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I had not been fishing in almost a month so I was anxious to get back out there and do some C&R sturgeon fishing out of the kayak. I met up with a good friend of mine (Brian or minnowmagnet) at Swan Island a.k.a. Jurassic Park. Brian got there first was getting towed around by a nice sized keeper when I got there. He already had caught several others as well.
It was really nice of him to find the biters for us The cool thing is that the fish were stacked up in shallow water (~25'). Man in that warm (47 degree) shallow water those fish fought like maniacs. Jerking our kayaks first one way, then another. They were downright violent, maybe they were in beast mode for the super bowl.
The bit was really fast for a while, a mix of shakers and keepers and then it slowed a bit. Brian moved off to try find a different set of biters and I thought about doing that as well, but first I thought I would try throwing in a different direction from the same spot. Turns out that was a lucky call by me!
I immediately started catching good sized keepers about as fast as I could get back to the spot and get my anchovy in the water. It is just insane when they are biting like that.
After a bunch of keepers I hooked into a fish that was a lot bigger. That fish took me from the spot I was fishing most of the way back to the ramp. Brian saw me from a distance and just thought I was heading back to look for a new group of fish. There were times when she was pulling me at 3.8mph. That is a new speed record for a sleigh ride for me! The fish really go crazy when they are fighting in that shallow water. Rapid changes of direction and the head shakes on that short line are jarring.
After taking me for a tour of the harbor she brought me back close to where I started and where Brian had moved back near. I yelled to him and he paddled over and was able to get a short video of the end of the fight and the release:
You can't really see her size very well. Before he took the video I tried a few times to get her to rollover and lay still, but that big girl just did not want to play nice. I would estimate her length at 6-7'.
Well after that fish I went back to where I was fishing and poured myself a cup of coffee and tossed back out. I only got a couple of sips before I was hooked up with another keeper. The bite was still hot even with my 35 minute interlude. Brian came back over and we caught a few more fish when the bite died.
It was interesting because in looking around with the sonar the huge mass of fish paving the bottom had thinned way out. Not sure where they went but they definitely had moved. I was pretty whipped and cold by this point so we decided to move a fair distance, partly to look for biters and partly to warm up.
We each tried a few spots with little success and then Brian found another spot that was loaded with fish, mostly shakers but it was just one fish after another. I was fishing a short distance away and while I was marking as many fish as Brian I was not getting bit at all. That is definitely an odd thing about that harbor. Sometimes moving 100' is the difference between getting nothing but line rubs and just catching fish after fish.
I moved a couple of times around the area before I got a few bites and caught a couple of shakers, but Brian was still catching 4 or more to my one. After a while we decided we had enough of the shaker-fest and decided to head back and stop on the way back to see if we could find more quality fish.
Stopping at a handful of spots on the way back only resulted in a few shakers. The quality bite was done for us, but we finally made it back to the ramp, cold and tired, but smiling and stinking to high heaven of sturgeon.
Going fishing was definitely the "right call" on Sunday. Glad I did not "pass" up the opportunity to fish
It was really nice of him to find the biters for us The cool thing is that the fish were stacked up in shallow water (~25'). Man in that warm (47 degree) shallow water those fish fought like maniacs. Jerking our kayaks first one way, then another. They were downright violent, maybe they were in beast mode for the super bowl.
The bit was really fast for a while, a mix of shakers and keepers and then it slowed a bit. Brian moved off to try find a different set of biters and I thought about doing that as well, but first I thought I would try throwing in a different direction from the same spot. Turns out that was a lucky call by me!
I immediately started catching good sized keepers about as fast as I could get back to the spot and get my anchovy in the water. It is just insane when they are biting like that.
After a bunch of keepers I hooked into a fish that was a lot bigger. That fish took me from the spot I was fishing most of the way back to the ramp. Brian saw me from a distance and just thought I was heading back to look for a new group of fish. There were times when she was pulling me at 3.8mph. That is a new speed record for a sleigh ride for me! The fish really go crazy when they are fighting in that shallow water. Rapid changes of direction and the head shakes on that short line are jarring.
After taking me for a tour of the harbor she brought me back close to where I started and where Brian had moved back near. I yelled to him and he paddled over and was able to get a short video of the end of the fight and the release:
You can't really see her size very well. Before he took the video I tried a few times to get her to rollover and lay still, but that big girl just did not want to play nice. I would estimate her length at 6-7'.
Well after that fish I went back to where I was fishing and poured myself a cup of coffee and tossed back out. I only got a couple of sips before I was hooked up with another keeper. The bite was still hot even with my 35 minute interlude. Brian came back over and we caught a few more fish when the bite died.
It was interesting because in looking around with the sonar the huge mass of fish paving the bottom had thinned way out. Not sure where they went but they definitely had moved. I was pretty whipped and cold by this point so we decided to move a fair distance, partly to look for biters and partly to warm up.
We each tried a few spots with little success and then Brian found another spot that was loaded with fish, mostly shakers but it was just one fish after another. I was fishing a short distance away and while I was marking as many fish as Brian I was not getting bit at all. That is definitely an odd thing about that harbor. Sometimes moving 100' is the difference between getting nothing but line rubs and just catching fish after fish.
I moved a couple of times around the area before I got a few bites and caught a couple of shakers, but Brian was still catching 4 or more to my one. After a while we decided we had enough of the shaker-fest and decided to head back and stop on the way back to see if we could find more quality fish.
Stopping at a handful of spots on the way back only resulted in a few shakers. The quality bite was done for us, but we finally made it back to the ramp, cold and tired, but smiling and stinking to high heaven of sturgeon.
Going fishing was definitely the "right call" on Sunday. Glad I did not "pass" up the opportunity to fish
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