Cold water sturgeon tacticts

[Tacklebuster]

Ok, this is just my opinion here so feel free to add to this.....

The past few weeks I have been hitting the river trying new areas for sturgeon. The one sure thing I have come up with is cold water sucks for sturgeon fishing. I have had some killer trips thus far this year with every trip resulting in lots of fish and at least one keeper per trip that was released.

What I have found that works great is cutting down the size of bait you use. The other thing and probably the most important is to find some water that is over 40 degrees. The Big Willy has been on fire the last couple of trips. I started fishing upriver form the St. Johns bridge the past three trips with excellent results. Even on an upside down tide, there is enough current to keep the sturgeon feeding and the lack of pressure means tons of fish. There are some great spots a mile above the railroad bridge that hold a ton of fish.

The other thing I found is that if you are going to fish the Columbia, fish just below the mouth of the Big Willy when the tide is dumping out. The water flowing from the Willy is much warmer than the water say up by T-6. Until the smelt are filling up the Columbia, these sturgeon have tuck back in warmer water just waiting.

The Multomah Channel starting near Fred's Marina working your way to Coon Island is another prime area to find feeding sturgeon. Just about every place the channel bends you will get stronger current and a deeper slot. It doesn't have to be real deep, just a couple feet deeper than the general bottom. These areas are natural areas that wash food right to them. We caught fish in just about every place I dropped hook over the last 19 fishing hours that I logged. We hooked some nice fish in the channel as well full if fight.

I can't stress enough about the lighter gear especially this time of year. I encourage all of you that are going fishing this weekend to stray off the beaten path a little. Do some exploring in the Big Willy and Moltnomah Channel and fish the warmer, slower moving water. Try something a little different on the end of your hook. I have been using herring with great success as of late.

Good luck this weekend and let hear some reports

[glowball]

Thanks for the input tack. You are one heck of a guy. Hope to meet you out there someday. I know what you drive so I'll say hi if I see ya.

[Smj]

The Willamette kicked out about forty shakers for the wife and I yesterday, Plus a 44" that we kept and a 42+" that we turned back. The things were going crazy for 2002 smelt.

It was a good thing the Willamette was the place to be 'cause that fog yesteday would have made for a long slow run to the big river. We even had a guide that had been wasting his time on the big river all day pull in by us when he saw us hooking fish around noon.

Only down side is, I was hoping to use a bunch of "older" fuel from the tank, but we didn't run more than a couple of miles from St.Johns.

Smj

[Waterfish]

Chris, Thanks for the great sturgeon tips you have been posting; I have been archiving them. I am planning to fish tomorrow and Monday, but have not yet decided whether to fish the St. Helens area or Kelly point. From where I live, it is a much easier drive to launch at the 42nd ramp (M. James Gleason) on Marine Drive, and cruise 8 miles up to Kelly point rather than launching from the Cathedral Park ramp. Although if I were going to fish upstream from Cathedral, I would launch there. Where exactly is the railroad bridge from Cathedral? Also, is there much debris in the Willamette and Columbia now? One more question, do you rig up a herring the same way you do a smelt?

[Smj]

Waterfish....The Willamette isn't bad at all as far as debris goes, easy to dodge while running. As far as where to fish, Willamette, Mult. Channel, what TB says is true about the temp. Also, above or below the ramp can be good. We were fishing an 85' hole (below) and never needed to move, might have got into some bigger fish if we had though, or not.

Two year old smelt was working for us, I still have a few bags that I'm trying to get rid of before the run comes in, if your interested you can swing by and get 3 or 4 bags on your way to the ramp. My e-mail is available

TB, your THE "Sturgeon Man" but, I just can't go along with the lite tackle thing for gators, I love my Tiger rods and 80# Tuff Line Hook 'em get get 'em in quick and get out again, forget the sporting part with those 2 footers.

The railroad bridge is about a mile +/- up from the St. Johns bridge

Smj

[ 01-17-2004, 09:34 AM: Message edited by: Smj ]

[Waterfish]

Smj, Thanks for the smelt offer, but I dipped and vaccume packed/froze about 100 pounds of smelt last February, so I still have lots of it.

[Small Fry]

Thanks for the tips TB. Were heading out Sunday and Monday. If anyone else is going out give us a wave or a shout on ch 68.

18 Alumaweld FV Black over Gray with new Burgandy top.

Small Fry

[Kruechief]

TB,

You are a great resource [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

Very few times will someone go through the efforts that you do to make fishing enjoyable for their community

I have received private emails as well as the thoughtful and insightful post here on ifish.

If there is an Academy Award for ifishers, it would be a close race between you, UG, C&E, ****** and yes Shane (5 cents).

I wish I could get out like I used to. But 2 kids, a recently new job, yada, yada, yada... make it difficult. You ifishers keep there vicariously.

Thank you,

Loren (Krue)

[Hanapa'a Time]

Thanks TB,

I'll be up there tomorrow (Sunday), poking around some. This will be my second trip in that area. :whazzup:
Your reports and tips are greatly appreciated.

Kurt

[Tacklebuster]

:blush:

Krue- Come May and June I will get you dialed in on the hogs in the estuary. Come the third week of May pencil in a day and I will show you an arm recking time

[Kentucky Hog Hunter]

C...

