Columbia River White Sturgeon with Chrisper (8/25-8/26)

[JDTuna]

Chrisper and I put together a trip to head out west to the Columbia river to target big white sturgeon. The plan was to fish two days.

Day 1:

Met the guide at the boat nice and early and headed out. Unfortunately, some unsettled weather had slowed the bite. In addition, fresh bait was scare since the shad run had ended, but we still hoped to get a few shots at some big fish.

We stopped at the first spot, and it didn't take long for Chrisper to catch his first white sturgeon. It wasn't the size we were looking for, but still his first!



We bounced around to a few other spots and caught some more small fish, but no monsters. We made the decision to head to another spot below a dam. While it's a good spot, the area is very rocky and has extreme depth changes and rock ledges, neither of which are kind to braided line. Even with a topshots of mono, some of the ledges drop from 35 to 150 plus feet. Sturgeon are very powerful fish, and this makes for a tricky situation.

We set up, and immediately had smaller fish on the baits to keep us occupied. Our only hope for fresh bait, was to look for dying shad drifting downstream on the surface. Once we saw one, it was a frantic scramble to reel in the gear and drive over and net it before an osprey grabbed it. While the osprey won most of the battles, we did find a few fresh baits.









Then we got the bite we were looking for. Chrisper was on with a big sturgeon. The fish went airborne, then made some long runs and bulldogged around the river. Chrisper had the fish right up to the boat, but unfortunately at the last second the fish shot under the motor and cut him off.

We set back up and hooked up again on a big fish while checking a bait, without the telltale sturgeon bite. As I was fighting the fish, I could tell something wasn't right. A pulled hook after a few minutes confirmed the fish was foul hooked. We had one more big fish bite for the day, but the fish quickly cut the braid on structure. Tough day, 0 for 2 on big fish and caught about 15 smaller models.

Day 2:

Headed out to the same area we had fished the day before. As we set up, there were big sturgeon jumping all over the place. We didn't wait long.

The rod with our one fresh bait thumped hard, a sure sign of a big sturgeon. I set the hook and the fish made a nice run ended with a spectacular jump. Luckily, the fish stayed out of the rocks and after a tough fight I had a big sturgeon next to the boat. I couldn't resist getting in the water for a picture right before release.







We set back up and it wasnt long before we had another good bite. Chrisper set the hook and a big sturgeon came out of the water. Unfortunately, this fish knew exactly what to do and it steamrolled directly upstream and cut the line in rapid succession.

We got right back into fishing mode and got the baits out. We had to wait a bit, but we got another good bite. Chrisper set the hook and we were tight to another nice fish. The fight was tense, but Chrisper kept the fish off the structure and got the fish boatside. Another big sturgeon! He also decided to go for a swim with a dinosaur.





We set the baits out, but a front was moving and the bite shut down.

Another great trip in the books!