Kory, Randy and I returned last evening from our latest sturgeon trip. Nothing big caught this time, with the largest caught by Randy, at 7' 9" (approximately 243 pounds) and the shortest going 35" (approximately 13 pounds). We ended up with 33 sturgeon landed and I had about a 4 1/2' sturgeon throw the hook when it jumped, almost entirely out of the water, about 10 feet from the boat.
All three of us came close to losing a rod over the side of the boat and Kory did his best to try to knock me off the boat into the lake, but I managed to stay dry. Only losses were a few weights that went flying when a reel hung during a cast.
Weather was about as good as it gets and we were fortunate to have the wind blow down stream all day on Friday, which is a rare treat. Saturday it blew the usual up stream and Randy suggested we fire up my new-to-me outboard and put it in reverse and let it hold us. We gave it a try and it worked flawlessly. With it being a four stroke we didn't even have to breath oil fumes. Ran it for 3 plus hours and it only burned 2/10 of a gallon of gas.
As always, great trip with lots of laughs with Randy and Kory.
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I think you have an addiction and it is totally understandable.[cool] Thanks for sharing!
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And here, I thought this report was another UL report of you three going out and catching 150 9-10 inch white bass. [
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Great report. Sounds like good success, good times, and no mishaps.
Someday. [angelic]
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Nice job Kent. Those fish are something else.
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Very nice guys...
Glad you had a great trip.
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Thanks Kent and Kory for another great Sturgeon trip!
When Kent says "no big ones were caught this time", he is kidding of course, but make no mistake, all the fish caught were "big", even the 3 footers! If you watch Wicked Tuna on TV, its fairly comparable. We are using heavy rods and reels with 100lb line, and it can take up to an hour to get a fish to the boat once hooked. And once somebody has one on, we also reel in all the other rods and release the anchor to follow the fish. And just like on Wicked Tuna where they are measuring fish from 74 inches up to 100 inches or more...that is within the same size range that some of these Sturgeon that are caught are in. The only difference is that the we never haul the fish in to the boat (legally, the fish must be kept IN the water, even for photos...which is why you never see us with photos holding the fish up.)
It can also be dangerous. On this trip alone we had at least two larger fish tail-slap the boat upon release and if one's hand were to caught between the fish and the boat it would likely break a hand or arm or worse. Lots of power. We also had one fish HIT the boat when trying to jump out of the water. That one (Kory's) was actually more IN the boat than OUT of the boat at that time! Although Kent lost one fish throwing the hook while in the air...it was spectacular to see that up close. And then there is the wind and weather. That reservoir can get extremely dangerous and spooky in the wind, luckily we didn't have to deal with any extreme weather this trip.
It can also be VERY relaxing (and frustrating). When the fish aren't biting, there are long stretches of waiting for bites and I'm pretty sure that boats have driven past us before wondering why all three of us were fast asleep with 6 lines out! The frustrating part is when everyone else is getting bites, and you are not!...I know this part from personal experience.
It is true big game fishing at it's best. It is the only fishing I do where anything under 4 feet is considered a small fish! Update 6/1: I had previously mentioned that no records were broken this trip, but I was wrong. My own personal previous best record was 92", so my 93 incher this year beats it by one inch and is my new personal best record...!
As always, lots of fun times! I can't wait to do it again!
I will likely take my new shirt that Kory gave me on this trip with me from now on so that they will know my status without having to ask for details!...[
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Randy
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Super Cool Trip!![cool]
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Update: It had been previously mentioned that no records were broken this trip, but when I went to log my fishing stats and compared them to my records page, I found out that my previous personal best record was a 92" sturgeon caught on July 3, 2009. The 93 incher that I caught on this trip was one inch longer and is my new Sturgeon record!
Randy
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That pike minnow is close. Check the website. Every once in awhile the smallmouth stack along the bank there. The big girls are upstream, next trip I'll show ya. We were busy bass fishing or I would have drug gertrude down there.
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After looking at the Idaho records I wish that we would have measured and weighed that pikeminnow. It had to be really close to the state record. We weren't even sure what Kory had caught when he reeled it in. We have caught many pikeminnows on our trips, but nothing approaching that size before. It was actually a neat looking fish, whether or not it was a game fish.
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Sounds like another great trip Kent, Randy and Kory and the size of those 90 plus inch fish is truly amazing.
Kory said," Sure was great to not be sitting on an open boat in over 100 degree weather.", what was the temps this year?
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Temperatures were:
80
86
85
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They are also fun on crankbaits and topwater. The initial battle is awesome then they got limp.
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Hard for the pike minnow to put up much of a fight on 80-100 pound line. That's funny about it being close to the record. It is also funny that the previous record was caught on 8 pound line. After that long of a trip, no way would I have tried to hassle with documenting a record. But it would have been fun to see how close it was. It was a big one.
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I've always sliced em open and dropped em back in, its not worth the hassle. They do not make good bait.
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Nice fish guys. thanks for sharing the video, HOLY Crap that's a big fish.
93" WOW!
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They do not make good bait.
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I have also noticed that. I wonder why that is? Also, I keep trying to catch a sturgeon on crappie, but so far have not succeeded. I have gotten a couple bites but without hooking up, I am not sure if they were sturgeon biting or not.
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Morts are the all around best bait, then worm, roll mop and squid. The sturgeon candy line works well sometimes but is expensive. I've tried everything you can imagine from swan falls to shoshone falls and this is my finding. Worms are best in the summer. Just think of the salmonoid carcasses in the snake river a hundred years ago. My buddy in Hagerman swears by fresh trout fillets, but he owns a trout farm.
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I have tried rainbow morts several times without success. My go-to bait is pickled herring in wine sauce. I have also used roll mop, but pickled herring in wine sauce costs a little less and seems to work just as well. Until this trip, I have also always put on a couple night crawlers with the herring, but this trip we did just was well fishing with straight herring and also had less bites from other fish (which is a plus). So on future trips I will save the cost of the crawlers, avoid the additional mess on the boat and save the problem of trying to keep the crawlers cool.
If I was fishing below a dam that has generators I would likely switch to cut bait or morts.
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