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Sturgeon or Surgeon? - BURLEY - 09-27-2019
A couple weeks ago, my cousin and I spent six days fishing for sturgeon on Idaho’s Snake River. This was an exciting time for both of us. We broke it into two three day trips so he could rest between trips. He is 83 and had surgery for abdominal aneurisms earlier this spring. The first three days we were rained on every day and fought windy conditions. He powered through just fine and we caught 17 sturgeons.
We came back to Utah for a day of rest, do our laundry, and to re-supply before heading out for the second part of our adventure.
We launched my boat around 7:30 am and had our first sturgeon by 8:00. An 8’4”er, a good start with calm sunny days in the forecast. We felt like this was going to be a special trip. We caught seven sturgeons before noon when they turned off for the rest of the day. We also caught one channel catfish that had parasitic spots all over its body. The second morning we launched at the same time that my friend Kent-of-nsl launched with his crew. We both raced to where we had caught fish the previous morning. I threw out the anchor from the bow and stepped down into a puddle of water. Yep, I had forgotten to put in the plug. I turned on the bilge pump, pulled in the anchor, and headed for the ramp a couple miles away.
Drained and plugged, we were off again. We ended up with ten sturgeons the second day. One of them had an illegal tag on its dorsal fin that we removed.
Day three was slow but not without incident. My main battery died. I carry jumper cables, so no big deal getting underway again. We managed to get five sturgeons and two catfish to the boat before heading home for some well needed rest and to get out of the sun.
Many people ask if sturgeon put up a fight. Well yes they do. They will break your rods, break your rod holders, and attempt to pull you out of the boat. This brings me to the title of this post: Sturgeon or Surgeon? At home the following morning, I awoke for my 3 am wiz call. As I rolled out of bed, I had a very sharp pain in my lower abdomen. The pain soon dulled to what felt like a pulled muscle, so I waited until the next day (Monday) to see the doctor. Diagnosis unknown, Scheduled a CT scan. Well it turns out that those fish got their revenge on me by giving me a hernia. I now have to meet with a surgeon to discuss what happens next. I hope he doesn’t say “no more sturgeon”.
After catching 25 of the 39 sturgeons during those six days, my cousin suggests that I had better loosen my drag and not rush the fish landing as much, or that I could let my passengers land the big ones for me. Naw, that is not an option. I guess that I will somehow suffer through.
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Re: [BURLEY] Sturgeon or Surgeon? - Tin-Can - 09-27-2019
Great report BURLEY. Glad your cousin was able to get out with you. Hope I'm that "spry" when I'm his age. I used to work with a gentleman that now owns a boat shop up on Salmon River. One of these days I may get up there to do some fishing with him.
Sorry about the "surgeon" part of your report. Had surgery for that back in 1997. So far no further issues.
Take it easy until and after the surgery.
Don't give up the Sturgeon chase, but don't let them make things worse.
[fishin]
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Re: [BURLEY] Sturgeon or Surgeon? - RockyRaab - 09-27-2019
Sorry about the hernia. I got mine back in the days when they still repaired them with Goodyear self-vulcanizing tire patches, and the recovery time was a lot longer. I hope you're back in action in less than six months - but it would be very wise to take it real easy even then.
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Re: [Tin-Can] Sturgeon or Surgeon? - BURLEY - 09-27-2019
I too hope that I can get out and about as well as he has been able to. I'm afraid that this may have been his last time for chasing sturgeon. I'm so glad that he has been able to join me for several trips. Luckily he lives in Arkansas and has a boat that he is able to fish from and still enjoy fishing.
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Re: [BURLEY] Sturgeon or Surgeon? - Tin-Can - 09-27-2019
Great Catfish fishin in Arkansas, pretty good LM Bass too.
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Re: [RockyRaab] Sturgeon or Surgeon? - BURLEY - 09-27-2019
Funny about the Goodyear patch. I remember when I was a boy in Arkansas, I would take my flat tires to the service station across the street. He would put glue on the tire, then light it with a match before applying the patch. Hope that wasn't the some in your case. [
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Re: [Tin-Can] Sturgeon or Surgeon? - BURLEY - 09-27-2019
Yes it is. He lives close to the Arkansas River and fishes it a lot when he isn't fishing for bass on Lake Degray. This year has been bad for cat fishing the river because of all the flooding and high water flow.
