Another Successful Sturgeon Trip!

[N.E.T.O.]

Kent (Kentofnsl), Kory (Ktrout) and myself once again braved the elements and went Sturgeon fishing up in Idaho.
We left Wednesday afternoon 6/30, stopped along the way and purchased Idaho fishing licenses, permits and a quaqqa mussel stamps for Kents boat, and arrived at C.J. Strike Reservoir, in Idaho just before dark. Weather was warm, skies were clear and there was just a little breeze. I was looking forward to perfect Sturgeon fishing conditions over the next few days! I set up my tent and proceeded to not sleep one the whole night long I was so excited.
We got up about 4:30 a.m. Thursday morning 7/1. Kent and Cory woke up at that time...I just got up...I was already awake, and had been the whole night! We launched and went over to try to catch some crappies for bait...but the wind was blowing and it was impossible to stay in position. Kory caught one crappie, then we headed off to the secret Sturgeon fishing hole. The first thing we noticed, once again, due to the wind, were two things: 1. The wind was overcoming the current on the river/lake (C.J. Strike, although called a reservoir, is an impoundment of the Snake River, so it always has a current.) which meant we had to throw an anchor out the BACK of the boat instead of the front and 2. Because the top of the reservoir was flowing BACKWARDS...there was no seawead to deal with. (Note: This was the ONE AND ONLY good thing about the wind on this trip!). Anyway, we anchored up in the wind, I cast out my first pole, and before I even got my second pole out, I was getting a bite! This was going to be an excellent day I thought!...but I was wrong. I was using a circle hook on that pole, and waited to see if the fish hooked itself (learned later how to deal with the circle hooks), but it didn't...and long story short...I never had another bite the whole rest of the day. We moved to secret spot #2 and finally started catching fish! Over the next couple days, we dealt with the wind, fished, dealt with the wind, took naps when the fishing was slow, dealt with the wind, ate, dealt with the wind, and fished some more. We ended up with 18 Sturgeon between us. I was skunked the first day, but caught up later. We had a few good ones but no 8 footers this trip. Kent caught one that literally started peeling line out with no warning whatsoever and he was lucky to get the drag tightened down before it spooled him completely! We had a number of very subtle bites, barely enough to even indicate a bite, and we had a lot of swings and misses. Kent also caught a 7 lb. Channel Catfish, that actually hit harder than most of the 250 lb. Sturgeon we caught! All fish were caught in 2 holes on the river/reservoir and we moved back and forth a lot as needed...mostly dealing with the wind, but also one of the spots wasn't yielding as many fish as we thought it should have been, so we kept going back and trying. One spot in particular was the very best, so we kept gravitating that direction, but even it was very very slow at times. Also the bite was strange. One day it was a good afternoon bite, the next day a good morning bite, etc, but nothing consistent enough to make a pattern out of it. Sturgeon fishing is all about patience. You may wait HOURS for the chance to fight a big fish for 30 minutes or so...but it is so worth it! I actually felt real PAIN a few times this trip trying to get fish to the boat! Here is our ledger of fish caught, with the fish #, time of day caught, fisherman, length and location. Notice again...I caught ZERO fish on Thursday!

Thursday
#1 10:40 a.m. Kent 39" Hole #1
#2 10:55 a.m. Kory 39" Hole #1
#3 11:00 a.m. Kory 86" Hole #1
#4 11:35 a.m. Kory 38" Hole #1
#5 6:00 p.m. Kent 60" Hole #2
#6 6:45 p.m. Kent 69" Hole #2
#7 8:20 p.m. Kent 62" Hole #2
Friday
#8 11:50 a.m. Randy 41" Hole #2
#9 2:00 p.m. Kory 45" Hole #1
#10 2:00 p.m. Kory 75" Hole #1 (yes, a double!)
#11 3:05 p.m. Randy 36" Hole #1
#12 5:08 p.m. Randy 43" Hole #1
#13 5:15 p.m. Randy 69" Hole #1
Saturday
#14 6:20 a.m. Kent 37" Hole #1
#15 6:30 a.m. Randy 42" Hole #1
#16 7:10 a.m. Kory 40" Hole #1
#17 7:40 a.m. Randy 72" Hole #1
#18 12:00 Kory 72" Hole #1

Once again, Kent's knowledge of these fish paid off big time as we caught fish each day even in absolutely almost unfishable conditions (...did I mention the wind?) and the ratio of LARGE fish to small fish was excellent this year!
Thanks Kent and Kory for a great trip!
Here are a few pictures of camp...Kory has all the FISH pictures!
Randy
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[Kent]

It was another successful outing for the sturgeon. My first trip every fishing exclusively with circle hooks and they didn't let me down. Unfortunately, for some strange reason I didn't get my fair share of the bites.

One interesting thing happened while we were fishing on Friday. The sturgeon catching was slow for awhile so we decided to try our luck fishing for the bass. Only to find that the bass catching was even slower than the sturgeon catching (We have always been able to catch bass one right after another up there, so this was highly unusual.). When we pulled away from shore the prop guard hit a rock out further from shore than I would have expected to find a submerged rock. Immediately thereafter the outboard ran poorly. I had to keep the throttle on high in order to get it even to run. After fighting it for awhile Randy pulled the cover and announced that one of the carburator bowl drain screws was missing. This caused us to lose lots of gas and two cylinders were not firing. Apparently, it was loose and the jolt from hitting the rock had knocked it out. After searching for the screw inside of the boat cover, while we were still on the water, it was obvious that it wasn't going to be found. Randy announced that he could provide a temporary fix if we had some chewing gum. Kory and I rarely chew gum so we were of no help, but Randy came to the rescue again by finding some gum in his goody bag. After chewing it awhile he stuck it on the engine and it run flawlessly. We got it back on the trailer and Randy discovered that the screw on the trolling motor (both Mercurys) was the same size, so he borrowed the screw from the trolling motor. Note to self -- always make sure that one of the anglers I invite on extended fishing trips is a mechanic. Without Randy being there to save the day (Randy was an auto mechanic in a prior life) Kory and I would have been lost as to what was wrong and how to fix it.

