How to boat a 60" sturgeon (Not)

SureSet · 04-22-2001, 06:32 PM

Until yesterday my experience with getting legal Sturgeon in the boat had been pretty good. Play'em, pull'em up and tail'em.

In the gorge yesterday a strange deal happens. I latch into a nice fish that immediatly takes a short run and I feel him twist. Then the fight just stops. Next thing I know the fish is coming in backwards on the surface like a dead log - tail first wrapped in Dacron and 80# Tuf-line. I have marks on the boat for 42" but typically I don't worry much about 60+. This guy was close if not over, but definately worth a measurement.

The problem was that this fish wasn't tired, He was at the boat in 2-3 minutes. We knew it, he knew it, but what do you do when it's right next to the boat lying quiet, your buddy has it gripped by the tail and you have the pole.

Suffice it to say, we attmepted to hang on for dear life. As soon as the pole tension was off, he was on. In the end, all we got was wet. He embarassed the heck out of us.

Anyone have a good technique for handling a fish that is obviously not really played-out, but at the boat anyway? And yes, I've thought about the NET. I left it home........ [img]images/icons/blush.gif[/img]

Pilar · 04-23-2001, 07:32 AM

Hi Sureset. This has happened to me a few times. I use a stick, 6' long and check before hauling them out. In the gorge when we pursue big daddy the stick is 12' long.

If you bring a big fish in all spun up, here's two things to try.

1st figure out if its going home with you or not. If not then cut the leader or remove the hook. The fish will calm a great deal if you hold him upside down next to the boat. There is a name for this response in fish, anyone? Anyway, you can roll any large fish over on it's back and it will lie still for a short time.

The other thing is to unwind the line and play him out. As soon as he gets his head free he'll go straight back to the bottom and the battle is on.

It's all about the fight for me so I pick option 2 almost every time.

[ 04-23-2001: Message edited by: Pilar ]

Hoosier Daddy · 04-23-2001, 07:38 AM

Not sure about the legalities of this, so you should check with OSP about it first, and make DAMNED sure you don't use this method to remove them from the water. What the biologists do with oversize fish is put them in a stretcher of sorts. Two poles with a baggy length of canvas stretched in between them. You slide the thing under the fish, then pull the poles together like you were going to stretcher the thing and move it. This would probably help keep the fish from thrashing around too much, but might be a little tough to pull off. Other than that, I think getting wet is your only option.