Awesome report and tutorial...I am going to go try this tomorrow and will log a report to follow up on some of your awesome suggestions here...

Look out folks...The HogHunter is putting up the MetalHead gear and starting to hunt for prehistoric gators...

Kudos Chris...your an awesome, honest, reliable reference buddy

[jet]

Remember low tide at KP is at 9:32 and high is 13:58.

See all of ya on the river in the am.

Jet~~~

[ 01-18-2004, 11:27 PM: Message edited by: ****** ]

[Fishplay]

I haven't been on the board much as of late and see the error of my ways. This report may very well have made a difference in todays trip.

Fished the Punchbowl from 0700-0900 and only dredged up a couple shakers. Moved down to the gas line and tried a couple different spots in that general location for a few more.

Best fish of the day was about 36". Guess the cold water put the fish off the bite.

All in all it was a super day on the river. Great weather and good company is foremost for me.

Nice to see ya again Keta; one of these days your gonna have to give up that keeper fish cherry that your so protective of.

Spent a little time with ******, Dipnet, and Hubby also. Nice meeting you folks!

The Big White Bear tried to run us off with a BA :shocked: but was overwhelmed with shyness at the last second.

Thanks for anchoring up inside of the honey hole today Rick. My arms just ache from all the midget wrestling I did today. :grin:

The fish are all yours for the Challenge. I'm off to Newport next weekend to chase Sea Spiders and drink Dead Guy Ale with my fellow Salty Dogs.

PeaceOut.

[Fourteen]

TB,
Thanks for the great report. Why do you think smaller pieces of bait are better than whole smelt ?

[Dipnet]

Nice meeting and talking to you too today Fishplay. Thanks for the squid. The next time you see us out in the tuna grounds in our 16' Osprey :shocked: :shocked: we'll repay the favor!!!!! Also, nice meeting you yesterday Keta,and thanks again for the tuna :grin: :grin: . And a big thanks to Rick for the nice day!!!

Dipnet :grin:

[ 01-18-2004, 09:33 PM: Message edited by: Dipnet ]

[Surething]

thanks for the good info

[redfish89]

Great info.. Thanks for sharing.

[ 01-18-2004, 11:28 PM: Message edited by: ****** ]

******,
You would look much better in a lamb skin jacket :grin:
Nice seeing you Dipnet and Mr. Dipnet.

[CATCH AND EAT]

Chris I appreciate your willingness to share some pointers with all of us. Very very generous bud. [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

Kruecheif, I'm not even in the same catagory as Tacklebuster :blush: That boy really has sturgeon down. I fished the columbia Saturday and only found shakers and it was very very slow out there. The Willy was the place and I would have fished it but I launched at 42nd street and ran down to the point. Big mistake. Live and learn. [img]graemlins/1zhelp.gif[/img]

Gonna rethink strategy for The Sturgeon Challenge this Saturday. BTW Chris, got my vanilla. :grin:

[Flatfish]

TB,

We went out and caught fish doing exactly what you said would work. Thank you.

Our 7/0 hooks are a tad big. Next time I will be ready with some 4/0 and see how that works. Really small baits got more hookups than whole smelt. Fresh bait( less freezerburn) caught more fish than scummy stuff.

Mark and the dog.

[Sturgeon Tom]

Tacklebuster Very good report. You are one of the few that really share a lot of informaton.
I took the Willie out in the Big Willy for a test ride after getting the new motor on and for a little fishing. Only fished a couple hours. Fished next to Finz, Swifty and Spazz. They had been ketching enough shakers that they went through about a hundred smelt.They caught three keepers with one released due to being hooked outside the mouth. Real sporstman. (the way it is suppostto be.
Me and my neighbor cought a few, largest 39" and had a good time.
Thanks for the help down river.
You are right on when it comes to finding wormer water.
st

[Tacklebuster]

Flatfish- Down size those hooks some. I like the 4/0 hooks and have never had a problem. Tho only time I use bigger hooks is up in the gorge. Using smaller pieces of bait is more user friendly this time of year and seem to outfish whole bait 3 to 1.

Fourteen- I use smaller pieces of bait this time of year because I use smaller hooks than most people. With the smaller piece of bait the fish have less time to chew on the bait and the hook is on their mouth when I put the hammer down. You have to be quick and pay attention though and don't let the fish chew on it to long and swim away. If you do that you may have the hook down pretty deep. If you use light gear and can see right when they start biting, it's not an issue and you hook up ratio will be a lot higher at the end of the day. The other reason I like a 4/0 hook is if you do hook into an oversize, you simply tighten the drag way down and your hook will bend causing the fish to come off. This way the fish isn't dragging around your gear at the bottom causing possible injury to him/her later on.

Bernie- Kind words my friend, thank you. If you are looking to change your strategy come game day, you are more than welcome to fish around us. I think we have an area pretty much dialed in If you are interested let me know and I'll e-mail you the specifics.

[FINZ]

Nice to meet you yesterday Sturgeon Tom. We had a pretty good day. I will post a couple pictures later today.

[CATCH AND EAT]

Now you wont mind if I put a salmon rod out will you Chris?

[Tacklebuster]

Salmon fishing in a Sturgeon hog line, now that's pure crazy talk :grin: