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Full Version: Dinosaurs from Hell....'s Canyon
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***Wow I just looked at how long this post is. Sorry about that. Feel free to just look at the pictures if you want [Smile]***

This past weekend I had the good fortune to help IDFG do a little hook and line sturgeon sampling in Hells canyon (I know, tough job right). We got to our cabin about mid morning on Fri and dropped off all of our stuff and headed out since we were all anxious to wrassle some dinosaurs.
So off we went. we stayed pretty low down in the river on Friday since they don't have too much data from that stretch. So of course we didn't even get a nibble all day. However the smallies were more than willing to play once I figured out just how slow and deep I had to fish for them. I didn't get any real big ones. this was my biggest.
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but my buddy got one that was at least 18 inches (judging by my hand span)
We headed back to the cabin around dusk and I was a little concerned at our lack of action. but we parked the boats on the bank at the cabin and kept fishing. Pretty soon we started getting bumps and it wasn't long till we had our first fish to shore. It was interesting to see all the measurements that were done. I'm in fisheries but I've never worked with dinosaurs. The fish ended up being a recapture. So we wrote down the pit tag number, measured the length and girth, and used a metal detector to see if it had hooks or anything metal in it's gut (which it turns out many of them do, including this one). Well now that the action had started I was anxious to crank on one.
Of course by that time everybody else wanted to waste perfectly good fishing time by eating dinner so I drug my feet and went along and ate dinner.
we finally made it back down to the water at about 8:00 and they were still biting! Soon I hooked up on what felt like a big fish. He ran downstream and promptly scraped the line on the rocks and broke off, and I cried a little. But we re-rigged and pretty soon I was hooked up on one that felt about the same size. This time we decided to chase it to avoid the whole rock/break-off thing. It took probably about a half hour but we ended up landing the fish on a beach, and started again with our data collection.
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The fish ended up being 7 ft 4 inches long, by far my biggest fish ever. So then I figured I was done for the trip since I landed a fish, I thought I'd let everybody else get their chance. Luckily I was wrong!
The next morning we headed upstream into the canyon. Turns out the fishing's just a tad better up there. We stopped at our first hole of the day, this time there were three boats of us. I was bass fishing again when from across the river I heard a girl holler and what sounded like a house dropping in the river. They had hooked up with a big fish! They again chased the fish out into the middle of the hole just to be safe. I noticed that they looked like they might try to land the fish on our side of the river so I walked down the beach towards them since I wanted to see the fish. I watched them trade off between the three of them on the boat for about 45 minutes. It looked like they were about to call it a draw, then the boat started heading my way and when they landed they said they wanted a 4th person to help fight it! So I didn't argue! That was the hardest I've ever pulled on a fish. We didn't want to exhaust the fish so we wanted to get him in sooner than later, so I put the heat to him as best I could, which at times required both my thumbs on the spool to try to keep him from running (which he did anyway)
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But pretty soon we saw him, which was awesome. Soon we parked on the beach and I got out to land him while the F&G guy manned the pole. When it finally got in close I tried to grab him by the lip but it turned. The tail was in reach now so I grabbed that and held on for all I was worth knowing full well what that fish might do to me, but luckily right after that somebody got his lip and we were OK and elated.
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It ended up being 8 ft 2 inches long, hadn't been sampled before, and didn't have any hooks in it's gut, so basically a really healthy fish - hence the mighty battle he put up I guess. I know people catch bigger ones quite frequently, but I couldn't be happier with it. Now THIS is the biggest fish of my life, by about 100 lbs!
We continued fishing and I let my arms re-solidify after being turned completely to jello. Our boat got two more during the day, a three footer and a seven footer who jumped twice, including the second time when it came about 4 feet clear out of the water and did a very good tarpon impression.
Just before it was time to go we saw the boat across the river from us get what looked like a tiny one, and then we started getting bites but the hook wouldn't stick. I finally hooked it and soon had my smallest sturgeon ever to hand.

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This one ended up being 2 ft 6 inches long. So on this trip I landed my biggest one ever and my smallest sturgeon ever. We learned that they seem to be growing less than an inch per year though, so, that being the case, this fish is still several years older than me. I thought that was interesting.
All in all we ended up landing 11 sturgeon between our three boats. It was a great trip!
I think most people on here know this but I hope everybody else knows how fragile of a resource these old dinosaurs are. It was Sad to see how many of them had metal (probably hooks) in them. I hope we can take care of them, so somebody else can catch that little guy when I'm dead and gone and he's a monster.
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Wow, great pics and read. You should get a replica made of the fish in the last pic you posted, that is a monster.[cool] Great job and way to make me jealous.
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Wow!!! What a lucky gig. Great post. I love those big fish. Your right I hope everyone follows the rules so they will be around a long time.

The ones they planted in the river by I.F. a few weeks ago won't be very big until I am a very old man.

Windriver
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awsome story man. i almost feel bad for your sore arms.... almost!!!
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so corect me if I'm wron but isn't it the reason they are a no harvest is because they are land locked because in washington you can keep em I don't want to keep them but I was just wondering if this is the reason they are no harvest alowed ....
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Wow, great post! I am glad you gave us the whole story and not just -- "Hells Canyon, caught fish". So don't worry about the length of the story the length of the fish deserve it!


Great opportunity and chance to "study" some cool fish.
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I'm by no means an expert on the subject but that seems to me like not seeing the forest through all the trees. what I mean is, as far as I know there is no harvest on them because they would be very easy to over harvest given their longevity and low recruitment in most areas in our state (from what I was told) and as you mentioned their habitat is very fragmented, so they basically exist in different isolated populations between the dams. So as I understand it, a variety of things have led to their listing under the Endangered Species Act, which is why no harvest is allowed. Again correct me if I'm wrong I'm sure many people on here know much more about it than I do, but that's how I understand it.
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Thanks for posting that up great post n pics[cool]
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yeah I was just wondering is all I have an idea but it's just that.. Thanks for your input I really want to go catch one to say I have... And another quik question why is the bull trout in the list as far as my experience goes they don't seem endangerd as I catch them by the hundreds when I'm steelhead fishing can't keep them off of the line it gets rather irritating honestly... Just a question I could dig some useful info to store in my data bank
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Don't ever apologize for your "long posts" when they are as interesting as this one is. Thanks for sharing. Mike
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Excellent thread,, thank you for taking the time to post it..
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i have also heard that the stergion dont have the spawning beds that they use to. because of the damns and the sediment area. I think in certain areas the bulltrout are doing great, i read an artical about them a while back and it talked about how sensative they are to polution, water flow and tempature.
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great explanation/details with the pics! thanks for sharing[cool]
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