It is go time for estuary sturgeon 2022!
I will post daily numbers of what we are seeing come through the shop.
We have fresh shrimp coming in every day, weather is great, get yourself to the coast!
Big Game Fishing
It is go time for estuary sturgeon 2022!
I will post daily numbers of what we are seeing come through the shop.
We have fresh shrimp coming in every day, weather is great, get yourself to the coast!
2022 Estuary Sturgeon OFFICIAL reports!
It is go time for estuary sturgeon 2022!
I will post daily numbers of what we are seeing come through the shop.
We have fresh shrimp coming in every day, weather is great, get yourself to the coast!
I think that with weather, flows, and water Temps it's going to be tough fishing. I'll probably sit this one out. Best of luck to all of you that give it a try!
what days are open down in the estuary? I wasn't planning on it but since Halibut is out of the question I might try it. Fishing is fishing..
Holy cow! They exist!
Couple local "white trash" boys got 'er done and put the first sturgeon of the year on our cutting board. Outstanding work guys.
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Couple local "white trash" boys got 'er done and put the first sturgeon of the year on our cutting board. Outstanding work guys.
Cathlamete Area:
Whew long day on the river sturgeon fishing when there's no sand shrimp available in the Longview area. We put in at Cathlamete at 7AM and fished right up to the 2PM deadline. When we left the ramp at 2:20 the checker had counted 0 kept and only 3 subs released. Out of the I'd say 60 that had put in there ( Cathlamete ) there was 20 of us all taking out at the same time. We tried squid, smelt, night crawlers and prawns. I had one bite all day on a prawn & nightcrawler combo. We didn't waste any time running and gunning. Chose our spot and stayed glued to it. Where we had 21 boats all in a line and no one got bit that we could see.
Whew long day on the river sturgeon fishing when there's no sand shrimp available in the Longview area. We put in at Cathlamete at 7AM and fished right up to the 2PM deadline. When we left the ramp at 2:20 the checker had counted 0 kept and only 3 subs released. Out of the I'd say 60 that had put in there ( Cathlamete ) there was 20 of us all taking out at the same time. We tried squid, smelt, night crawlers and prawns. I had one bite all day on a prawn & nightcrawler combo. We didn't waste any time running and gunning. Chose our spot and stayed glued to it. Where we had 21 boats all in a line and no one got bit that we could see.
Wish they had two fish.
Any details about bait and where fishing?
Thanks for posting makes me want to wet the boat and shake off the boat barn cabin fever.
Any details about bait and where fishing?
Thanks for posting makes me want to wet the boat and shake off the boat barn cabin fever.
Saturday shows some better weather that is if the wind from the weather front of Friday calms down. I would love to see a bunch of posts of successful fishing.
Ive learned in the Estuary of the Columbia/lower 25miles, the best baits are clams, sand shrimp and anchovy. since its a natural resource down there. Also, when it comes to tides.... on incoming tides fish shallow water as the sturgeon come up on the sand bars to feed on clams. as the current picks up or starts ripping, the sturgeon start going into the deeper bowls to get out of the current. When the river opens up above the Wauna Power lines like it did last year, the most effective baits are smelt, then sand shrimp, salmon eggs etc... the further up the river you go, the more baits you can use effectively. I wish I had a way to go sturgeon this year as our boat is in the shop for a month 
If you are newer to the fishery.... heres a good live stream from Addicted Fishing - they go over sturgeon setup, baits, times etc...
We used to use exclusively smelt early in the season. Some guys would marinate those smelt for days in their secret concoction. Heck one day we went out to see if we could catch these on a variety of baits; night crawlers, sand shrimp, mud shrimp, smelt, herring, anchovies, and we even had some oysters. If I remember right, they all caught fish, but mud shrimp were beyond hot as was the smelt. Now I don't see anyone using these two baits. I know mud shrimp are not easy to pump up anymore as they have been reduced in numbers by parasites.
Boy its slow sturgeon fishing when the thread for a bathtub changeout gets almost more hits than this thread. I know its only one day and we get a pic of one fish, that is nevertheless slow. Ok the big weekend show is tomorrow I'm hoping this thread blows up with posts of caught, nearly caught, too big, and too small. Come on its a short season and the way it started the first day likely the fish are safe.
The springer re-opener and poor early fishing has crushed bait orders. I am getting another delivery of shrimp tonight to take care of folks going, but the way the states run this thing makes fresh bait a really bad business venture.
The over/under on boats launched out of Hammond tomorrow is 14.
I don't think this thread will see much action till May 25.
The over/under on boats launched out of Hammond tomorrow is 14.
I don't think this thread will see much action till May 25.
This morning around 10 ish we made a tour along the Washington side to see what was going on for sturgeon fishing. It was fairly windy on the river but noticed a good crowd of bank fishermen from the tunnel upriver in the usual spots. Two of the Coho boats and one Seabreeze boat was working the area just upriver from the bridge. Maybe half a dozen private boats at the most from the ferry landing upriver. Watched two guys pulling small skiffs out at the Knappton launch. On the way back we did see one bank fisherman playing a fish just before you got to the Church. At Ilwaco as we wondered around the Saturday Market I saw Seabreeze's Salty come in. So we hung around hoping to see what they had for sturgeon, but wrong they unloaded bottom fish. Also on the way back I went along Baker's bay to see if anyone was fishing inside the island. Glassing the bay not one boat was spotted. Hopefully someone over in the Youngs bay or above Tongue Point found some fish. Oh yeah I did see one boat net a salmon above the bridge, good for them.
I'm glad I didn't put in and had to fight the wind and burn $5.64 cents a gallon boat fuel.
I'm glad I didn't put in and had to fight the wind and burn $5.64 cents a gallon boat fuel.
0 fish came into the shop today, and only heard of 1 dead sturgeon.
We did cook a couple nice limits of crab for some guys that brought pots and bought crab bait from me this morning.
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We did cook a couple nice limits of crab for some guys that brought pots and bought crab bait from me this morning.
Put in at east mooring at 5 this morning. Fished till noon, 4 of us in my boat. Fished the flats across from tongue point then joined the fleet by tongue point. Had one bite all morning and never saw a fish caught. Fish checker had no sturgeon and 2 springers for 7 boats when we pulled out. Talked to one guy that caught a shaker. The fishing was really good, but the catching not so much. I hope somebody found some fish…
My wife said this morning I think we have one small chunk of Sturgeon in the freezer and that's it. I took that to be a challenge. Weather this morning looks sort of crummy for Wednesday but next Saturday looks good. I'm holding out for next Saturday as I have two guests for that day that have never gone Sturgeon fishing. I'm also hoping that since new guys bring a little newbie luck, we might score a gator, got to think positive.
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