Sturgeon fishing 06-04-2012

Catching one of these prehistoric looking fish has been on my list for awhile. We have tried in the past to make the trip with Alan and Nolana, but other things would bump it off the calendar. So we were glad that things worked out this year. Check out the site of our guide Brad Hadfield and notice the picture of the guy at the top of the left margin, it's Alan with an over sized Sturgeon. Alan and Nolana have been out with Brad several times, and once landed a 10-footer.

We met Brad at the dock at 6:30 am and headed out to a spot that had been good for him the day before. After a while other boats (see picture above) started showing up. 

I was the first to hook up, but it came unhooked at the boat. Shortly after I caught this keeper. In order to keep a Sturgeon the length must fall between 41" to 54", this one was 50" and 25 lbs.

Alan brought in the next one. It was 0.25 to 0.50 inches short of being a keeper.

The bait we were using was either bait fish as shown above or shrimp. 

This is how it was rigged up.

White Sturgeon are found along the west coast of North America from the Aleutian Islands to Central California. It is the largest "Freshwater" fish in North America, and is known to reach a maximum size of 1799 lbs and 20 ft. They can live to be over 100 years old. Typically, they reach six feet long around 25 years of age.

Sturgeon have changed very little since they first appeared, over 175 million years ago and thus have the appearance of a very ancient fish. 

Sturgeon have no scales, instead they have large bony scutes that serve as a form of armor. 

Sturgeon live and feed on the bottom of rivers and bays. 

 They come equipped with a super sucker.

Next it was Nolana's turn, a nice one just a little short of being a keeper. 

I picked up another keeper, this time 51" and 28 lbs.

Both of the fish I caught had been tagged. The fish and game officer at the dock took the tags and said they would send me a little history about the fish I had caught. UPDATE, I received the information on the fish: They were originally tagged with in a couple days of each other, and almost exactly two years from the time I caught them. They had each grow about eight inches, and were tagged approximately five mile from where I caught them.   

These little Bullheads kept trying to steal our bait. 

Alan displaying this Sturgeon and one of the one-thousand origami (paper) cranes he folded in honor of people with cancer.

Grandpa hooks into one, but didn't care to get a picture so it was unhooked and released at the boat. 

Coming back into the dock.

One last picture before having the fish filleted.

This is Andy and his son Tyler, rumor is that they are the best at filleting. If you are interested in seeing how Andy fillets a Sturgeon click HERE 

We had a fun day fishing with Brad and would recommend him. I would like to do it again and go after over sized (over 54 inches) Sturgeon, or just a day of catch and release when the fishing is fast.

Check out the Video (Best viewed Full Screen)