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Re: [BURLEY] Sturgeon or Surgeon? - Kent - 09-29-2019
Too bad about the hernia. I will do my best to pick up the slack for you while you are out of action.[
] If I don't do better than my last few trips I may need to rely on my fellow fishing buddies to pick up the slack for you.[signature]
Re: [kentofnsl] Sturgeon or Surgeon? - BURLEY - 09-29-2019
Picking up my slack may be too much for just one person. I may be working to modify my boat with a fighting chair and a pulley system for my rods. Whatever may be needed except for handing my rod over to another. "They can have my rod when they pry it from my cold dead hands".
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Re: [BURLEY] Sturgeon or Surgeon? - Therapist - 09-29-2019
So what part of the Snake are you fishing ?? Have been spending alot of time on Milner and Walocot the past few years. Lots of SMB, perch, and an occasional trout, but no Sturgeon !!
Re: [BURLEY] Sturgeon or Surgeon? - Kent - 09-29-2019
The biggest challenge with any modification is getting it to work when fighting a sturgeon at the boat. No problem figuring out something that will work when the sturgeon is 100 yards away from the boat.
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Re: [Therapist] Sturgeon or Surgeon? - BURLEY - 09-29-2019
I fish the Snake River section from Lower Salmon Falls dam all the way to below the dam at C J Strike. Sometimes shore fishing and sometimes by boat. One thing to remember is that these big fish will tear up any bass or trout fishing gear. Consider lightweight offshore equipment with 65#-100# main line.
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Re: [kentofnsl] Sturgeon or Surgeon? - BURLEY - 09-29-2019
[quote kentofnsl]The biggest challenge with any modification is getting it to work when fighting a sturgeon at the boat. No problem figuring out something that will work when the sturgeon is 100 yards away from the boat.[/quote] You are so right. It will take a lot of engineering. Maybe mount a rotating jib-crane, with chair hung under it, in the center of the boat. [
] Now I would need a bigger boat. Oh well, I guess I will make do with what I got and just back off the drag a smig.[signature]
Re: [BURLEY] Sturgeon or Surgeon? - Kent - 09-29-2019
If anyone can figure something out it is you.
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Re: [BURLEY] Sturgeon or Surgeon? - Therapist - 10-01-2019
Well aware of the tackle requirements. Used to outfit guys going up to fish for sturgeon. Penn had an 8ft rod in the Slammer Series that seemed to fill the bill, paired with a 4/0 High Speed Senator, spooled with 80lb Trilene XT. Could get it out the door for about 395.00. That was my cost plus 10%. Never got to go up myself, but had several guys that went up on a regular basis. Had one guy that insisted that a large Penn Spinning reel w/ 30lb XT would be adequate. First fish he hooked, spooled him and burned out the drag. He invested in the conventional outfit !!
Re: [Therapist] Sturgeon or Surgeon? - BURLEY - 10-01-2019
Sounds like a nice setup. I started out with the Penn Senator HS 4/0, but went with a shorter rod for use in my boat. I have since changed my gear to open faced Fin-Norr 8500 offshore reels with carbon fiber drag discs. They have high spool capacity and the smoothest drag that I have ever experienced. For rods I use a 6'3" shakesphere Tiger Elite rated for 50-100# line and Fiblink's 6'0" T80120 rated for 80-120# line. The Tiger Elite has a more sensitive tip, while the Fiblink is stouter and aids in controlling the big ones at the boat. I use 100#braid, both powerpro and spiderwire, on all reels with 80# dacron leaders. The dacron, being thicker, is less likely to harm/cut the sturgeon than braid.
I tried using heavy catfish outfits that resulted in broken rods and spooled reels.
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Re: [BURLEY] Sturgeon or Surgeon? - Therapist - 10-02-2019
Things have changed dramatically since 1984. The new technology in reels, lines, and rods have really been amazing. In browsing the internet, you can find all kinds of products, for very reasonable cost, that never existed back then.
I also used to outfit guys fishing the Gorge for the big Macs back then. The preferred rig was a Sabre 210 blank, finished with carbide guides, Penn 49 reel w/rod clamps, and 300lb steel line. A T-55 Flatfish was clipped directly to the line with a Berkly scissor snap and they whole thing was dragged on the bottom in 80-120ft of water. You straightened out the hooks on the Flatfish if you hung on the bottom. Now everyone uses Downriggers, but the steel line was a pretty effective method back in the day !! Unfortunately, the only part of the tackle available today is the Penn 49 reel , steel line, and terminal tackle. Sabre has been bought by Penn and the 210 blank is made in Korea now, and Worden has purchased Helin Lures and discontinued the T-55 Flatfish. I know a few guys that still pull the big jointed Quickfish, but the hardware on them is not as heavy duty as the old T-55.