Springer on sturgeon rig ??

[minnowmagnet]

me and my buddy were fishing for sturgeon near the mouth of the channel on the Willamette and there were millions of people trolling for springers all around us. His boat wasn't running well, so we just decided to anchor up in 42ft of water near where he keeps the boat. We caught a couple of nice keeper-sized sturgeon. At one point, one of the rods in the holder bent down like a pit-bull was hitting the bait, a green label herring half-hitched in typical sturgeon style. No nibble, nibble, chew, chew, like a normal sturgeon.Now, I have caught plenty of sturgeon, big and small, and never, ever have I seen one hit like this. My immediate thought was that a springer had hit the sturgeon rig. To my great dismay, we weren't able to set the hook in time and that was that. My question to all of you is: Have you ever heard of anyone catching a chinook while fishing for sturgeon?

 

[beaverfan]

Nope never heard of that, but I have seen numerous Sturgeon hit the pole so hard they almost run off with it. I'd say we get one of those every two or three trips out in the upper willamette. I've had little 24 inch fish hit it like crazy and seen big ones do it to.

 

[Marvin's Guide Service]

I had a client catch a salmon last summer when we were Sturgeon fishing.

I was fishing in the flats above horse tail falls around 50 feet of water. Squid for bait. when we first set the hook thought it was a small Sturgeon then when we saw it at top of the water it was a salmon.
the best thing it was a keeper and the season was still open.

 

[halibuthitman]

I have hooked and played one that hit as I was dropping a herring rig down... crazy, now I have had channel cats just about tear my rod holder off, and a 10+ lb walleye would also have a stunning strike.

 

[Diehard]

actually!!!

actually!!!

ok me and my cousin went springer fishn last yr so we fished hard for about four hours trolling plug cut herring and around three a clock with no success we decided to drop anchor just right dead below meldrum bar willamette r. theres a rock bank that juts out into the river and theres a 75 ft hole there so we cut the herrings in half to conserve on bait did your normal boat sturgeon setup we started catchin shakers pretty good and then my cousin hooks one while im in the front of the boat useing the urinal and i yell at him stop playin around with that fish and get it in he says im trying and then the next thing i here is oh s#*%^t get the net i look back and see this springer come flyin up out of the water nice fourteen pound hatchery and one hell of a cool story this fish bit a half a herring on a barbless 5-0 hook in the bottom of 75ft of water no joke :dance:

 

[minnowmagnet]

that's what I'm talking about!

that's what I'm talking about!

See, that is one thing I like about fishing. You never really know for sure what is going to happen. I like a lot of other things about fishing also, the beer, the freezer with fish in it, I could go on.

 

[Troutier Bassier]

Wow! great story! :clap:

 

[nineeleven]

Yup!

Yup!

Two year ago at the dam, I caught two dinos while we back troll with kwik fish. One of the was a nice keeper.

 

[frodog]

About three weeks ago we were sturgeon fishing near 1-5 bridge on the big C. My cousin had already caught his keeper for the day and turned his focus to helping his boy cast instead of dropping over the side of the boat. So he rigs up a squid and casts and says huh thats wierd I dont remember it being that deep over there so he locks the real and the rod won't stop shaking so he hands it to the boy and dtells him to reel. His son is having a very hard time reeling so daddy holds the rod so he can use both hands and wouldn't you know it a nice steelhead fin clipped and all, unfortunately the big C was closed to steal at the time so it released itself after going some acrobatics over my outboard and making a general mess of my gear on the opposite side of the boat.

 

[Swamp Puppy]

I have heard about it happening a lot more often than i would have guessed down around here. A buddy of mine's wife caught one this year and had 2 other suspected take downs. I have another friend that will keep his bait about a crank off the bottom for the same reason. He has laid claim to 2 salmon that way, but that could be a fish story....lol. he does it for a reason though.