Dinosaur fishing

[shimano22]

After a long day of salmon fishing thursday with my dad who is visiting the state for the second time, we met up with our guide Brad Vanderzanden from streamside guide service for some keeper sturgeon fishing. Neither of us had ever been sturgeon fishing before so we had no idea what to expect friday when we got to the boat ramp. Well let me tell you brad sure knew what he was doing and put us right on the fish. We had the lines wet for maybe five minutes before we hooked our first fish, a nice change from the grinder of a day thursday. After two or three shakers we got into some keepers and in less than an hour on the water my dad and I had our tagged fish and we were fishing for one for brad as he had a slot on his tag he could fill. Next fish on...you guessed it another keeper. Now the rest of the day there was no pressure to get a keeper. The two we kept were 53" and 49" some great sized fish. We could not have asked for a nicer day, the sun was out, the water was as smooth as glass until around 11 or 11:30 when the wind started to kick up some. We ended up catching just under two dozen fish with six of them being keeper size, the rest shakers, I had my fingers crossed for a big oversized but there are not many I was told that low in the river. Another great day of fishing with my dad in the books

 

[RunWithSasquatch]

Busy couple days, very cool.

 

[skunk]

Very nice, I still need to get me a sturgeon.

 

[shimano22]

It sure was a busy few days on the water and nice that I finally got some nice fish to show for it

 

[Drew9870]

What area is open to retention? I'm still wanting to try Sturgeon.

I'm guessing I only read the Willamette regs?

 

[beaverfan]

What area is open to retention? I'm still wanting to try Sturgeon.

I'm guessing I only read the Willamette regs?

Just about everywhere but the lower Willamette. The Willy is still open above the falls.

 

[troutdude]

An eggscellant report! And those fish look like their trying to navigate the floor! LOL

 

[shimano22]

thanks guys we went out just outside Astoria on the Columbia there in that crazy maze of sandbars. We actually caught these fish in three feet of water i guess they come up on the flats to feed out there

 

[OnTheFly]

Jurassic Park comes to mind. Nice!

 

[JKham]

Great job! Glad you were able to show your dad the joys of fishing in our state. Where you guys using herring for bait? I had my first sturgeon outing last week, it was great and I was surprised that regardless of the size they all bite the same.

 

[DB Crouper]

Hogs!!! I was there this weekend. Only managed one keeper and a bunch of shakers, but still had a great time. Way to go!

 

[SturgeonSurgeon]

Very nice fish indeed.....my favorite out of any species. Glad you could get a taste of the Columbia at it's finest.

 

[brookie47]

Brad Vanderzanden from Streamside guide service is a fantastic fisherman. My son and I went out for sturgeon 1 week before it closed. My son has this fascination with Jeremy wade of river monsters and didn't believe oregon had any fish that size. We landed close to a dozen fish with 2 keepers. Once my son saw the first keeper (after it took 200feet of line) he was very impressed. Brad helped me hook my son and since that trip he has been asking me to go fishing!