It went 50", and about 25 or 30 lbs. Legal keeper size is 46" to 66"...... but even as good as they are to eat, I think they are better left alive.

Anyway, I stuck it in the first 15 minutes of the trip...... then fished 12 more hours without landing another fish ! Oh well. Sturgeon fishing SO totatally reminds me of trophy bass fishing. Some guys go years without catching one.... or at least, a keeper.

One things for sure, it was all about the incoming tide, which means tomorrows trip is either going to only be for 6 hours.... or, I'm going to switch to Stripers for the outgoing.....

Peace,

Fish

Beautiful fish FishChris! Wish I saw this photo yesterday, we had to bring in a couple of pictures with different lighting for photography class, and that would be perfect side lighting! haha.

Who you trying to kid big guy.

That is lamest attempt at trying to fool us with a big bass you ever pulled.

You should be ashamed of yourself  

Whats that honey?

It's a WHAT???????????

nevermind       :-[

Awesome fish dude.  

Nice fish, great pic!

8-)

Wow!  Nice looking fish.  How long did it take to land her?

FC- Is that a "normal" looking sturgeon?  The only other ones I have seen are on TV, those monsters that weigh in the hundreds.  

Certainly not knocking your catch but are they usually skinny like that at that length?  Do you ever get a real fat one?  

Nice fish, I never saw one of those before.  How was the fight?  It definately looks like it must have been fun to reel him in.

that is a dandy.  Very nice.

The last one was bigger

Anyway its still a very nice fish...bigger than anything I ever caught.

They 'skeers' me! :-[

Dan

How deep do you get those?

What kind of bait is used to pull a monster like that out of the water? If you dont mind sharing

Nice fish bud.  

great fish, cool pic

Hey LBH, for a 50 incher, this one is actually medium thick. Probably a young female. As with almost all fish species, they often get fatter (especially the females) as they get older / bigger.

I saw a photo of a 69 incher the other day that was probably 110 lbs. Typically a fat 72 incher will weigh about 100 lbs. But a skinnier 72" male will often only weigh 75 or 80 lbs.

Well AnglerNFuego, because I was using heavier gear (50 lb braid) and a swimbait rod, this one only took about 5 or 7 minutes to land.

Hey Jeff H, I get mine anywhere from 18 feet to 60 feet, but they have been caught from 2 ft, to over 100 feet. This one was in 24 feet.

Hey Boett, seeing as they are basically just big scavengers, they will bite all kinds of stuff.... worms, clams, shrimp, small baitfish, etc..... But one of the hottest baits, is Salmon roe.... presumably because it milks off in the water and creates one heck of a scent trail !

Awesome sportfish though ! If you guys ever get a chance to fish for them, I suggest you jump for it !

Peace,

Fish

Georgia has restocked lake sturgeon here and there are susposed to be some here in the 30 inch range but it is susposed to be 20 years before there is a real fishable population. Your posts about have me wanting to go try and catch one though. Anything that big has to be fun.

Yes, and they can be fast and strong too ! I really haven't had too many do the big jumps yet, but I have heard of big ones jumping 2 or 3 feet clear of the water, so we are talking about there heads being 9 feet or more, out of the water ! Yea' buddy :-)

Lake Sturgeon are a different species, but I'd like to catch one, just so I could say I had.

Peace,

Fish

PS, And the coolest thing is, I'm going to be sitting right in the middle of them in only a couple more hours ! :-) :-) :-) .....and my confidence is through the roof !!!

Great fish, congrats! 8-)