Looking for a fun fight!

[Dirty Bird]

As the title says i'm lookin for a good fight. I've heard that sturgeon put up a decent fight so thought i'd look into getting a rod n reel to go for em. I was looking into a 8 ft medium heavy action ugly stik and not quite sure on what size or type of reel. I'm not familiar with bait casters but would love to learn as they seem to be increasingly popular. Also not too sure of what test line I should use. I'd assume that the lighter the better the fight but at the same time I want to land it lol. 50lb? 60lb? As of right now I only have a 5'10" ugly stik with the stock reel and 10 pound test on there... looking into pulling in some bigger fish. I've mapped out a few spots i'd like to try for sturgeon but don't quite know what gear to get for them. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[bass]

Are you fishing from the bank or a boat?

Sturgeon do pull hard. They are not the flashiest fighters but when a big fish comes out of the water that is pretty darn exciting. For the most part they pull like a freight train. My light sturgeon rod is an X-Heavy action salmon rod with a Ambassadeur 6500 or Shimano Cardiff 400. I use that with weights up to 6 or 8oz. My normal sturgeon rod is a 7' Medium Action Tiger Stik with a Penn 320 or a Daiwa Saltist 40 (my favorite reel by far). I use that outfit for when I am using weights up to 16oz. I have caught oversized on both outfits, but I prefer fighting the fish with the heavier rod. However, when they are biting lightly I think I do better with the salmon rod. I used 30lb braid on both of the rods. Now, I am fishing from my kayak so I can follow the fish when fighting a big one. If you are banking it you will not have that luxury so factor that in to your rod choice.

So, if you throw out a few more details about your situation I will try to give you more information.

 

[igquick]

I am guessing you are bank fishing off the willamette, let me know how it goes dirty bird!

Sorry for kind of hi-jacking your post dirty bird, but hey bass what bait would you use off the willamette bank?

 

[bass]

I am guessing you are bank fishing off the willamette, let me know how it goes dirty bird!

Sorry for kind of hi-jacking your post dirty bird, but hey bass what bait would you use off the willamette bank?

I only use anchovies. I think they stay on the hook pretty well and leave a nice oily trail in the water. A friend who catches at least as many as me and probably more only uses herring. I know others who do extremely well only use squid or sandshrimp. In the end, my belief is that sturgeon are opportunistic bottom feeders and that most baits will work equally well. I prefer using anchovies because I like the size of the bait and in reading feeding studies on sturgeon, once they become keeper sized their diet is almost completely composed of fish. Now, that said. I do believe that there are times when the shad or smelt are thick in the river that the sturgeon may be more focused on a particular food source. However, I have caught quite a few oversized on anchovies during the shad run. Basically, I think they eat anything that is smaller and slower than they are.

I think that when people switch baits and start to catch fish it is because the different buoyancy of the new bait causes their rig to settle into a better spot rather than the sturgeon finding any particular bait irresistible. I don't think fish get to be over ten feet long by turning down meals I know lots of folks will disagree with this, but I have never been in a situation where someone next to me was catching fish and I wasn't - once I made sure I got my bait to settle close to theirs.

So, my answer is to use anything that you can keep on the hook if there are bait stealers in the area. I think I would be tempted to use squid from the bank because it stays on the hook so well - even when being pecked on by little bait stealers.

 

[SiletzTroutKiller]

I agree with bass. From my sturgeon experiences they'll eat almost anything that smells and sits on the bottom. When I go sturgeon fishing I use squid or herring and put some smell on it like sturgeon cocktail or WD-40 works too

 

[troutmasta]

Bass is the man for sturgeon(ironic). Listen.

 

[igquick]

Once again, im sorry for hi-jacking your post man lol

Anyways ive been able to catch them with worms but not as consistent as carp, bluegill, catfish, etc...so instead of worms from the bank, would half hitching a 6 inch fish and casting it as far as possible with my 9 foot fishing rod with 20 lb line be better?

This gas station close to me sells these 6 inch herring or anchovies i think

 

[DB Crouper]

Some baits are better than others on a given day, in a given place. Some scents are also better than others. I have had days of catching 20 fish on sand shrimp, while unnamed Mr. Ed catches ZERO ON SMELT, BECAUSE HE THINKS ALL BAITS ARE EQUAL. Be prepared with multiple baits. Sand shrimp has been the best universal bait for me, but sometimes anchovies, squid, or smelt have been better at certain tide times and/or depths.

