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I used to think that sturgeon did not bite that well in cold water, I think I will have to amend that thinking after my trip on Sunday. I now think that sturgeon bunch up more tightly, but if you can find them then they bite pretty darn well.
Official temperature in the river was about 37, my sonar read 34.5, my friend's read 36. However, you slice it that is some cold water, but the sturgeon did not seem to mind too much. I ended the day catching 9 sturgeon: 2 oversized (5 and 5 1/2 foot), 6 keepers and a shaker that just missed.
I had not been on the water since the cold snap and myself and couple of other kayakers (minnowmagnet and another friend) decided to give it a go at Swan Island on Sunday. I started the day where I had left off a few weeks ago. I did not mark any fish but decided to try the area anyway since marking fish is a "nice to have", but not a "have to have" when sturgeon fishing.
Well, after 20 minutes it appeared that the sonar was not lying. We did not have a sniff and after that moved from spot to spot with similar success. One friend tried out mid-river, I hit a bunch of spots around the harbor mouth without any bites.
Finally joined up with minnowmagnet on a spot that was showing a lot of fish on the sonar and they were willing to bite. In that cold water the bites are so incredibly soft. I did not bother with the Tiger Stik and rather used my salmon rod (which is far more sensitive). Even with that I found myself leaning forward staring at the line and the rod while using every bit of feeling I could get out of my hands to determine if I was getting a bite or if the kayak had just shifted a bit. I missed a ton of fish to be sure, still not sure if I was too quick or too slow on the misses. I thought about downsizing my hook, but I do not like to risk having them swallow the hooks.
One thing that helped me for sure was sticking with small baits. I was using 1/2 an anchovy, my one friend was using 1/2 a herring and our third friend did not land a fish until he started cutting his bigger herring into fourths. Other folks around us were having good luck as well, I am not sure what they doing bait-wise.
After a while we got bored fishing the good spot and spent some time looking for a second concentration of fish. We tried quite a few spots, some showing a few fish others not, but could not find any biters. Eventually, I found a spot where I was marking some fish and was able to get some bites. I did hook and lose one fish, but it was very slow compared to the best spot.
Also had a first on Sunday, I got to see one of the huge boats launch out of the dry dock at Swan Island. Man did it and the tugs stir up the river! I went out after they left to see if the commotion had attracted any fish. My sonar showed a ton of sediment swirling around but I did not mark any fish and did not stop to fish given my earlier "success" in that type of situation.
Here are a couple of pics from the day:
Hooked up to one of the oversize, I love how the rod makes a V in the water as the fish pulls me around:
Here is the 5.5 footer:
A big keeper in the clear, cold water:
This guy would not let go of the hook, I think he really just wanted me to warm him up in the kayak for a bit
Official temperature in the river was about 37, my sonar read 34.5, my friend's read 36. However, you slice it that is some cold water, but the sturgeon did not seem to mind too much. I ended the day catching 9 sturgeon: 2 oversized (5 and 5 1/2 foot), 6 keepers and a shaker that just missed.
I had not been on the water since the cold snap and myself and couple of other kayakers (minnowmagnet and another friend) decided to give it a go at Swan Island on Sunday. I started the day where I had left off a few weeks ago. I did not mark any fish but decided to try the area anyway since marking fish is a "nice to have", but not a "have to have" when sturgeon fishing.
Well, after 20 minutes it appeared that the sonar was not lying. We did not have a sniff and after that moved from spot to spot with similar success. One friend tried out mid-river, I hit a bunch of spots around the harbor mouth without any bites.
Finally joined up with minnowmagnet on a spot that was showing a lot of fish on the sonar and they were willing to bite. In that cold water the bites are so incredibly soft. I did not bother with the Tiger Stik and rather used my salmon rod (which is far more sensitive). Even with that I found myself leaning forward staring at the line and the rod while using every bit of feeling I could get out of my hands to determine if I was getting a bite or if the kayak had just shifted a bit. I missed a ton of fish to be sure, still not sure if I was too quick or too slow on the misses. I thought about downsizing my hook, but I do not like to risk having them swallow the hooks.
One thing that helped me for sure was sticking with small baits. I was using 1/2 an anchovy, my one friend was using 1/2 a herring and our third friend did not land a fish until he started cutting his bigger herring into fourths. Other folks around us were having good luck as well, I am not sure what they doing bait-wise.
After a while we got bored fishing the good spot and spent some time looking for a second concentration of fish. We tried quite a few spots, some showing a few fish others not, but could not find any biters. Eventually, I found a spot where I was marking some fish and was able to get some bites. I did hook and lose one fish, but it was very slow compared to the best spot.
Also had a first on Sunday, I got to see one of the huge boats launch out of the dry dock at Swan Island. Man did it and the tugs stir up the river! I went out after they left to see if the commotion had attracted any fish. My sonar showed a ton of sediment swirling around but I did not mark any fish and did not stop to fish given my earlier "success" in that type of situation.
Here are a couple of pics from the day:
Hooked up to one of the oversize, I love how the rod makes a V in the water as the fish pulls me around:
Here is the 5.5 footer:
A big keeper in the clear, cold water:
This guy would not let go of the hook, I think he really just wanted me to warm him up in the kayak for a bit
