JUST ANOTHER BIG FISH STORY

[bearpaw]

JUST ANOTHER BIG FISH STORY
I went catch and release fishing with a couple friends for oversize white sturgeon in the lower Columbia River. The big ones were really hungry, we hooked 10 fish in a little over 6 hours, 2 fish broke the 100 pound test line and got away, but we landed 8 fish that ranged from 7' to 9'8". That's not a misprint the biggest fish was 116 inches long! The quickest fight was about 20 minutes for the 7' fish and the longest fight was 1 hour 26 minutes. According to a white sturgeon website a 7 foot fish should weigh about 178 pounds and a 9'8" fish should weigh about 489 pounds. The fish probably averaged about 8 feet and 275 pounds, so we probably caught and released about 2000 pounds of fish in one afternoon.

We got in the water with three of the biggest fish for photos, the two biggest fish probably weighed nearly twice as much as we weigh, fortunately they are not aggressive, needless to say the whole experience was just incredible. (FYI - When you roll them upside down they are very docile and easy to unhook, you roll them right side up and they swim back down unharmed.)

[Bango skank]

Wow, dont know that id want to get in the water with those things!  How far down the river?  Im on a boat down at portland right now and i see a lot of people fishing, but dont see anybody catching anything

[bearpaw]

The size of these bigger fish is just amazing!

[bearpaw]

I think this was the little guy, the 7 footer...

[hunting4sanity]

Those are same amazing fish and truly a BIG fish story. It's been a long time since I've fished for them, but it's a sight to behold when one of those guys jumps. Congratulations!

[ICEMAN]

Wow! You guys crazy!

[HUNTaHOLIC5]

Awesome! Getting in the water with them really shows the size well.

[bearpaw]

Wow, dont know that id want to get in the water with those things!  How far down the river?  Im on a boat down at portland right now and i see a lot of people fishing, but dont see anybody catching anything

That whole stretch along the Oregon border is where they are at. My friend has it dialed in, I have fished them before and had caught an 8-10 when I was 12 years old, but I beat my old record and saw more fish caught in one afternoon than ever before. There are lots of guides down there that really know how to catch them. We've got a couple fishing guides on the forum that fish for sturgeon.

Those are same amazing fish and truly a BIG fish story. It's been a long time since I've fished for them, but it's a sight to behold when one of those guys jumps. Congratulations!

Two of our big ones come out of the water, that's when one of them that got away broke the line, he come out and when he shook or fell the drag was just a little too tight!

Unfortunately in the excitement of unhooking one fish I lost my phone in the river,  I had to wait till my friend sent these photos. We got some good video and even video of them jumping, but I don't have a copy of the video yet.

After landing 4 fish, I was whipped, I still feel it in my arms!

[Gringo31]

Good trip, good times!  I can still see your phone slowly sinking away into the deep.  Hearing that your arms still hurt makes me smile.  I appreciate you keeping the location vague, but not as much as just a couple guys hanging out on the water and laughing.

How often can guys go out and literally catch a ton of fish?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[HvyHorn338]

Gotta love catching those oversizers.  Great pics and story.  Congrats. 

[Ridgeratt]

Nice batch of Dinosaurs.

[denali]

Wow , very nice

[Bow tech hunter]

Nice 

[Shrimper]

Great Trip!

[bowhunterforever]

Looks like a blast