[River Kid]

Saturday, my wife and I were fishing off Skamania Island (across from Mult Falls). One pole for sturgies and one pole for UBR's. Noticed a few guides fishing the area, trolling just off the Oregon side of the channel. Does anyone know what they were fishing for. Saw a troller pass close to us hook and land a nookie. We lost a nice chrome 25-30 lb'r at the net. Used a K-15 with a sardine wrap. Just wasn't pinned good. As far as sturgies go, lots of shakers up to 41 1/2", but no keepers. Used smelt with various scents, but no dout it was the combo of WD and Maries shrimp that made them bite right away. These shakers were literally flatening out the pole when they hit it. It was like that all day. The fish were also very skinny with no weight. Wondering if anyone else expereinced bites like that. Done tons of sturgie fishing, but the bite was real different. Was there any I-fishers up there on Saturday?

[ 10-06-2003, 11:00 AM: Message edited by: River Kid ]

 

[River Kid]

Tacklebuster,
That makes sense cause these fish were all very skinny. They sure sent your heart racing, because fising in that area getting hit hard like that usually you could be counting on a tussle with a oversize instead of a dink.

******,
I wondered if that what they were trolling for. Thanks for your input.

 

[jocose]

Riverkid i am a rookie fishing for sturgeon and am learning first by fishing off of the bank behind bonneville dam. I was surprised that the standard method of baiting a hook was to wrap just enough bait to cover the hook. Do you do the same when fishing in the river from a boat or do you use the entire herring or smelt. I will try fishing from my boat next time out. joco

 

[River Kid]

Jocose,

I always use hole smelt or shad for sturgeon. If I am using pickled herring or say squid, then its usually a piece, but still a few inches long. Some times when using smelt, even a small bite out of the belly or the guts sucked out, that piece of bait is history. Put on another smelt.

 

[Sixpack]

We fished the area between Horsetail and the Fishery ramp on Saturday. My lovely bride did managed to boat a 54" keeper on her first cast....Tough act to follow. We didn't get many shakers for the day and most had a delicate nibble. We had a lot less action than normal for the area....We took a tour around Skamania Island and had one good hit on the N. side of the island in only 14' of water. The fish hit hard, fought for a few minutes, rolled and cut my line...felt like a strong keeper.....My only keeper was a K16 floating down the channel in front of Mult. Falls....It appeared another angler was out played by the fish...

 

[jocose]

thanks RK :smile:

 

[Tacklebuster]

I love when the sturgies hit like that. Do you fish much in the estuary? A lot of the times the sturgeon in that area will bury your rod much like a salmon when they bite. I get a few trips in around the Bonny and Portland area a year with bites like that but not too many. Sometimes if you get well off the beaten path and fish some water not fished a lot by other anglers, you sometimes find a pod of sturgeon that bite like that because they are hungry and haven't seen a hook in awhile.

Bummer about the Salmon though....

 

[Nanook]

Might have been trolling for Walleye. They are in that area and it's time to do that.