We just spent three days of fishing for sturgeon from the shore. Because the forecast was for strong winds, on at least two of the days, I decided to leave the boat home and just fish from the shore. One major problem in fishing from the shore is that I have yet to find a place that isn't extremely snaggy. One must reel in as fast as possible, with the 12' rod pointed skyward, and even by doing that one snags and breaks off frequently.
For some time, I have been giving thought to drilling a hole in the tip of my pyramid weights and attaching it from that end, rather from the base. On this trip I proved my theory that this would result in far fewer snags. When reeled in from the tip the pyramid weight would plane up in the water column and was far easier to reel in and greatly decreased snagging.
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I have also been testing a similar idea with some 5oz & 6oz bank sinkers that my cousin had given me. I took the 6 sided (bowling pin shaped) sinkers and smashed them like a pancake with a hammer. This seemed to prevent rolling in the current very well and it should allow them to plane out on retrieval as your idea does. Just another idea if you already have this type of sinker.
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I have a few of those sinkers, also in the same weights as yours. Because of the current in the river, I need to use at least 8 ounce weights and 10 and 12 ounce are even better.
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Sounds like snagging was better. How was fishing?
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Snagging was lessened, but I should have made more remodeled weights.
We managed to land 10, had three others break off and two long releases.
I also learned that one should never leave the doors open on their vehicle for the entire afternoon without switching off the dome lights. We were extremely fortunate that I was able to barely (extremely limited cell service in that area) reach the only person I could think of who knew how to get to our remote location. He kindly came and gave us a jump. Lesson learned.
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I did the light thing at strawberry years ago before Strawberry and Soldier creek were connected. This was before cell phones. We were parked where Renegade now is and had to hike out to the paved road by the Strawberry Bay turn off and was able to hitch a ride to Heber to call for help. It was a LONG LONG day. Great fishing for big Rainbows back then.
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[quote kentofnsl]
I also learned that one should never leave the doors open on their vehicle for the entire afternoon without switching off the dome lights. We were extremely fortunate that I was able to barely (extremely limited cell service in that area) reach the only person I could think of who knew how to get to our remote location. He kindly came and gave us a jump. Lesson learned.[/quote]
Here is a picture of what that looks like...17 miles from nowhere trying to get a signal to call for help!...
Thanks again Kent for the great trip! Can't wait to do that again...these are getting expensive finding ways to upgrade tackle and equipment after every trip...
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Glad you had a good and safe trip.
Thinking about the snagging problem, would a cylindrical weight similar to a dropshot weight for bass work any better? They do seem to lessen snags on the small scale of bassin, but I'm not sure how they would do on sturgeon tackle.
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Maybe a little; however, the rocks that cause the most problem are close to shore. That is why my design worked so well because the weight moved near the surface when reeled in.
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