 

[bass]

Once again, im sorry for hi-jacking your post man lol

Anyways ive been able to catch them with worms but not as consistent as carp, bluegill, catfish, etc...so instead of worms from the bank, would half hitching a 6 inch fish and casting it as far as possible with my 9 foot fishing rod with 20 lb line be better?

This gas station close to me sells these 6 inch herring or anchovies i think

I would think that something like that should decrease your chances of having your bait attacked by bluegill and carp and thus increase your chance of catching a sturgeon (or a catfish). In the end, my suggestion is to pick something that sturgeon will eat and that the fewest other fish will eat. The goal is to put something out there that will still be there when a sturgeon swims by. If you are catching bluegill you can put on a chunk of that and it will make a good bait. I think that anchovies or herring might be a bit better since they are oilier than a bluegill and thus I think create a better scent trail. I am not sure if that is really true or not.

 

[bass]

Some baits are better than others on a given day, in a given place. Some scents are also better than others. I have had days of catching 20 fish on sand shrimp, while unnamed Mr. Ed catches ZERO ON SMELT, BECAUSE HE THINKS ALL BAITS ARE EQUAL. Be prepared with multiple baits. Sand shrimp has been the best universal bait for me, but sometimes anchovies, squid, or smelt have been better at certain tide times and/or depths.

I respect your opinion on the subject, I just have never seen it happen to me personally. I have had it appear to be true on several occasions, but each time once I made sure that the line angles were the same and the baits were settling in the same spot the "hot" bait was no better than the bait that was not getting bit earlier.

I used to carry multiple baits but each time I ran the experiment of switching baits while on a spot that was producing the catch rate never changed.

I have had situations where I am getting bit in a very narrow slot and if I moved my bait to the left or right just a little bit I would no longer get bit, but that was not a function of bait.

However, it may be that I do pretty much all my sturgeon fishing in the Willamette and the fish there are not as selective as in other fisheries.

 

[igquick]

Man, if only carp all ate the same bait every time, it wouldnt be so hard to patternize....but carp are very dependent on location and just THE RIGHT SPOT when casting just like sturgeon as you have noted...i get really uncomfortable and will cast again if im 2 feet off my target

 

[Dirty Bird]

I bank fish for the most part but just yesterday purchased a 12 ft raft that can mount a trolling motor for lil lakes and what not. I've been looking into getting an ultra lite ugly stik for bass and catfish and possibly an 8-10 ft rod for sturgeon. I've heard that sturgeon put up a good fight and I've never caught one. That and i'll be able to get some salmon off that rod. Caught plenty of salmon setups lol spin-n-glow weight an all off my ugly stik so I just need the rod and reel an i'm set . All an all i've just been exploring trying to find areas with some nice sized fish. igquick i've been to many of the places you have been posting on the River Monsters app and come up with damn near nothing. Salish ponds never produced for me but i've also found out that I was fishing the pond that wasn't stocked with trout for about a year LOL. Only ever pulled up those lil guys near the dock and some cats come sunset into the night. Fairview was only cats though i was there less than a week ago at about 8:45 pm and there were carp surfacing all over. Whenever I go to like chinook landing it's the peamouths. Sauvies island's beach produced the most species for me, starry flounder, sculpin, yellow perch, cats, peamouths by the handful, largescale suckers, northern pikeminnow, trout, everything but the big ones most likely because I only use smaller rods and lighter weight. I have hooked something up about a year ago that snapped my 20lb test with ease. I was using worm on the bottom during the end of the spring run basically. Was just hangin out and next thing I know my rod hit the ground so I set the hook and saw a larger sized fish leap out, my line went slack and tightened up so fast it snapped leaving me with nothing. To this day i'm unsure of what it was because I didn't get a good look. I hate fishing the Willy but seems like it produces the most fish. I've found a lil spot that I've gone to twice now and each time took out 6+ fish. Mainly sculpins but a largescale sucker which on my lil rod an reel put up a lil struggle, a trout, yellow perch, northern pikeminnow. Friend of mine caught a couple smallmouths off a spoon. Basically just looking for some advice on some gear to get and maybe a spot or two that I can produce some bigger fish... seems like I have the knowledge of the fish but my setup may be wrong. I dunno lol I just like to fish for the pure fun of it and relaxing factor. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. The rods i've been looking at will most likely be the ones I get but as for reels i'm not sure what to do simply because i'm a lil lost on the baitcasters yet they seem to be the better choice from what I see. Again any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Dirty Bird

 

[igquick]

Sturgeon put an incredible fight!

