Astoria sturgeon Saturday

[Fish Hunter]

Just got back from Astoria. Heard some reports that success was getting spotty. Thats what we found. We didnt fish that long, just the incoming Sat. due to other family plans. We fished upstream of Tongue Point. The sculpins were on us bad. Managed to get only one Sturgeon and it was 41.9999 inches. It was my wifes 1st sturgeon. She was really into it. She normally has clean language , but got trucker's mouth when I told her we had to let it go. It was funny to hear that out of her in front of my Dad. Some boats did ok. Got my safety check out of the way, courtesy of Clatsop's finest when we took out at the East Mooring Basin.
Got my 3 yr old nephews out for a boat ride. They had a good time overall but in slightly rough water one kid loved it and the other was scared. images/icons/shocked.gif
I'm grooming them to be my future fishing crew. images/icons/grin.gif

[Twoshottom]

Fished out of Deep River today. Started out just above the bridge on the outgoing tide. Lots of fish jumping. (Can anyone tell me why they do this??) Not too many biting. Moved several times, we ended up catching 11 fish including a 45 and 48-inch keepers. Wind wasn't bad. When we got back to the launch a relative and another boat said we should have been fishing off portugese point on the incoming. We were fishing about 15 feet of water, they were fishing 50-60 feet.

[drift boat]

I fish off of Rice Island saturday. Four small ones to the boat. On sunday we fish near PortuguesePoint. WE got 25 small ones to the boat with four keeper all in the 50's. Along with one very oversize fish. It never did make it to the top to get a good look at. We were fishing in 70 feet of water. images/icons/shocked.gif images/icons/shocked.gif

[Gooseman]

Fished between the bridge and Tongue point Sunday, and it was the slooowwwest I've seen all year. Mooved more than I care to think about. Even my 2 honey holes were dry. Did see a large amount of baitfish activity, and the remnants of a large baitfish die off. Did enjoy the good weather & company. Heard that the afternoon tides were producing since last Thursday.

[WaterDog]

Well I can add to this report. I fished Saturday east of tongue point and got exactly ZERO bites! Not one fish to the boat. images/icons/frown.gif 3 rods, 8 hours. Moved over a dozen times(lost count after 10 moves). The sculpins were horrible, sand shrimp lasted about 20 seconds once it hit the bottom. That was the absolute worst day ever up there. We even resorted to following the guides and charter boats for a while. The only excuse I have is that I wasn’t fishing out of my boat! images/icons/rolleyes.gif

[Killertraylor]

We limited in 45 minutes on Saturday (only the wife and I fishing) but we only cought 5 fish. We fished the flood above the bridge on the Wash. side in 9 ft of water. Took us about 2 hours to get 4 keepers on Sunday in the same spot on the early morning ebb. Cought about 20 fish on Sunday - lots of 41 inchers. Herring was the ticket - the sculpin wouldn't touch it even though they gobbled up every anchovy in less than a minute.

[Fish Hunter]

Way to go Killer. Sounds like it can still be done! Thanks for the info guys.

[Salmonator]

4 rods, three hours of fishing and two keepers (45 and 46" double) in the boat off tongue point in 6 feet of water. Only released 5 fish. Same 4 rods for 6 people sunday out at cr, 10 clipped coho in the boat and 15 nice crab all hard. We also landed more fat chinook jacks than I could count.
Speaking of baitfish die-off, we saw a bunch of big dungeness dead on the beach near the peter iredale wreck. Is this all related to what i'm assuming was a big "red tide" plankton bloom I saw in the bay and the ocean? Yes, the water was blood red in several spots yet I never heard of any warnings from officials. Does any one know more about this??? Joe

[Twoshottom]

I'm bringing this back to top hoping someone can tell me why (or at least have theory as to why) the sturgeon jump or roll when not hooked?? I've never seen as many jump as I did on Sunday.

Hey drift boat
Did you fish out of deep river? Were you in an open sled? If you did and were back at the launch about 3:30, we were taking the top down on the bayliner in front of you. If that wasn't you someone had a very similiar story. images/icons/shocked.gif

[Tryin2Fish]

Here is a theory on the jumping sturgeon. I have watched and they head straight up and back down in the water backwards, this is the reasoning behind my theory. Since the sturgeon are basically a vacuum cleaner and if they dive through a school of bait fish they are bound to get some as they suck in water. When I saw those jumping down there last year I looked at the fish finder and it was nearly blacked out due to all the small fish in the water. Anyways, thats my theory.

[drift boat]

Yep that was me if it was a blue sled...You were right about the fish jumping everywhere. I have not seen so many jumping in that area in a long time. I will be there agine this saturday and sunday. images/icons/grin.gif images/icons/grin.gif

[Fish4Fun]

I have been fishing at Portuguese Point for 7 years and the fish have been jumping there everytime we fish the deep water. The bite was pretty good in the deep water on the incoming. Had to look through a lot of shakers to get legals though. Monday the bite was turned on just before the tide change and for a couple of hours into the incoming. Fished 2 rods and had 20 hook ups with 3 doubles. We caught fish all 3 days in the deep water, that was the only place the Bullheads wouldn't keep taking the baits.

[Killertraylor]

That jumping sturgeon thing is sure a wierd phenomenon. I'll agree that there were more jumpers on Sunday than I've seen in a long time. We had cought 2 keepers in the 9 foot water when I saw sturgeon jumping about 100 yards away in 30 foot water. I timed it for two minutes and saw 26 fish jump. We promptly moved over to the middle of where they were jumping and put 2 more keepers in the boat and cought another 15 fish in about an hour. They continued to jump all around the boat the entire time. They do flop out of the water kind of funny and fall on their side or back - maybe it relaxes them. Ever notice how they just lay there when you get one on it's back next to the boat?