ppatricelli
06-03-2007, 04:24 PM
As we prepare for our upcoming Patricelli Invitational where 12 fly anglers from the NW and locations in between come to the Cape for a week of fly fishing, I indulged my only NON-flyfishing addiction.. sturgeon fishing.
BTW...Bill Logan and I will be on the cape shore fishing (if there are no better options) from the morning of 6-13 through 6-17. Anyone from the forum who might want to join us is welcome. Our on-cape tele# will be 508-394-9235.
Before we could sturgeon fish we had to catch bait...so we went up to a mountain lake (3000') on the shoulder of MT Hood and fly caught 3 limits of planter rainbow trout, which make a great imitation of hatchery downstream steelhead and salmon smoults being chewed up by the dams on their downstream migration in the Columbia.
This time of year the sturgeon are massed below the dams both to spawn in the fast water but also attracted by the 30 MILLION run of American Shad AND the downstream smoult migration.
After 4 hours of fighting the tough environment below The Dalles Dam (lost/snagged outfits, snagged anchors, etc.) all we had to show for our efforts was one baby.
http://www.callatg.com/~mfp/stur2.JPG
Then, when we were about to call it quits I hooked up. With the first jump we knew this was not a slot keeper (48-60”) and this was going to take awhile.
http://www.callatg.com/~mfp/stur3.jpg
http://www.callatg.com/~mfp/stur5.jpg
http://www.callatg.com/~mfp/stur7.jpg
The fish was 8 feet long, estimated #250.
Then Bert (85 years old) hooked up on what he thought was going to be a smaller keeper. But the longer he fought it the stronger it got and the further below the boat it ran until we had to drop off the anchor line and chase the fish. Turned out to be only a few inches shorter than my fish.
http://www.callatg.com/~mfp/stur11jpg
http://www.callatg.com/~mfp/stur12.jpg
http://www.callatg.com/~mfp/stur13.jpg
Back on the anchor line, still hoping for an eatin’ keeper, Bill Logan immediately hooked up and this fish left no doubt as to it’s size (as in OVER-size) or intentions as it almost spooled Bill ( 300 yrds 80# TUF line, 50# leader) before we could get the boat off the anchor to give chase. No one actually saw the jump in the distance but the hole in the water looked car-sized. This fish fought much bigger than my 8 footer on the same outfit and we were reduced to following it as it went wherever it wanted as we drifted downstream. After 20 minutes the leader (unchanged from the first fish) popped. On the basis of fight and actions and past fish landed I would estimate 9’ or better. Sorry, no pics. Too busy handling the boat.
Back on anchor again we finished with an ALMOST keeper sized.
http://www.callatg.com/~mfp/stur15.jpg
OK. Sturgeon rods stowed away. Fly rods and reels out in preparation. Cape Cod here we come.
BTW...Bill Logan and I will be on the cape shore fishing (if there are no better options) from the morning of 6-13 through 6-17. Anyone from the forum who might want to join us is welcome. Our on-cape tele# will be 508-394-9235.
Before we could sturgeon fish we had to catch bait...so we went up to a mountain lake (3000') on the shoulder of MT Hood and fly caught 3 limits of planter rainbow trout, which make a great imitation of hatchery downstream steelhead and salmon smoults being chewed up by the dams on their downstream migration in the Columbia.
This time of year the sturgeon are massed below the dams both to spawn in the fast water but also attracted by the 30 MILLION run of American Shad AND the downstream smoult migration.
After 4 hours of fighting the tough environment below The Dalles Dam (lost/snagged outfits, snagged anchors, etc.) all we had to show for our efforts was one baby.
http://www.callatg.com/~mfp/stur2.JPG
Then, when we were about to call it quits I hooked up. With the first jump we knew this was not a slot keeper (48-60”) and this was going to take awhile.
http://www.callatg.com/~mfp/stur3.jpg
http://www.callatg.com/~mfp/stur5.jpg
http://www.callatg.com/~mfp/stur7.jpg
The fish was 8 feet long, estimated #250.
Then Bert (85 years old) hooked up on what he thought was going to be a smaller keeper. But the longer he fought it the stronger it got and the further below the boat it ran until we had to drop off the anchor line and chase the fish. Turned out to be only a few inches shorter than my fish.
http://www.callatg.com/~mfp/stur11jpg
http://www.callatg.com/~mfp/stur12.jpg
http://www.callatg.com/~mfp/stur13.jpg
Back on the anchor line, still hoping for an eatin’ keeper, Bill Logan immediately hooked up and this fish left no doubt as to it’s size (as in OVER-size) or intentions as it almost spooled Bill ( 300 yrds 80# TUF line, 50# leader) before we could get the boat off the anchor to give chase. No one actually saw the jump in the distance but the hole in the water looked car-sized. This fish fought much bigger than my 8 footer on the same outfit and we were reduced to following it as it went wherever it wanted as we drifted downstream. After 20 minutes the leader (unchanged from the first fish) popped. On the basis of fight and actions and past fish landed I would estimate 9’ or better. Sorry, no pics. Too busy handling the boat.
Back on anchor again we finished with an ALMOST keeper sized.
http://www.callatg.com/~mfp/stur15.jpg
OK. Sturgeon rods stowed away. Fly rods and reels out in preparation. Cape Cod here we come.