I was originally under the impression it was rare to catch a sturgeon above 10 foot. But I was reading back on some old posts with many people mentioning 15 footers were quite common. Are these people just exaggerating or are these fish really out here. If anyone has caught one please share the gear you were running
Who here has caught a 15+ foot sturgeon?
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Portlandfisherman
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We’re you guys freaking out? What gear were you running?
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I was reading back on the post and the specific quote I mistook was stated 11ft were more common then 7-10 thought it was 15 but still In that thread people mention and act as 15 ft is common
This thread was entertaining…
As much as I love fishing, I am terrified of getting in the water. Even wading in shallow creeks creeps me out a little bit if I can’t see clearly into the water. The thought of diving 70+ feet in the Columbia and coming face to face with a 15’ sturgeon literally makes my skin crawl, as irrational as it is.
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what you dont believe it or what. or what do you mean entertaining?
I don’t believe it or not believe it. I have no stake in whether it’s true or not. But there are some entertaining anecdotes in there and it’s fun to imagine
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Yeah for real right? got me all excited on a Sunday night even if it may be exaggerated
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Anyone who says that 15' Sturgeon are/were
common is full of it. Period.
common is full of it. Period.
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25+ years ago we used to fish up around horsetail falls for oversize in June and July as they followed the shad run. Whole shad for bait, rollertip sturdystik rods, and penn 320 reels. Pretty constant action on 6-8 foot fish with occassional bigger. My wife (we were just dating back then) filmed us bring one alongside the boat that we estimated at 12 feet one night.
Pretty sure they closed that fishery down years ago, but I know guys that do the whole shad/oversize thing up in the Dalles pool now with similar results.
Pretty sure they closed that fishery down years ago, but I know guys that do the whole shad/oversize thing up in the Dalles pool now with similar results.
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No **** man that's crazy. How long was the fight on the 12 footer Yeah ive heard great things about whole shad I had good luck with half of a pike minnow for bait. Im gonna hit the shad run this spring and keep a bunch for bait!
July, Columbia. Look for the seagulls eating a dead shad. Scoop it up. Toss a 10/0 hook through it, sink it to the bottom and wait.
10’ is the longest we ever got along side the boat. The length of the battle depended on the fish. Some 10 minutes, others an hour and 10 minutes. Haha
10’ is the longest we ever got along side the boat. The length of the battle depended on the fish. Some 10 minutes, others an hour and 10 minutes. Haha
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We used heavy gear and chased them around with the boat so the fight was never more than 20-30 minutes.
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Based on all the reports over the years, the upper end of the size scale for sport fishermen appears to be around 11 ft. with an occasional 12’. Anything over that is so darn rare, no matter how much sturgeon fishing a person does, they’ll never see one in a lifetime. Don’t know if there’s an age limit that produces spawners but I’d guess at some point they stop. Once they stop they have no need to enter fresh water.
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I helped a friend do dam surveys of Bonneville in the late '80's, and there were a LOT of huge Sturgeon lying on the bottom. They just laid there in rows like logs getting scaled. They were big, but I don't think there were any over 10'-11'. We never measured any.
Personally, I've never caught any much over about 7'-8'. Would be cool to get a monster one time though!
Personally, I've never caught any much over about 7'-8'. Would be cool to get a monster one time though!
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What is the rough age of a 11’ and how do they age them?
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I wouldn’t say 15’ sturgeon are common at all anymore. But back in the early 90’s I hooked into one in a 14’ EastSide drift boat while fishing the Willamette in the lake Oswego hole. That hole is over 130’ in spots and we used to fish roll mop herring in that hole a bit in early spring. I had a pretty heavy ugly stick rod with 80# braid that I used to use for spring chinook in those days. Still got those rods too…
When I hooked this thing I felt it take the bait and move about 10-15 feet and then it was just like I was hooked on the bottom. I had several other boats around us at the time, and my daughter in the boat with me. There were guys trolling back and forth for springers too that I talked to, and nobody believed I had a fish on.
I actually thought I’d hooked a large sturgeon that had wrapped me around a log on the bottom myself. After 20-30 minutes of no movement at all the fish started moving up stream about 30 yards and pulled my drift boat up stream. It felt pretty much like I’d hooked a school bus rolling at walking speed, then just stopped again…. After another 20 minutes it started to slowly come up, and moved back down stream again, then doubled back towards the boat moving a bit faster. I actually felt a head shake a bit as it started coming up this time. Finally after an hour it rolled right along side the boat at it was HUGE! It was every bit as long as my drift boat and the center body was as big as a 55 gallon drum. When it finished rolling, it dove back towards the bottom showing me its massive forked tail that was every bit of 3’ wide. There was one other boat there that saw that tail break the water….. I was thinking to myself. “I need a bigger boat!” lol…..
To be totally honest, it wasn’t a very exciting experience until we actually saw how big it was. Slow moving huge fish. After it started heading back to the bottom, I cut my line before it went too far. I felt fortunate that I got most of my line back…..
Back in those days it wasn’t uncommon to see guys bringing up oversized sturgeon in the 8-10’ range in that hole. As well as up in Oregon city. I never fished the CR for sturgeon. But had a couple buddies that went after the big ones and landed some in the 10’ range up around Bonnieville.
