Sturgeon 4/28

[Fishnmike]

Since I posted a lot of questions about upgrading the drags on my sturgeon reels, thought I would post the report from last weekend. The new Carbontex drags in my Okuma Convector 30Ls and my Calcutta 700s were awesome.

Saturday dad and I headed out for what has become our weekly sturgeon trip. Talked with Bouy 33 the nite before regarding trying to find a place I could hide from the predicted winds and he suggested Big Cut. We got to Pittsburg shortly after daylight and the wind was howling so I decided to head on to Martinez with the idea of fish off Ozol where I can usually get out of a west wind. Picked up some grass shrimp, dropped the boat and was heading out when I saw Capt. Steve on Flash prepping his boat. He told me that he had a great day the day before off the mothball fleet and he suggested I head that way and try to deal with the wind.

We started graphing just east of the bridge finding a fish here and a fish there but no groups. I did note that most of the random fish I was spotting were holding along either side of the channel edge in 35 feet. I finally picked a spot, dropped the anchor, set a back anchor and tossed out the drift socks to combat the uptide wind and we settled into fish. About an hour into the outgoing tide one of dad's rods starts to pump, he sets up and is fast into a good fish. I started clearing rods as this fish wanted to cross every line we had out. In that process I realized one of the rods I am clearing has a fish attached to it, our first double! Mine turned out to be a 40 inch shaker and it quickly went back so I could help dad with his. Dad lands his, a 57 incher which we measured, photographed and released.


Sorry for the poor photo, at the time I didn't realize the type of day we were going to have.

After releasing the fish we got set back up and ready for what the rest of the day had to bring, totally content having landed two fish. A couple hours later dad's rod got a pump again and he setup. This fish launched out of the water and was probably an oversize. Shortly after the jump, he made one run then popped off. The main line was all frayed.

Shortly after setting up again I finally got a bite and setup, battled a nice fish to the boat which went 56 inches. Took a pic and back it went.


Unbelievable!, we've havn't had a day like this yet in the little over year we have been chasing sturgeon. I get reset again, have to start making new leaders at this point, and wait to see what happens next. About an hour later at the bottom of the outgo my rod gets a pump again and I setup and hooked our 5th fish of the day. Landed and measured him at 55 inches and turned him loose.


By this time it was around 3PM and I had to work early on Sunday, but I realized the type of bite we were on doesn't happen often so I decided to stick out the tide change. The dead tide lasted a long time and boat control was non-existent through the swing. Once the tide got setup we began the wait again. We acquired some neighbors who ended up catching 2 keepers and two shakers in a couple of hours. They are hooked up in this pic.



About 5PM dad had a great pump but missed it. An hour later dad had another bite and stuck this one. It also measured 55 inches.




At 6:30 I called it a day and we headed in after getting my anchor unstuck for the long drive back to Modesto. 4 of the fish came on straight eel and two came on eel/grass shrimp combo. All of the bites came on two rods, the other two rods went un touched all day even though they had the same baits.

Truely an amazing day! And yes I realize the date on the pics is off.

[wallacewt]

magic stuff

[alantani]

thanks for the report.  it really gave me a chuckle. i actually tried sturgeon fishing once, years and years ago.  the guy i went fishing with never told me what to do, so when i saw a tap i reared back on that rod and go nothing but air and water.  he had a good laugh.  that was our one and only bite.  the rest of the day was about exciting as watching paint dry......   

[Bryan Young]

Sweet day for you and your dad. 

[Fishnmike]

Its been a fun experience learning the sturgeon game. Dad and I have fished all our lives; trout, kokes, bass, stripers, salmon, etc. but never sturgeon. All fish you actively pursue. Last year we decided to try sturgeon which we quickly became addicted to.  We have mostly been self taught with a little help from Ron (Bouy 33). Sturgeon fishing is much more like hunting than fishing.