I am looking into buying a reel that would support sturgeon fishing that isnt going to break the bank and be a good beginners reel. I have read that a lot of guys use the Abu Garcia Ambassadeur 7000 series or the Penn 320 which both are in my price range. Any input??? Does anyone here sturgeon fish? I live in eastern Washington and will be going to the Snake River and the Columbia to fish. 

I use a Cardiff 401. I may be a bit under gunned I don't know lol. I fish the Sacramento River system for them every year. Works for me

I just need the reel to hold about 300-350 yards of 50lb braid. Its hard to find anything useful about cheaper reels when all the forums Im reading are with people fishing from boats. How big do they get in that river?

I would probably look for a quality baitrunner spinning reel. I have never caught one though.

15 hours ago, GORDO said:

I just need the reel to hold about 300-350 yards of 50lb braid. Its hard to find anything useful about cheaper reels when all the forums Im reading are with people fishing from boats. How big do they get in that river?

Lol up to 10 feet. We routinely catch 5 and 6 footers

On 8/5/2016 at 10:57 PM, Fish4bigfish said:

Lol up to 10 feet. We routinely catch 5 and 6 footers

That sounds like so much fun! I went to cabelas over the weekend and had absolutley no luck with anything I needed there. Although the Penn Squall level wind reel was calling my name.

Are you referring to the White Sturgeon?  Those things can get huge.  National Geographic indicates that white sturgeon can grow to a maximum weight of 1800 pounds and 20 feet in length.

3 hours ago, gimruis said:

Are you referring to the White Sturgeon?  Those things can get huge.  National Geographic indicates that white sturgeon can grow to a maximum weight of 1800 pounds and 20 feet in length.

Very rare these days at least in California. 12 footers are like catching a 14 lb bass and 20 footers lol that's like a 20 lb bass

14 hours ago, Fish4bigfish said:

Very rare these days at least in California. 12 footers are like catching a 14 lb bass and 20 footers lol that's like a 20 lb bass

They are relatively common in the Snake River and Columbia. I fish the snake for catfish and salmon, figured I should start targeting the real river monsters! Ive seen a lot of 6+ pulled out of bank spots that I know. 

6 plus are normal sturgeon. Lol 20 foot is stupid rare even for the Columbia. I've fished Oregon sturgeon several times. One thing to mention is for targeting huge sturgeon you will need serious gear. 7/0 to 9/0 hooks, 8 foot rods etc might even look at a shimano tiagra 2 speed non level wind reel! 

A long time member, Fish Chris used to catch huge ones on UL gear.

 

@Fish Chris Any input on the subject? 

 

I ended up buying a PENN 330 gti for the reel and im most likely gonna buy a 12' ugly stik in H. 

19 minutes ago, GORDO said:

@Fish Chris Any input on the subject? 

 

Last visited Jan. 30, 2014.

4 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Last visited Jan. 30, 2014.

DANG IT! lol its all good, I should be able to figure everything out. Im just going to call a local guide and see what he says about it.