A big catch

DeerMadness · Mar 15, 2023

When I lived in Washington Atate I had a White Sturgeon hooked when night fishing was legal. I know guys that used heavier line but I was fishing for keeper Sturgeon that night in 1986. My 50 lb Trilene Big Game line snapped when that big boy jumped out of the water. It sounded like a .22 rifle when the line snapped. I had tightned the drag minutes before I hooked him to reel in a big pile of weeds that hit my line. I just forgot to loosen the drag up some so he broke off rather quickly. The fishing rod was called The Meat Stick and the tip of the rod was as big as my pinky finger. I was using a Penn 300 level wind reel.
This Catfish is no slouch though-

Despite freezing, angler lands 222-pound catfish after a half-mile tow

A fisherman braving temperatures below freezing was targeting carp on the Ebro River in Spain when his “little 10-foot rod” bent in half.

ftw.usatoday.com

elkassassin · Mar 15, 2023

In 1990-1991 I Caught A Few Smaller Sturgeon!

(I Didn't Have The Heavier Gear With Me I Needed To Fish For Them!)

Kettle Falls Was The Place!

Most Guys Were Running Weights & Baits Out In To The Columbia River With Aluminum Boats Then Running Their Rods Back To Sure To Stab Them In To Pole Holders That Were Cemented In at Shore Line!

Then They'd Clip Cow Bells on the Tips of Their Rods!

Cinch That F'N Line Up Tight & Sit Back & Party & Wait For a Bell to Ring!

When A Bell Started to Ring everybody Was running For Their Poles/One Fish On & Several Guys Getting The Poles out of The way Of a Fuster-Cluck!

It was Perty Funny To Watch!

DeerMadness · Mar 15, 2023

I've fished that way too on the Columbia Reach above the Tri-Cities but 95% of the time we anchored and dropped a 16 oz or bigger weight on a sliding tube above a large 3-way swivel.
My largest keeper was 5'11" and weighed nearly 100 lbs. The large fish I lost was a 10 or 11 foot fish. Many guys used Pickled Herring but we used a chunk of Eel. Sorry but I am not talking about you Eelgrass. ?

I've seen some that rolled near the surface that were at least 15'.
They are tasty fish and boneless.

eelgrass · Mar 15, 2023

No offense taken, DM.

I've eaten a lot of Sturgeon but I've never caught one. The Indians catch them on the Klamath River a lot. Either gill net or rod and reel. All the Indians I knew who gave me Sturgeon are gone now, sadly. Rumor has it that they are extinct in Humboldt Bay, but I see them breach quite often. It's not legal here to fish for them, or at least to keep one. People use Lamprey eels for halibut bait in the bay but they usually catch a lot of Leopard sharks and I don't like dealing with a shark so I never use it.