05-16-2024, 05:02 PM
Made another sturgeon run yesterday and it was a wild one. I fished with Don and Jason. The bite was on right from the start. I was the first to keep one hooked only to discover my reel would not work. It felt like the gears were loose inside of the reel. I had no other choice than to reel the sturgeon in by hand. I started holding the rod with one hand and rotating the bail, around the reel, with the other hand. Fortunately, it was only about a 30" sturgeon. Had it been a large one I would have been in trouble. I was making progress, but it was taking forever to land that fish. When Don and Jason realized it was a smaller sturgeon they stepped in and while I held the rod, they grabbed my fishing line and pulled the fish to the boat.
A half hour later we got a circus going. Jason hooked a sturgeon, while I was also getting a bite. I also hooked a sturgeon and when I looked down at my second rod, I could see that I was also getting a bite on that rod. While holding the first rod and a hard-pulling sturgeon, I grabbed my second rod and also hooked that sturgeon. I hollered for Don to come and help. He thought that I was just asking him to clear my second rod out of the way and it took him a few moments to realize that there was a sturgeon on the end of the line. Don and I got our sturgeon landed, while we were all doing strange-looking dance steps to avoid having lines cross. The two I had hooked measured approximately 48 and 54 inches long. Jason was making little process with his fish. Don, kept fishing, from the bow, and landed an ~36" and an ~84" while Jason continued fighting his sturgeon. I told Jason that I was quite certain that he had snagged his sturgeon on or near the tail. After landing Don's latest sturgeon, I shut off spot lock and let the boat drift, so that Jason could reel in more line. That worked, and we were finally able to see Jason's sturgeon. It was indeed snagged near the tail and it measured 72". It is amazing how difficult it is to land a sturgeon that has been snagged anywhere from the belly to its tail. Where we fish there is a fairly strong current and between the sturgeon pulling and the force of the current a large, snagged sturgeon, is all one can handle.
It calmed down after that but we still continued to have plenty of action and lots of laughs. It was a pleasure to fish with Don and Jason and I can't wait to get after them again.
A half hour later we got a circus going. Jason hooked a sturgeon, while I was also getting a bite. I also hooked a sturgeon and when I looked down at my second rod, I could see that I was also getting a bite on that rod. While holding the first rod and a hard-pulling sturgeon, I grabbed my second rod and also hooked that sturgeon. I hollered for Don to come and help. He thought that I was just asking him to clear my second rod out of the way and it took him a few moments to realize that there was a sturgeon on the end of the line. Don and I got our sturgeon landed, while we were all doing strange-looking dance steps to avoid having lines cross. The two I had hooked measured approximately 48 and 54 inches long. Jason was making little process with his fish. Don, kept fishing, from the bow, and landed an ~36" and an ~84" while Jason continued fighting his sturgeon. I told Jason that I was quite certain that he had snagged his sturgeon on or near the tail. After landing Don's latest sturgeon, I shut off spot lock and let the boat drift, so that Jason could reel in more line. That worked, and we were finally able to see Jason's sturgeon. It was indeed snagged near the tail and it measured 72". It is amazing how difficult it is to land a sturgeon that has been snagged anywhere from the belly to its tail. Where we fish there is a fairly strong current and between the sturgeon pulling and the force of the current a large, snagged sturgeon, is all one can handle.
It calmed down after that but we still continued to have plenty of action and lots of laughs. It was a pleasure to fish with Don and Jason and I can't wait to get after them again.