The largest one I ever actually beached was 104” long. I hooked it right below the falls in Oregon city, and didn’t get it to the beach until we had floated clear to Meldrum bar. That one took 45 minutes to an hour to land with two of us taking turns until we were wore out. That one came to the surface several times before going back to the bottom. But it wasn’t a fat fish, and moved quicker than that monster fish did. Probably around 300# is my guess. I never took it out of the water completely, but pulled it up far enough to measure it before it slapped me in the face with its tail and moved on…. That’s the last time I fished sturgeon in the Willamette too.
Those Willamette sturgeon don’t really fight much in comparison to fishing them in Astoria. Now THAT is a totally different story down there. Hooking 40-60# sturgeon in 3-4’ of water up on the flats above the bridge is something every fisherman should experience one in their lifetime anyway… Tail walking, drag stripping, crazy fighting fish. Even the smaller fish will tear you up! Good sport! After 3 days of fishing I brought home over 200# of sturgeon and had very sore arms. That was 2004 when we did that trip.
Kirk
When I hooked this thing I felt it take the bait and move about 10-15 feet and then it was just like I was hooked on the bottom. I had several other boats around us at the time, and my daughter in the boat with me. There were guys trolling back and forth for springers too that I talked to, and nobody believed I had a fish on.
I actually thought I’d hooked a large sturgeon that had wrapped me around a log on the bottom myself. After 20-30 minutes of no movement at all the fish started moving up stream about 30 yards and pulled my drift boat up stream. It felt pretty much like I’d hooked a school bus rolling at walking speed, then just stopped again…. After another 20 minutes it started to slowly come up, and moved back down stream again, then doubled back towards the boat moving a bit faster. I actually felt a head shake a bit as it started coming up this time. Finally after an hour it rolled right along side the boat at it was HUGE! It was every bit as long as my drift boat and the center body was as big as a 55 gallon drum. When it finished rolling, it dove back towards the bottom showing me its massive forked tail that was every bit of 3’ wide. There was one other boat there that saw that tail break the water….. I was thinking to myself. “I need a bigger boat!” lol…..
To be totally honest, it wasn’t a very exciting experience until we actually saw how big it was. Slow moving huge fish. After it started heading back to the bottom, I cut my line before it went too far. I felt fortunate that I got most of my line back…..
Back in those days it wasn’t uncommon to see guys bringing up oversized sturgeon in the 8-10’ range in that hole. As well as up in Oregon city. I never fished the CR for sturgeon. But had a couple buddies that went after the big ones and landed some in the 10’ range up around Bonnieville.
The largest one I ever actually beached was 104” long. I hooked it right below the falls in Oregon city, and didn’t get it to the beach until we had floated clear to Meldrum bar. That one took 45 minutes to an hour to land with two of us taking turns until we were wore out. That one came to the surface several times before going back to the bottom. But it wasn’t a fat fish, and moved quicker than that monster fish did. Probably around 300# is my guess. I never took it out of the water completely, but pulled it up far enough to measure it before it slapped me in the face with its tail and moved on…. That’s the last time I fished sturgeon in the Willamette too.
Those Willamette sturgeon don’t really fight much in comparison to fishing them in Astoria. Now THAT is a totally different story down there. Hooking 40-60# sturgeon in 3-4’ of water up on the flats above the bridge is something every fisherman should experience one in their lifetime anyway… Tail walking, drag stripping, crazy fighting fish. Even the smaller fish will tear you up! Good sport! After 3 days of fishing I brought home over 200# of sturgeon and had very sore arms. That was 2004 when we did that trip.
Kirk
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Easy answer...nobody has caught a 15'+ sturgeon. There may be some guys who say they have. There even may be some guys who believe they have. But I have very serious doubts anyone alive today has landed or seen or had any interactions with a 15'+ fish. The biggest specimens documented in any way are under 12' and from the beginning of the last century.
Kinda funny there's lots of interweb statements about how white sturgeon can grow to 20 feet. Where? Who has seen one? What evidence is there? Fun to dream but there are no 15 or 20 feet sturgeon in the columbia system or likely anywhere else. And even if there is a fish that big somewhere, should you really go find it and beat it into submission so you can take a picture and say you did? Not me.
Kinda funny there's lots of interweb statements about how white sturgeon can grow to 20 feet. Where? Who has seen one? What evidence is there? Fun to dream but there are no 15 or 20 feet sturgeon in the columbia system or likely anywhere else. And even if there is a fish that big somewhere, should you really go find it and beat it into submission so you can take a picture and say you did? Not me.
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Too funny, in 2001 I had just started dating my wife and took her to this spot. We brought a huge sturgeon to the boat that day, measured it right at 12ft and my now wife was like "I am never swimming in this river again!" I never have caught one that big again, 9ft is the next biggest.
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The big ones always seem to get over estimated in the excitement of things. People always get more quiet when the tape comes out. I've helped quite a few folks land their first oversize, and 6 footers are always 8 footers, 8 footers are 10 footers, and so on. The adrenaline rush of seeing that big of a fish can sure play tricks on the mind!
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