Salish Ponds is an incredibly hard fishery for Carp. Back then, when I used to catch more at either of the ponds, I never had polarized glasses so I could never see what's in the water. The last fish I caught, I had my polarized glasses on, and I managed to see groups and groups of Carp in and around where I casted! Recently I have never seen Carp anymore, which is why I am not catching them there for the meantime. Another thing that might help you, is the last few times I was catching Carp there, I was on the "windward" bank. Now I can't find a spot because every time I go, there isn't any spot on the windward bank.

By the way, I haven't been able to catch any cats in there lately!?!?!?Where the heck are you catching the cats?! Honestly, when I am catching cats, I end up catching carp as well.

I am looking forward to one of these days to try my strawberry covered white bread balls at Fairview Lake, but I only know of that one dock as a fishing spot at Lakeshore City Park.

If I were to try to catch a carp, my best bet would be those backwaters at Chinook Landing. I mean they are jumping everywhere! They love the corn, but last time I was there I only got one bite.

Back then, when I would lose a big carp from line breakage, it would end sort of the same way on how your 20 lb test would break. Except I would see the carp's head surface, then line would go slack.

Im sure you seen where that guy caught a gigantic sturgeon off the Willy on the River Monsters app lol

 

[vanbrunt]

igquick. When I fish the willy for sturgeon I use an 11' rod capable of casting 6oz of lead. It's a spinning combo and I love this set-up on the willamette. It's also just big enough to get into fish on the columbia. You will be glad that you bought a longer rod if you want to target sturgeon. A rod less than 10 feet means less casting distance. This will reduce where you can fish tremendously. It also makes all the difference in the world when you hook an oversize.
As far as the bait discussion goes. I like to have more than one bait available but it's probably more of a mental thing for me than anything. Since you're a carp guy I know you'll appreciate this input... it's in the rig. One of the other posters said that they though that the buoyancy of the bait changes the presentation and that's why some baits seem "hot" at one time vs. another. I like this idea. But, for me I feel that if I like my rigging my confidence goes up and so does my catching. Try different rigs until you have a few dialed in that you like. One thing to keep in mind is trying sliding vs. solid weight set-ups along with mixing and matching line/leader combos. If you go with dacron leaders and braided line you are likely to get tangled while casting, but it's very supple and I seem to get lots of bites on that rig. If you do one mono and the other braid you will get less hang ups but I don't seems to get bit as often. This is just my opinion. Best of luck picking out a new combo.

 

[igquick]

Alright sorry for the late reply...what are some list of baits along with hook sizes i could use for small shakers?

 

[vanbrunt]

Alright sorry for the late reply...what are some list of baits along with hook sizes i could use for small shakers?

The shakers will take the same things the bigger ones do. I use a 4/0 hook almost exclusively. I use very small pieces of bait like a single piece from a herring cut into 4-5 pieces and then magic thread it to the shank of the hook. It almost ends up looking like a bare hook since it snugs up so tight. This is what you want. Don't let any extra bait hang off, this will reduce the number of taps you'll get from other smaller species. You'll see guys put a whole herring or squid on their hook but I find that it usually just means more wasted bait. These are not greedy fish. Once I went with smaller baits I started catching more fish. Squid, herring, smelt, shad, and carp all make good sturgeon bait. Since you catch lots of carp you should keep a real small one some time and use the belly meat as sturgeon bait.

 

[igquick]

Well sweet thanks man, time to go try this stuff out!

 

[Moe]

In the willy during the winter gators eat anything you throw at them. I bet I could smelly jelly a big ol turd and catch a keeper lmao

 

[igquick]

The shakers will take the same things the bigger ones do. I use a 4/0 hook almost exclusively. I use very small pieces of bait like a single piece from a herring cut into 4-5 pieces and then magic thread it to the shank of the hook. It almost ends up looking like a bare hook since it snugs up so tight. This is what you want. Don't let any extra bait hang off, this will reduce the number of taps you'll get from other smaller species. You'll see guys put a whole herring or squid on their hook but I find that it usually just means more wasted bait. These are not greedy fish. Once I went with smaller baits I started catching more fish. Squid, herring, smelt, shad, and carp all make good sturgeon bait. Since you catch lots of carp you should keep a real small one some time and use the belly meat as sturgeon bait.

I don't have any "magic thread" and I have no idea where to find it. Can it be found in Wal-Mart or Dicks Sporting Goods? Shoot maybe I'll just use floss.

MAN I can't wait to try this stuff out!

 

[Moe]

I use cheap sewing thread and it works for me... dicks should have magic thread tho I prefer the sewing thread because its cheaper