04-15-2021, 04:53 PM
Just got back from another exciting sturgeon trip. I took Roger (a sturgeon newbie) with me on this trip. Roger was at my house, just before 4:00 AM, which I always consider a good sign when a fishing buddy arrives a couple minutes early.
We got launched by about 9 and fishing by about 9:20. It didn't take long for Roger to give up his sturgeoninity when ~15 minutes later he was hooked up with a 5' sturgeon (picture attached). I played the "gracious host" by letting him catch the first one.
After catching one so quickly I figured we were going to catch a lot of them in short order. I figured wrong. We missed a few bites but didn't hook up again until after moving over 5 miles and at ~1:30 I hooked one, but it got into the rocks and broke off. About 20 minutes later I landed a 6 footer and an hour later Roger landed his own 6 footer. That was it for Tuesday.
We were on the water again the next morning as early as we were able to see. The action (for Roger) was good for about an hour and after it slowed down we started moving. We took another long boat ride (the opposite direction from the day before) and I showed Roger the lay of the land, in case he decides to invest in sturgeon tackle and fish sometime on his own. We tried where it was a little deeper but didn't even get a nibble. We moved back up where Roger had seen a couple fish on the fish finder while we were exploring. Anchored up there and it was fish on again (for Roger) and he kindly let me break another one off and he also had a break off. It slowed down a little and we decided to try again where we started the day.
This was a wise move. Lots of sturgeon were showing on the fish finder and they were biting (mostly for Roger again, but at one point we hooked doubles). I quickly got mine in (it was only a 4 footer) and Roger fought his sturgeon for ~25 minutes. We knew it was definitely a nice one, and when we finally got to see it we could tell it was special. It measured out right at 8'! It took me many years to finally catch an 8 footer and Roger does it on his first trip!
We had a great time and ended up landing 10 (8 for Roger and 2 for me). The smallest was 30", then 48" and the rest were 60" or longer, so the quality of the sturgeon we caught was exceptional.
I'm always excited when a newbie does well, but I've got to quit being such a "gracious host".
![[Image: Roger-sturgeon.png]](https://i.ibb.co/mqvY4bx/Roger-sturgeon.png)
We got launched by about 9 and fishing by about 9:20. It didn't take long for Roger to give up his sturgeoninity when ~15 minutes later he was hooked up with a 5' sturgeon (picture attached). I played the "gracious host" by letting him catch the first one.
After catching one so quickly I figured we were going to catch a lot of them in short order. I figured wrong. We missed a few bites but didn't hook up again until after moving over 5 miles and at ~1:30 I hooked one, but it got into the rocks and broke off. About 20 minutes later I landed a 6 footer and an hour later Roger landed his own 6 footer. That was it for Tuesday.
We were on the water again the next morning as early as we were able to see. The action (for Roger) was good for about an hour and after it slowed down we started moving. We took another long boat ride (the opposite direction from the day before) and I showed Roger the lay of the land, in case he decides to invest in sturgeon tackle and fish sometime on his own. We tried where it was a little deeper but didn't even get a nibble. We moved back up where Roger had seen a couple fish on the fish finder while we were exploring. Anchored up there and it was fish on again (for Roger) and he kindly let me break another one off and he also had a break off. It slowed down a little and we decided to try again where we started the day.
This was a wise move. Lots of sturgeon were showing on the fish finder and they were biting (mostly for Roger again, but at one point we hooked doubles). I quickly got mine in (it was only a 4 footer) and Roger fought his sturgeon for ~25 minutes. We knew it was definitely a nice one, and when we finally got to see it we could tell it was special. It measured out right at 8'! It took me many years to finally catch an 8 footer and Roger does it on his first trip!
We had a great time and ended up landing 10 (8 for Roger and 2 for me). The smallest was 30", then 48" and the rest were 60" or longer, so the quality of the sturgeon we caught was exceptional.
I'm always excited when a newbie does well, but I've got to quit being such a "gracious host".