09-27-2019, 01:47 AM
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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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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Good fishing to all. Hue