Fishing Forum

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Fished the Snake River, in Idaho, Friday and Saturday with Lundman and Wiperhunter2 for white sturgeon. Wow – what a trip! I caught my largest fish of my life, a 48” sturgeon on Friday. Then on Saturday I hooked one of similar size that got off when it made a jump. A little while later I turned around to see my drag screaming (which is unusual for sturgeon -- they usually bite extremely softly) and I grabbed my pole and gave a jerk and felt the leader snap – reminder to myself never tie two hooks onto the same leader when fishing for large fish – the upper knot weakens the leader too much. Then I tied into the monster! I got a bite that wouldn’t even make a 10” trout proud, but it was definitely a bite, so I gave it a 55-gallon-drum (recommended by Lundman) hook set. My drag immediately started turning. Before the boat was ready to follow the fish I was starting to panic. I have over 200 yards of 30-pound monofilament on my Penn reel, but it was looking like the sturgeon was going to reach the end of the line before we could follow it. Lundman got his boat underway and I was able to gain back some line. It jumped twice shortly after being hooked, and I could see that it was much larger than my 48 incher. I fought that fish for over 40 minutes and I was beginning to wonder whether the fish or I was going to tire first. After fighting it for that long, I was amazed to see it have the energy to leap from the water 75 to 100 feet out from the boat, and do a tail dance and a head shake! We all watched in disbelief as my hook came out of its mouth (barbless hooks are the law) and see my line shoot across the water towards the boat. It is a day later, and I still can’t get the off of my face. My right arm is sore from the battle, but I’ve never had a more enjoyable sore arm. Thanks Lundman for taking time out of your salmon trip to teach Wiperhunter2 and me how to catch those wonderful fish. Bear Lake Mack I now understand even more, when you talk about having big fish mentality, what you mean. After having those huge fighting machines on the end of my line – somehow reeling in those 15 to 20 inch trout at Strawberry just doesn’t sound as much fun anymore. I will leave it to Wiperhunter2 and Lundman to add to the story, except to say that we landed a total of four sturgeon (48”, 47”, 43” and approximately 24 to 30”) and it seemed like we hooked less than 25% of our bites.[/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3]Here is a picture of one of the sturgeon and a monster perch that Wiperhunter2 caught.[/size][/font]

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At this link is a short video clip of me fighting the large sturgeon and it's second jump (it has sound):

[url "http://home.comcast.net/~kjasperson/sturgeon_video.mpg"]http://home.comcast.net/~kjasperson/sturgeon_video.mpg[/url]
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Kent, I see you have reached Barracuda status but you still have not learned to tell the big fish story, ha,ha. If you remember, we agreed that the little one was 30 inches and that the one that got away was at least 5 foot and up to 6 feet long and between 125 and 145 lbs, I sure wish I had been able to get a picture of it when it jumped. All in all a great trip and I would like the thank Lundman and Kent for a great trip and for the chance to catch such a awesome fish. Here is the picture of the smallest fish that got tangled in the anchor rope, it's belly up but was released unharmed. WH2
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Nice report , Way to go . I hope to someday go after sturgeon too . I like that big perch . Was that perch in the river ? And what section of the river were you fishing ? I have caught a sturgeon (about 24") but I don't think it was a white sturgeon . It was back in Kansas on the Smoky Hill River .
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Nice report Kent. I'm glad you guys had such a great time fishing...makes me jealous.
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Great report Kent. That would be a blast catching fish that large and fighting them for over 40 minutes. Its the kind of fishing trip we all hope to experience some day.
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I have added a video clip to my first post. Way to go Wiperhunter2, you got a picture of it jumping.
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Wow thanks for the great report. That soudsn liek an amazing trip. I finally have my account posted on here so hope to be a part of things from now on. Thanks, Ben
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cool report kent,

you always say your jealous but a sturgeon is on my list and im way jealous of you guys getting out there. glad you got into some on one of my favorite rivers.
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I'm still waiting for it to load but that was way lucky to get a clip of the big guy in the shot before the video clip stopped. I guess we could not have asked for much more, other than getting it to the boat. WH2
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Way to go!!! How long do you think it will take to wipe that off your face!
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Great report Kent and WH2. How fast/safe was the river current?? Safe for smaller boats??

And welcome to the site bigben! Glad to have you!!!! []
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The current isn't bad and you would have no problem in your boat, we saw several people fishing in or using 14 ft boats, you just need a couple of good anchors. WH2
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[cool]I am Soooooo jealous!!! THat seems like way too much fun!!! I am glad you were able to hook into a few of those big boys!!!! Lundman knows his stuff!!![cool]
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It was a sturgeon trip that had Kent hooking into a nice sturgeon - I would have estimated 6' to 7' - about 150 pounds. - It did jump 3 times. We did hook at least two other big ones that broke 30 lb. test in the first 15 to 20 seconds of the battle. And of course the two 4' and one at 42" - all nice fish.

I will try and attach a couple of pic's of the action - and as always everyone learned from the trip.

It was a pleasure having two Utah fisherman in the boat - and opening their eyes to what a big fish fishing is all about. I think they have the fever now.
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I definitely have the big fish fever -- I hope there is no cure for it except catching more of those large sturgeon. Tubebabe -- still there. We were fishing south of Mountain Home.
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Great video, thanks a bunch for sharing your trip with us
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Way to go Kent!nice fish.Had a trip up there myself this year.Seeing your fish makes me want to go again!
Mike
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Hey Lundman, did you find a extra fish in your cooler? Thanks again for a great learning experience, you were a great host and your right I've got the big fish bug now. WH2
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Yup - I put the big perch up in the freezer for fish bait at Deer Creek for ice fishing.

I hope you boys are rgging up for the next go around - this time use 40# test and I'll buy a bigger second anchor - one from the store that is.

My Brother was a little jealous over the results of the fishing trip so we might be back up there before the snow flies.

Had Salmon for dinner last night - good stuff.....
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Are we booking reservations???? I would definitely be down for sturgeon!!!!
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