It's been quite some time since I went out chasing the dino-fish..... which is kind of dumb of me, considering they are practically in my backyard, here in the California Delta.... 6 miles from my driveway to the launch ramp, and then only 1 mile by boat, to my hot spot, a 40 ft hole on a narrow, tight bend in the river.

Anyway, this was just a little guy, at 44" and about 20 lbs (the legal slot limit is 46" tp 72"), but it was all good as 1) I would have released it even if it had been of legal size, and 2) Since I caught it on my micro-light Kokanee trout rod, it put up a great, 15 minute battle :-)

Had 4 more Sturgeon bites after this one, of which two dropped it before I swung, and I missed the other two on the swing. All in all, it was a fun trip though, and I got a little "fish fix" :-)

Peace,

Fish

Rained out tomorrow though :-( :-( :-(

Nice catch! What bait do you use to catch those sturgeon?

Lamprey Eel and / or Salmon Roe. Sturgeon are pretty much bottom feeding scavengers, however they can sometimes be very selective with what they are eating in a particular place and time. I like to use Salmon Roe early in the season (October November) when the Salmon are up here spawning, and dumping roe, and Eel later on (Jan through Feb).

Grass, Ghost, and Mud Shrimp are the old standbys, and will always get a few Sturgies here and there. Oh, and Pile worms can be great too.

Peace,

Fish

nice sturgeon fish chris what did you use for bait?

he just said what he used for bait.....

nice fish  8-)

Wickedly beautiful creatures. The picture shows him very well.

Nice "little" dino!

Caviar anyone?

The original, famous Russian caviar came from Beluga Sturgeon. However, the roe from these White Sturgeon is (unfortunately) suitable for use as caviar as well. This is a big part of the reason these fish have been so heavily poached :-(

There have been several busts of illegal Sturgeon poaching rings up here in Nor Cal, in the last few years. But unfortunately, for every ring the Ca DFG seems to nail, 2 or 3 more rings pop up !

About 10 years ago the Ca DFG added the max size limit, of 72" to create a slot of 46" to 72". This was a "great move" which could have eventually done great things for the Sturgeon fishery..... However, the illegal poaching rings have all but removed any gains that the slot limit might have added :-(

They need to add a completely "open season, with no bag limits" on Sturgeon poachers !!!

Fish

I agree!!!

Law enforcement officials need to answer two questions:

Was he shot resisting arrest?

or

Attempting to escape?