As always great time with Randy and Kory.
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[Ktrout]

Here is the link to the videos we took during the trip. The videos were too large to attach here.

[url "http://s392.photobucket.com/albums/pp8/koryj2/Sturgeon%20July%202010/"]http://s392.photobucket.com/...rgeon%20July%202010/[/url]

And I picked out some of the pictures and attached them as well. It is hard to take good pictures of the sturgeon since you can't take them out of the water and it is too hard to go to shore and get a good snapshot. So most of the pictures are next to the boat or when it was close to the end of the fight.

Great time with you guys as usual.

Kory
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[RDRRM8E]

Nice outing, guys! Looks like you had a great time!
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[orvis1]

If you head up again and need another guy to split expenses let me know that is one trip I have been wanting to do for some time now!
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[Kent]

[quote orvis1]

If you head up again and need another guy to split expenses let me know that is one trip I have been wanting to do for some time now!

[/quote]

PM your contact information to me. I am also likely to make some one-day sturgeon shore fishing trips this year.
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[Kent]

Thanks Rich. Yes we did; however these trips are definitely just for the serious angler. Between fishing non-stop from 6:00 AM to often after 9 PM, often brutal heat or cold (depending upon the time of year), invariably strong winds and camping out in somewhat primitive conditions.
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[RDRRM8E]

You mean it's not for mere mortals? Well that leaves me out!
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[Kent]

I have a hunch that you could handle it just fine.[]
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[wiperhunter2]

Sounds like another great trip. I'm wondering about that inspection for the mussel, did you do it on the way up, how does it work in Idaho?
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[Kent]

Yep, all vehicles towing boats must stop at the first rest stop in Idaho. They do an inspection and ask you a few questions and then put a tag on your boat that breaks off when one launches a boat. The theory with the tag is to let other officers know that the boat has already been inspected since its arrival in Idaho.
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[wiperhunter2]

So, do you need to do that on every trip or just once a year for out of state folks?
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[Kent]

Every trip if you travel on I-84. Don't know about the other roads into Idaho.
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[rselk]

ive been fishing for sturgeon for about 25 years in idaho and i know that any game fish caught in idaho is illegal to us as bait we always use morts from the private fish hatcheries (dead trout from private hatcheries are not considered game fish you might want to check i would hate to se you get wacked. rselk
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[Kent]

[quote rselk]

ive been fishing for sturgeon for about 25 years in idaho and i know that any game fish caught in idaho is illegal to us as bait we always use morts from the private fish hatcheries (dead trout from private hatcheries are not considered game fish you might want to check i would hate to se you get wacked. rselk

[/quote]

Welcome to BFT and I appreciate your concern; however, I am confident that your [#000000]understanding[/#000000] of the Idaho laws are not correct. Here are the rules regarding bait in Idaho, from the[size 6][size 6]
[left][#000000][size 3]"2008 - 2010 [/size][/#000000][#000000][size 3]Fishing Seasons and Rules"[/size][/#000000][/size][/size]:

[size 1][size 1]
[left][#000000][size 3]"BAIT[/size][/#000000][/size][/size][#000000]: Organic substances, other than rubber, wood, feather, [/#000000][#000000]fiber, or plastic, attached to a hook to attract fish. Bait includes [/#000000][#000000]insects, insect larvae, worms, dead fish, fish parts, any other [/#000000][#000000]animal or vegetable matter, or scented synthetic materials. (Live [/#000000][#000000]fish are prohibited as bait in Idaho.) ..[/#000000][#000000].[/#000000]
[#000000][/#000000]

[left][#000000]Use of Bait: [/#000000][#000000]It is unlawful to use live fish, leeches, frogs,[/#000000]
[left][#000000]salamanders, waterdogs or shrimp as bait, except that live [/#000000][#000000]crayfish may be used if caught on the body of water being [/#000000][#000000]fished."[/#000000]
[left]
[left]Notice that dead fish and fish parts are legal to use, without any mention of a restriction on not using game fish. If one uses morts for bait one should keep the receipt in order to prove that they were purchased and one is not in possession of fish exceeding the bag limits.
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[mactuna]

Looks like you all had a great time. Looks a little windy, hard to control the boat,
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[Kent]

Almost every trip the wind blows at least once hard enough that we get off of the water and hole up in camp. At those times one hopes that their tent will take the beating (many tents have failed) and not get destroyed and/or blown away. Fishing in the wind is a challenge, even though we are always anchored up. The challenge is that the wind almost always blows upstream, so the current pulls the boat one way and the wind takes the boat the opposite direction.
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[Mojo1]

[quote rselk]ive been fishing for sturgeon for about 25 years in idaho and i know that any game fish caught in idaho is illegal to us as bait we always use morts from the private fish hatcheries (dead trout from private hatcheries are not considered game fish you might want to check i would hate to se you get wacked. rselk[/quote]

Bud, I hate to burst your bubble, but using trout/crappie/bluegill/perch etc. for bait is indeed legal in Idaho. Seriously, I fish with a couple of F&G officers - and they would have to arrest themselves if it was illegal. The only questionable issue would be with bass, as you have to be able to prove a minimum 12". You can use whole 12" or larger bass, but I wouldn't. Feel free to quote the page and paragraph in the regulations that show it is illegal to use trout and crappie etc. for bait.
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[thebug]

sound like a great trip good job. Kent next time your in the twin area let me know and i'll see if i can't sneak off and find some dinos with ya
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