Another Oversize Weekend

[birdhunter]

I love these fish! They are willing biters, fight forever and are freakin huge!!!

Coot and I spent the weekend again drowning shad in our quest for sturgeon. Got up to P-town late Friday and put in around 6 to catch some shad for bait. Well after about an hour at Camas we had 20 some shad and figured that would last us a while, so we went fish for sturgeon before it got dark.

30 minutes after the lines touch bottom we hook up with our first one. 45 minute fight - 7.5 ft fish. Motor back up to our spot and after another 30 minutes we hook into another fish. This one was 9 ft long, but only took (get this) 8 minutes to land!

Next morning Aye fsh met us out there w/ his dad, his son and a friend. They had a blast catching shad during the morning. We had to go in around 10:00 for a bit, and came back out around 1. Lots of bad storms during that period. The Columbia was just really windy and choppy. Bad west wind, but we made an effort to go oversize fishing and caught a ten footer at our spot. Took about 45 minutes to land and lo and behold, it was the same 10 footer we got last weekend. "Bertha" (as we call her) is blind in her left eye and has a tag from WDFW too. Not the kind of fish you're likely to forget.

Aye fsh went in shortly after that and we stayed out there to see if we could catch some more. Well the wind and rain picked up but the fishing didn't. We got blown all around and hailed on for a long time. Finally picked up and moved back to Camas for some more shad.

Caught another bucket full of shad and saw some other guy hook a springer on dick nite. He never had a chance. Threw out and fought the fish for 5 minutes or so, but ultralites just don't seem to cut it for salmon.

After a while the weather improved and the wind died down so we went back out for sturgeon. Put our fresh bait down there and within 20 minutes hooked another oversize. That fish took us way down river on another great fight. It was about 7-8 feet long.

Went back up and while rigging up a shad for the second rod, the first one goes down. Couldn't have been on bottom for more than a 2 minutes. Fought that fish for 40 minutes and finally landed a fat 9.5 footer. Went back home after that w/ sore backs, new pictures and some great memories.

So all told 5 oversize for a little over a day of fishing. I don't even know how many shad we caught, but it was a lot more than we'll probably ever need. Had a great time w/ Coot and Aye fsh. Maybe next time they'll get into one of those big fish too. Did see one other person hook into an oversize all weekend. Even though he was 1/2 mile up, he promptly went right into our anchor line w/ the fish. I kid you not, we were the only boat anchored below him. There wasn't a single other boat on the water from him to gov't island except us and that fish found the line. [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img] Oh well. Great weekend. Plan on doing it again real soon.

See, no light missle cruiser required. You
will get to the point after a while, that
you only want one a year and then the fun
becomes taking people who have never done
it so you can turn them into jelly. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[David Johnson]

I bet that fish that only took you eight minutes had ben caught recently before.

[Coot22]

The fish that took only eight minutes had no other markings in its mouth and did not have any hooks deep in its gullet. We are the only ones who fish the area but sturgeon do move around so you may be right. However, we caught a ten footer last weekend and caught her again this weekend and she fought harder this time then she did last. Even though sturgeon move around, I doubt that the fish had been caught in the last couple of days because there really is no one within a few miles of us oversize fishing. There was only one guy and it was the first time we had ever seen anyone fishing near us and it was after we had caught that fish that took eight minutes.
oh well, who knows y it took so short of time to bring it in. Maybe she was just being cooperative. Maybe this should go into Rob Allen's chronicles of weird sturgeon behavior [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] !!! It was still a fun fight even though it was brief. The power that those fish have is incredible!

Do you do trips for oversize sturgeon Dave?

[aye fsh]

Thanks for getting us into the shad like you did, B.H. and coot, Dad and the kids had a ball. I had a little bit 'o fun too actually. Ended up dragging home 49 grownups and 4 jack shad. At one point had a trple going on - pandemonium! This was a great experience for the boys, got lots of practice working fish around other lines and netting.
Sorry we didn't stick around for the rest of the weather, had to get home and get ready for the next day's trip to bonneville, which was real slow for us. Shad fishing was almost a bust, ended up getting a grand total of 2. Nobody was really killing them anywhere in the vicinity of the shad rack from what we could see. Went downstream and traded one of them for about a 7 footer, the first for the guy I had with me. He was quite pleased. I think there had to be twice as many fisherman on the river than there was oversize in the river! I think I'll stay away on the weekends.

Anyways, thanks again, maybe see you up there for shad again next weekend? Hey, where's the pics Coot?

[birdhunter]

Yeah coot, where are the pictures? I'm still waiting to see how these ones will turn out. I didn't pucker up and kiss all those fish for nothing you know.

Anyone else ever hear about catching jack shad. At least, that's what we think they are. You know, kind of like jack salmon. Aye fsh caught a couple of the little buggers, but I had never seen them before. couldn't have been more than a couple of inches long and looked just like the adults. Hmmmm....mini-shad. Seems like the perfect keeper bait.

Aye fsh, you're going up for more shad again? How much freezer room do you have??? I think I've got all I want. Next time we're just bringing a garbage can. Screw the stringers and buckets! You're not gonna hit the flatties on friday? No last-chance halibut down south? If you do change your mind I know a certain someone who would love to help you pull them up from the brimey deep. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] Same for those GP kokanee. Just a thought. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[Coot22]

Those jack shad were pretty cool. They worked pretty well for those shakers and probably for keepers as well. I was expecting to see ayefish hook up with an oversize on one of those little guys. Birdhunter, why didnt we catch any of those cool little guys. I was jealous. Done on Wednesday, and then it is nothing but fishing...have you heard from where you applied yet bird?

[birdhunter]

No word yet. Wouldn't expect to hear anything for a while. I don't think they usually hire people who actually know what they are talking about. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

I don't get out until next friday. That is gonna be harsh. Catch some fish for me.