Big Fish, little lures?

Chris Nordling · 05-26-2005, 11:34 PM

With shad season pretty much in full swing(look at the focus of the board lately

) I figured sooner or later someone fishing the Oregon City area is going to get "lucky" and land a springer or two on a shad set-up. While I've never personally been lucky enough

to have this happen, I can think of a few other "incidental" catches on some fairly light gear.

The first fish that comes to mind is a low 30's nook I picked up drift fishing at night for silvers about 4 years ago. My cast stopped almost immediately after it hit the water, and rocketed downstream into the next hole (a good, few hundred foot run). My buddy was convinced I had foul hooked the fish, that was until I turned it and got the fish under control and headed back towards the boat. After a nice long battle my frayed 12# leader was still attached to the fish, with a perfect tounge and bottom lip shot

(sorry no scanner for the photo, and this was before I had a digi.)

This fish bit and hung onto a #2/#4 hook setup with three small glow corkies, 12# leader and 12# main.

I know someone here has caught some nice kings on small gear (red/white,chartreuse or 1/2 and 1/2 are good small spoon colors to try while shadding, same colors for jigs) while fishing for something else.

Let's hear some of your own stories or experiences

Of course if this has never happened to you,see if you can get a big pond of fisherman to bite on your "yarn"

by telling us a story anyway. I'm sure we're all used to hearing a few tails

Bonus points for landed oversize sturgeon while salmon fishing, or pictures of your catches(real or not

).

Have fun and good fishing,
Chris N.

Rimshot · 05-26-2005, 11:48 PM

Several years ago I was fishing for shad on the WA side drifting a white crappie jig with no skirt or feathers, just a head, and a small split shot and caught the nicest springer I have ever caught(still). It was on a small trout rod with 8# test. I thought I had foul hooked a sturgeon until the very end when I finally got it in. It was beautiful. Not a scale out of place, perfectly proportioned, and in the 25-30# range. Awesome fish and an awesome memory. Thanks for taking me back

freedrift · 05-26-2005, 11:59 PM

I have never had this happen to me but I was in the boat when something similar happened to my brother in law. It was last summer on the Cowlitz while we were free drifting for summer steel. As we drifted through this hole he hooked up and hooked up hard. I was amazed at how far that Lami bent over. We ended up chasing this fish all over the river because it was late in the summer, the water was gin clear and we had all down sized to 6lb line and 4lb leader to accomidate those leader shy little steelies. While we were chasing, we wondered was this a huge steelie, a late summer nook, or what. The giveaway was that we never saw it.It was glued to the bottom like nothing I had ever seen, and we were pretty much at it's mercy. after a good 25-30 minutes we saw white coming to the surface. It was a stureon in the 3 foot range. While this is not huge, we all know that even the shakers pack a lot of power. After a few wow's and oh my gosh's and probably some other colorful adjectives, a quick snip of the leader and he was on his way to fight another day. And no,we didn't get a pic.

Fshklr · 05-27-2005, 04:23 AM

when I was 22 and a trout/bass guy only,my then 20 yr old brother took me fishing on the columbia below or near one of the bridges somewhere west of 4th plain in vancouver.

All we had was 8lb line and worms and we where horseing in peamouths and pikeminnow..(called em all chubs back then

}..when all of a sudden it happened!! My brothers rod was slammed hard and the fight was on!! (My brother prior to this day had not had a rod in his hands for some 10 yrs..he did the trout thing at battleground lake a time or two but never caught the fishing bug) so here he is..trying to land this obvious monster of a pig on 8lb leader and 8lb mainline..the whimpy yellow 7 foot wright mcgill was taxed to it's limits and the fight lasted some 15 minutes while I'm over exitedly barking out how to reel, let it run, loosen the drag, Don't Horse it yada, when we finally get to see the pig!!!

#30lbs of delicious Columbia River CARP

He was so excited jumping for joy at his monster

and all I could do was laugh.

He then says.."Will you clean it??

"
I filleted it and he went home with his prize(It was as redd as beef with thick white fat lines

)..He ate some of it boiled in a fish stew of sorts and gave the rest to some asians in his apartment complex.

Wish I could have gotten a pic of that smile and that Pig!!
Priceless!!

Ramstrong · 05-27-2005, 04:24 AM

I've caught a springer while shad fishing. It was on one of the chart 1/32 oregon tackle jigheads with a curly tail grub.

