07-03-2016, 02:48 PM
Randy, Neldon and I just returned from fishing for sturgeon. The fishing was hot (got over 100 degrees every day)! I wish that the catching would have been as hot as the temperature. We did OK, with bringing 16 sturgeon to the boat and had one break off and three others get off. The quality of the sturgeon was the best I have ever experienced, with the largest going 7' 4" and only two were under about 3 1/2'.
In Idaho, it is legal to use game fish for bait. Over the years, I have tried chubs, crappie, rainbow trout, mud cats, yellow perch, bluegill, cisco and squaw fish with minimal success. I have caught nearly every sturgeon on pickled herring. This trip, the catching was slow, so once again I tried whole chubs and the sturgeon loved them. I quickly went through my three chubs, so we decided to go catch some bluegills or crappie. I managed to only catch one crappie (often, I can catch over 30 in less than 30 minutes) and zero bluegills. (Unfortunately, we didn't have any worms for bait for the blue gills.) We cut the crappie up in two fillets and Randy and I almost immediately hooked sturgeon and then Neldon put on the crappie head and hooked one. We thought we had lucked out, when we found a convenience store that sold bags of frozen rainbow morts. We tried them on Saturday and only had a couple bites on them. Strange, how after all of these trips, with almost zero success with chubs and crappie (I have tried crappie many times without success) that the sturgeon wanted them. I will be prepared on every trip from now on.
We have caught doubles on several trips, but this is the first time that I have seen the same angler hook doubles, and I was the lucky one.
Once again, a fun trip with great fishing companions. Last sturgeon report until the fall.
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In Idaho, it is legal to use game fish for bait. Over the years, I have tried chubs, crappie, rainbow trout, mud cats, yellow perch, bluegill, cisco and squaw fish with minimal success. I have caught nearly every sturgeon on pickled herring. This trip, the catching was slow, so once again I tried whole chubs and the sturgeon loved them. I quickly went through my three chubs, so we decided to go catch some bluegills or crappie. I managed to only catch one crappie (often, I can catch over 30 in less than 30 minutes) and zero bluegills. (Unfortunately, we didn't have any worms for bait for the blue gills.) We cut the crappie up in two fillets and Randy and I almost immediately hooked sturgeon and then Neldon put on the crappie head and hooked one. We thought we had lucked out, when we found a convenience store that sold bags of frozen rainbow morts. We tried them on Saturday and only had a couple bites on them. Strange, how after all of these trips, with almost zero success with chubs and crappie (I have tried crappie many times without success) that the sturgeon wanted them. I will be prepared on every trip from now on.
We have caught doubles on several trips, but this is the first time that I have seen the same angler hook doubles, and I was the lucky one.
Once again, a fun trip with great fishing companions. Last sturgeon report until the fall.
[signature]