[89RS]

Convinced my old man to drag the jet boat out yesterday afternoon to go chase some Dino's for a couple of hours. Hit the Mission launch about 5, and decided to slowly work our way upriver and try some new holes. Had a few hits, but no hooks ups down low. Gave up pretty quickly, & decided to go run up to the mouth of the Vedder to have a look if the gong show was in full effect up there. We arrived at the mouth with surprisingly only 2 other boats in sight. Putted around til we found the shelf we were looking for and dropped the gear down. After a while I brought my line in to re-rig with some fresh smelt, and right after I threw it out, I told my friend Dave to bring up the other rod for a check. Dave's never fished Sturgeon before....actually he's primarily a flyfisherman, so this whole 'stubby rod, huge reel, 14oz weight' thing was pretty new to him. So he 'set the hook' (as i told him to do to avoid getting the big weight hung up on snags. Nothing more fun than 100lb tuffline snags :-\ ). The rod just bent & didn't go anywhere. Immediately, I figured it for a snag. Then the fish went for a walk ;D So Dave's got his first ever Sturgeon on, and by the bend in the rod, it looks like it should be a decent one. I had it figured for maybe 4-5ft, & I tell him this. He seems pretty relaxed & content, as we coach him though it. No issues so far, and the fish is coming to the boat. Before we can see the fish, I can only assume he saw the boat, because he turned tail and started ripping off some serious line. I tell Dave that it looks like he's probably into a solid fiesty 5 footer. Dave has now exchanged his relaxed grin to a somewhat more worried smile. Right around now, the fish exploded out of the water, greeting by the 3 of us with a general consensus of 'Holy Shit!!!!!!' at what looked to be anywhere from a solid 8-10footer. Dave is now terrified and hanging on for dear life as the fish is ripping off line real quick, even with some considerable drag. Shortly after this, we realize that we are going to have to get this fish to shore to safely and properly release it. This seemed liek a great idea until we discovered that our anchor was jammed and we did not have a buoy for the line. Long story short (sort of...), we managed to wrestle the anchor loose and putt our way over to the beach to land the fish. After 1hr and 45mins, we landed the fish. (He wasn't excessively played, he just kept ripping line out.) Dave looked like he was about to keel over next to the fish. My old man used a rope to get a measurement on the fish, then in the release, lost his mark on the line. Thankfully we had the camera, so you can be the judge of the length. I figure roughly 8ft from tip to tail, and plenty of girth. Gently revived & released and we were on our way. ;D
Another great day on the river.

 

[mcallagan]

Nice!!!!!!
I've never fished sturgeon but after reading the forums on all of those who have I think I'm getting the itch and bad.

 

[Rib]

Great Story 89RS...That's a day to remember!

 

[Crazy Drifter]

Hey 89rs, nice fish, not bad for a sunday put put. were you guys working a shelf just up from the mouth. There is some nasty anchor snags in there lost two myself last year. I was just below on sun am but didn't get to stay out long. Did see quite a few dinos splashing around though around the 7:30 mark.
Crazy D

 

[scruffy]

great pics 89RS 8)

 

[Bent Rod]

Nice one 89.

I was the boat anchored above you.
I was getting worried about you guys, seemed something was wrong at the side of your boat .

Glad you finally got that one in.
Looked to be a solid 7+ from my view and it had a big tail on it.
Was everyone OK when it tried to take you out with it's tail .

My suggestion is once you land it get a set of gloved hands on that tail and don't ever let go.
I was nearly knoocked cold guiding a few years ago and had to work with a headache for aweek after being slapped.

Glad to see some biggies around, too bad I had all the right baits except OOLIES yesterday, we had to settle for a handful of "no belters".

 

[Crazy Drifter]

Did any of you guys fishing up above see the dead dino floating down past you guys at about 9-930 ish. Were you up by the wing dam that's usually high and dry and fishing the down river side of it?. Dont know saw three or so boats in there. I though it was a huge spring or maybe a body so went to check it out and it was a healthy 6 1/2' plus with some sores and marks on it floating belly up. :'( :'(
I fyou were there is a wild shelf to locate in there last summer when the side current was whipping through there the chanel it'self was about 4 ft then at the edge of the shelf i was reading 42 to 49 ft then the main outflow area stayed at about 26 ish. pretty neat shelf for sure always seemed to be fish holding up in there
Crazy D

 

[Bent Rod]

Funny you mention the dead Sturgeon Crazy, I saw it too near gravel plant and had to go check it out, I thought it might have been a dead Chinook of HUGE size but nope, a dead Sturgeon.

kills me to see a young sturgeon with a possible 60 years of life left floating down river.
Always wonder what killed the fish i see, thankfully I have not seen that many over the years.

I did however land one last week that was missing one of it's gill plates, I don't think I need to detail WHAT happened to that fish, it was scrapy as hell and appeared to be living well.

 

[89RS]

Nice one 89.

I was the boat anchored above you.
I was getting worried about you guys, seemed something was wrong at the side of your boat .

Glad you finally got that one in.
Looked to be a solid 7+ from my view and it had a big tail on it.
Was everyone OK when it tried to take you out with it's tail .

My suggestion is once you land it get a set of gloved hands on that tail and don't ever let go.
I was nearly knoocked cold guiding a few years ago and had to work with a headache for aweek after being slapped.

Glad to see some biggies around, too bad I had all the right baits except OOLIES yesterday, we had to settle for a handful of "no belters".

haha...I knew the "Bent Rod" on the side of your boat looked familiar...just couldn't put my finger on it! ;D You were right, we were having some issues there for a while when our anchor was hung up. Pretty tricky steering a fish that big into the side of the boat, especially with a newbie on the rod! Also, we're all pretty green with Sturgeon that size, so chasing the tail certainly proved to be a task. I just reread my post & realized I didn't mention the bait....He bit on Dew Worms, not Oolies.
Thanks for the glove tip though....will certainly be hanging on for dear life next time!