Also, the fish in my avatar was caught while fishing for coho. 8# test and a size 1 hook. I actually caught two fish that were nearly identical on that day but my photographer had left so no pics of the second fish. Roy built me a fine Trask River Tackle 1143 that did an excellent job of protecting the light leaders. Needless to say, my arms were a bit sore.

offanchor · 05-27-2005, 06:05 AM

Well It's not oversize but I caught this beauty using a Northern pikeminnow setup. The fish is 42 inches (not a keeper on the Snake!) And I caught it bouncing a half a crawler on a number 6 hook and 8# test line. My wife took the picture which I think is one of the best of a Sturgeon I've seen. That's why I use it as an Avatar. When I hooked it I thought it was a big Cat but then it ripped off about 100 yards of line. I looked at my wife and said uh-oh I think I've got a Sturgeon on. After 20 minutes or so I finally got it to the boat and my wife was able to take the picture. My then 2 year old daughter was with us, and my wife was pregnant with our now 2 year old 2nd daughter. It was a real family experience! If you look close you can see the worm sticking out of the side of it's mouth and the 1 ounce trolling weight above itand the other half of the worm tied about two feet further up the line!

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Starfish · 05-27-2005, 11:16 AM

We catch an occasional sturgeon on our steelhead drift gear when using shrimp, but the biggest on light tackle was a 6' sturgeon on my walleye crawler harness and 10 lb test. It took an hour.

Crayfin · 05-27-2005, 11:35 AM

Over the years we have hooked several steelhead and chinook shad fishing. I got a nice steelie out of the channel some years back-hooked 2 chinook in consecutive bounces @ the falls once-my Dad landed about a #10 springer in the garbage hole once and my brother in law lost a springer last year in the channel. I NEVER use less than #10 line anymore :grin: Last time I was out-the boy got about a #3 smallie too

Crayfin

PATRICK 11-14 · 05-27-2005, 11:46 AM

About three years ago, fishing for shad on the Columbia in front of the Washugal shad fishing with 8lb line on 6ft trout rods my buddie hooked a 30+ lb Nook on a tiny green and white Dick Nite. The battle lasted for at least 45min, when we got it up to the boat, the hook was straitened almost, and made for and easy release! We said all kinds of bad words mostly my pal b/c he had fished for springers and had not caught anything! So goes the luck....Still biggest salmon he has ever caught!

steelhead22 · 05-27-2005, 11:46 AM

ALL my springers are caught on 10lb. Maxima Ultragreen on an 8-12lb rod. Last year I had a couple that were ~25lbs. and one 40" that I'd say was getting close to 30. Depending on the H2O clarity, I'll use anywhere from 3/0 down to #4 hooks. It gets a little iffy there with the #4's, cause you'll never get a hook in the bone, but spending a little more time fighting the fish makes up for it.

We've caught 2 in OC fishing for shad on dick nites. One was about 10 and the other was ~20lb. native. I always get my anchor ready to drop just in case.

SKP · 05-27-2005, 11:46 AM

A couple years back, a buddy of mine got spooled with a Lucky Nite up by the Willamette Falls. It was a salmon or sturgeon for sure, but we never saw it. He had 20 pound test on, and it broke at the reel. Bye, bye line.

SKP

SCR Steelheader · 05-27-2005, 11:57 AM

i know one guy that got a springer shad fishing just last thursday, on the columbia.....too bad he couldnt keep it.

FOSH · 05-27-2005, 01:27 PM

My first spring on the Columbia ('89), a friend had taken me shad fishing near Coon Island; my first time out. My outfit was a favored 6 1/2 ft. rod threaded with 4# test on an ultralite spinning reel. I guess I hadn't understood the power of that much water. As the tide rose and the current slowed I was finally able to fish effectively and caught a batch of shad and had an embarrassing amount of fun. Then, after the tide started to recede again, a hot, surface-sizzling springer of what appeared to be about 25 lbs picked up my shad dart. I say appeared to be because try as I might I just couldn't control the fish. After 15 minutes or so she broke of--or maybe a PETA activist cut the line. I'll never know for sure 'cause it happened about 200 yds. downstream from the boat (Yes, we were trying to follow it with the boat. It was amazingly fast!) and around a bend. On the Rogue I used this outfit fishing for half-pounders and commonly caught my first fall chinook each season with it. I've landed fall fish up to 22 lbs. with it. (Might take an hour, but happened more often than losing them. Honest!) None of those fish prepared me for that hot springer.