arm there. I thought you only went fishing by yourself? Just an observation... Well, if you look at the bottom of the pic you can see part of another boat. Â In the bottom right of the pic there's also a seat. Â I don't Fish's boat has a seat like that. So, it's likely that it was someone else who was near him and they took the pic. Quote
Super User SPEEDBEAD. Posted July 10, 2009 Super User Posted July 10, 2009 I realize there is another boat there, as someone is taking the pics from the side. That arm looks like it's in his boat to me though... Quote
Fish Chris Posted July 11, 2009 Author Posted July 11, 2009 Hey Speedbead, good eye That was a fishing aquaintence, who was in another boat (within hollering distance) while we were fishing, but they pulled anchor and followed me while I fought it. After close to 2 hours (when I felt I was close to beating it) he actually hopped into my boat, and after about 4 tries, we managed to get the fish over the rail. Glad it was that particular guy (Sturgeon Dan) there to help. He's never used gear that light.... but he has caught a whole bunch of Sturgeon over 100 lbs. So he's not afraid to grab ahold of one Peace, Fish Quote
Super User Jimzee Posted July 11, 2009 Super User Posted July 11, 2009 I never get tired of looking at your fish pictures. Â Just an awesome looking animal right there. Â Quote
kingfisher85 Posted July 11, 2009 Posted July 11, 2009 you know im often thinking to myself "what the heck is wrong with me" ive always wanted to try sturgeon fishing but never have. myself im originally from creston, british columbia. creston is at the end of kootenay lake which has alot of sturgeon in it, the record pulled out of there was 770lbs i believe.. on top of that people used to pull them out of the kootenay river which was right below my house! now to make myself sound like even more of an idiot creston is also the home of duck lake which many say is one of the best largemouth lakes in bc if not canada!!! i have never fished that lake, not even once!! Quote
Infidel. Posted July 14, 2009 Posted July 14, 2009 Oh hey Infidel, that is not line coming from this fishes mouth. Those are the fishes barbels. Come on man, give me a little more credit than that, I didn't start fishing yesterday. The barbels are not coming out of the fishes mouth, they are in front of the mouth. What is coming out of its mouth is your hand and some line that goes infront of your hand and then down around the front of your shirt. It just looks a heck of a lot thicker than 10lb braid to me, that's all. Â Quote
Fish Chris Posted July 14, 2009 Author Posted July 14, 2009 Doh ! Sorry Infidel, I hadn't even seen that myself..... That is my 50 lb braided leader. I just tie about 8 to 10 feet of 50 lb, to my 2/10 main line, with a blood knot, then a barrel swivel, then about 24" more, of 50 lb after the barrel swivel, attached to my hook, with a 1/2 to 1oz sliding sinker above the barrel swivel. The reason for the 50 lb leader is not so much "pull strength" (I mean heck, if my main line is only 10 lb anyway) but rather, abrasion resistence ! Those diamonds down the side of a Sturgy are brutal sharp ! Got some cuts on me right now, from that one yesterday..... Peace, Fish Quote
Infidel. Posted July 14, 2009 Posted July 14, 2009 Ok that is what I thought in the first place. Â LOL. Â Great catch FC Â Quote
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