Better ’sturg’ than never.
July 7th, 2009
By the original Allaroundangler
If you replace the word ‘Sturg’ in the title of this article with the word ‘late’….than this is a phrase most of you have heard of. In fact, probably all of you. But once I change just ONE word, it takes on a whole new meaning. Just like BOAT fishing for sturgeon versus BANK fishing for sturgeon. That ONE word, just changed everything: type and size of lead, length of leader & way leader is tied to begin with, type of bait, size of bait and kind of bait rigging, rod, reel, and probably even location. Wow. Think about that.
Most of the fishermen here in the Pacific Northwest have or will sport-fish for large (upwards of several hundred lbs) sturgeon in our mighty Columbia River. I would go so far as to say most fishermen who will do this successfully will have known someone who has a boat or was invited along to experience what I’ve always called “Blue Collar Marlin Fishing.” These are commonly sought after guided trips as well……so you’ve at least heard stories.
If you’re a bank sturgeon fisherman; you’ve got a lot of skill, to be certain. To successfully cast a 12-14′ casting rod with an open faced live bait saltwater reel is no joke. There’s a ton of room for error, and the success of your fishing session is dependent upon that one cast….not just a lift and drop from the boat.
You also aren’t hooking these monster over-sized fish from the bank with nearly the regularity that a boat angler can. However, you will hook some if you take the time to get dialed in…..like Sal did here…
The boating skill with this method lies in the preparation and the vessel captaining and crucial anchoring process.
So you can see there are many initial, fundamental differences between bank and boat sturgeon fishing…philosophically and otherwise. I mean to also point out the subtle differences between the terminal rigging….and we’ll leave all the other stuff for later on…..in the comments tabs or just another post all together.
SO…what can be SOOOO different between the terminal rigs…going between ‘boat’ and ‘bank’ methodology, right? The answer: A whole lot. I’m also not talking about your favorite sturgeon hole from the bank where you are tossing your 7′ boat rod with a whole calamari squid half-hitched on there. I’m talking about fundamental differences between the two and why they are the way they are:
METHODS & REASONING:
Once you’ve found your spot the idea is to position the boat over the top end of the long deep trough, if possible. In the Columbia, by law, you are required to anchor with 7X the depth of the water you are anchoring in….for your total rope length. For example, if you are anchoring in 30′ of water in the Columbia, you must have (even if not all is deployed) seven times the depth of water in rope length. That’s 210 feet, folks. Too many people have died in that river trying to anchor by traditional methods. Hence the birth of the anchor pulley….I can explain this off line or in another article if you are interested….
So, by positioning your vessel slightly upriver from the intended fishing zone….it reasons the type of rig you would use would be a traditional sliding lead, braided leader, threaded bait fish-type rig…..always ask in the comment field if you don’t understand a description of something in the article…...
DD fights a sturgeon on a traditional boat outfit..sliding lead on main line…medium length dacron leader..large hook through a smelt, no bait wrap
Let’s take that rig now and think about rigging it up. We’ll probably take a small bait fish of some kind, depending on your preference and the time of year….we’ll want to ‘match the hatch’ on their food choice as much as we can…but let’s say it’s a smelt, because we all know what that is. You’re going to take your bait and half hitch the braided line portion around your bait….creating a FLAT lay…even when held stationary in HEAVY current…NO spinning. You’ll just driving nails into your own coffin that day if you don’t take the time to do this. Trim a tail, cut off a fin….try your half hitches again…just don’t fish it spinning...and then feathering the heavy lead down to the bottom..smoothly and without jerkiness…imagining that flat lay.
Before that lead hits the bottom…let’s look over at the bank fisherman, and how he is rigging and what he is doing…..
he’s going to end up set like this..so he has to use different lead, bait size and construction, leader length & size, etc. Why, you ask? A few different key things force these changes: Some of these might include casting from the bank on a 13 plus foot long rod, with up to a pound of lead under full load…can tend to rip the crap out of a bait. Especially if that bait is wrapped by a boat fisherman who’s never seen a need to wrap a bait up on a super short leader (2″ if possible…see my secret bankie knot…) and decides to cast without wrapping the bait up with stretch thread, magic thread..etc. It’s not pretty and it’s going to need a re baiting. Guaranteed. So the bank fisherman must also keep that bait small and compact. About the size of a man’s thumb, once compacted and wrapped. This provides aerodynamics as well as staying power through multiple bite attempts during one bait session. Remember, you have to picture what the bank fisherman has to do to get set. Casting and positioning is everything.
With a weekend of sturg planned with Big Burge….I thought this might get some more of you out there. Cheers.
H3llcat
