07/17 07/18 Snake River Sturgeon

[Nick1983]

Got out to do some sturgeon fishing today and yesterday... didn't really expect much due to the heat... I'm sure glad I went though. Today started rough- I hooked what felt like a real big fish, but he decided to be smart and hide behind a boulder and cut my leader off on a rock... I could feel the line rubbing on it and just felt helpless, then pop! I still had my weight and my swivel, and about 6" of my 18" leader. Dang! I got my 2nd pole out and before I could bait up my light pole for bass/whatever I got hit again. This time, I had a massive mistake where I had a back lash previously that wasn't addressed. So... as line is singing out of the reel, it stops suddently, and I notice that my line was knotted in the spool. Great... panicked for about 5 seconds before the line just popped. Thankfully, it broke at my leader, so that fish doesn't have a crap ton of line hanging out of its face.

Got pretty bummed out... thinking I wasn't going to catch anything else.

Yesterday, I was by myself, ended up catching 3. Kinda hard to take pictures by yourself w/ a pole and a fish, this is the best I could manage. The rest were just pictures of my arm and half the fish haha!


Today, I went with my buddy- we caught ol' stubby after the earlier SNAFU. I've caught this dude a total of 3 times so far this year, and I know another guy (fishin4days) that's caught him a few times as well. He's still healthy and a good fighter, as much as he can be without the bottom fin on his tail.


After stubbs, we caught the good ol' typical big snake river sturg. 6' and fat. Good fight, good girth. Pulled a 2/0 circle hook with 20lb test out of his mouth... come on, really? Then I pulled about 3 yards of line from his butt and carefully removed a swivel that was tied to it. Probably won't tell the wife that one... haha!


And... I'll just let the picture do the talking. I was mostly a catfish guy, but over the last 2 years, I think I'm a full on sturgeon fanatic now.

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[Jimbojump]

Awesome report Nick! I too am becoming a Sturgeon fanatic...they definately seem more picky over here in the Treasure Valley though. I went a couple weeks ago and broke a pole....then I also had a pole that was an OLD antique that I replaced the handle on...went to cast a really hard cast and the whole dang pole flew off the handle and into the abyss...made me sooooo I had to sit down a while...thinking of getting a snorkel and fins and diving for it and the 50 lbs of lead that is no dount laying in that hole....ugh...Love the fight though!
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[fish_or_die]

Great pics! That last one is a giant!
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[wilcam47]

wow nice sturgeon..
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[Mac7]

Nice fish. That looks like a lot of fun.
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[idahoron]

Sounds like a lot of fun. Ron
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