Back chasing sturgeon on Suisun Bay - and armed teenagers!

[CoachPotato]

I finally got out of the house this week after staying home by the
fire the whole month of January. I headed to Delta Marina on the
Sacramento River in Rio Vista (N. Kalifornistan) with the coach and
the boat, and spent three days fishing.

Day 1 and 3 were spent at Decker Island where I spent many hours for
no fish. I had one good hit and missed it.

Day 2, Wednesday, was a better day. Suisun Bay was flat calm, and
after five hours of patiently waiting, I hooked into a feisty, strong
sturgy that put up a great fight! He measured 55" and was very slender
- probably a male. I released him to fight another day. He fell for
eel, as it's the only bait I use any more.

The water was very high and the outgoes were huge. The debris was
pretty heavy, too, but not many big trees.

It was great to be back chasing sturgeon!

Photos and much more story - including the armed teenagers - at my
homepage www.FishWisher.com

Dale

 

[mars bar]

Re: Back chasing sturgeon on Suisun Bay - and armed teenagers!

Nice story, makes me want to go fishing but it's -7 Celsius here in Niagara. In an old book on the history of Niagara-on-the-lake, I saw a sturgy hanging from a tri pod. It was estimated to be over 1000 lbs. They used to use a ham that was going bad for bait and a team of horses to pull it out. That thing was huge according to the guys standing beside it, I would guess 12' - 14' NO LIE.

 

[rolmops]

Re: Back chasing sturgeon on Suisun Bay - and armed teenagers!

Nice story, makes me want to go fishing but it's -7 Celsius here in Niagara. In an old book on the history of Niagara-on-the-lake, I saw a sturgy hanging from a tri pod. It was estimated to be over 1000 lbs. They used to use a ham that was going bad for bait and a team of horses to pull it out. That thing was huge according to the guys standing beside it, I would guess 12' - 14' NO LIE.

It certainly was a bit overdone like any fishing tale,but Lake Ontario used to be the main provider of Kaviar (sturgeon eggs) for Boston and New York.After the Railroads were a fact of life the kaviar could be transported very fast to the big cities.This caused the destruction of the Great Lakes sturgeon and even today they are extremely rare in Lake Ontario.
There have been a few re-population efforts in the past few years.One can only hope..

 

[Expidia]

Re: Back chasing sturgeon on Suisun Bay - and armed teenagers!

I actually came face to face with one several years ago on the Hudson River's Athens boat launch about 10 miles south of Albany.

It was around dusk and this 9-10 foot log came floating into the bay right up to the launch area. It was an Atlantic Sturgeon.

Scary as hell to see something that big in freshwater. It reminded me and looked just like the sub in Jules Verne's 20,000 leagues under the sea.

They are a protected species in NY, but of course every now and then some yahoo catches one, kills it and proudly displays it for all his buddies to see until the DEC slaps them with a big fine!

Here is a good read on them:
http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/7025.html