News Flash, familiar face takes #1 AOTY spot!

 Beautiful work Sean

You've out done yourself Bro.....

Sorry for the late report.  I just got back last night from my epic pig hunt with Bigeye Dave.  We brought home the bacon.  Dave shot a big hog.  I'll post the report and pics.

My ultimate surf & turf weekend began with a planned hook-up with Sean at Bullhead Flats to pick up the Hawg Troughs for our AOTY schwag bags and to soak a few shrimp before my drive to Lake Sonoma to get my hunting permit.  When I get to Rat Rock, I suprisingly Sean on OTW with other NCKA big fish slayers-- Fishim, Freddie, and Fuzz.  I paddled out for a spot to anchor, but they were setup close to each other, so I had only two choices --to anchor next to Freddie and be his lucky charm again... or fish next to Sean who's been my good luck charm and has captured my most memorable fish photos.  Sorry Freddie... I luv'ya bro, but this was a no-brainer. 

So, I anchored outside of Sean and casted out a ghost and grass shrimp combo.  I was just sitting there so happy to be OTW with my buds, when I noticed a my rod tip move ever so slightly, thinking it was could just be debris on the line. Then I see it again, but when it happened the 3rd time, I swung for it!  It felt like a big snag, but when my line start rippin' and a fish broke the surface, I could knew it was a sturgeon.  It only took a few good runs and came to the boat faster than I expect, but I couldn't get it close enough to use the snare, so I popped the anchor loose.  Freddie caught up to me and just about then the fish taps out and blows bubbles.  I did a "Freddie" and botched my first two snare attempts, but the 3rd time was the charm.  After hauling the fish onboard, I was worried it might just be over the 66" limit.  Thankfully, Freddie had a 66" mark on his paddle.  We laid his paddle across and Freddie called it at on the money at 64 inches.  It was now "hammer time".  After a number of whacks, I leashed the fish and paddled back to Sean for his camera magic.  Thank you again, Sean!!!

I hooked back up to my anchor and laid back to regain my composure.  Then clouds move in and it starts to sprinkle.  Sean suggested that I head back to beat the tide to avoid the mudfest.  Good idea.  As soon as I hit shore, I run to the 4runner to get the measuring tape.  I carefully lay it out and it's just 1/4 inch shy of 64".  Whoa... what a relief!

I asked a nice couple on shore to take a few photos, and off to I go.
 

My pleasure Chuck-another magic moment.  I am not sure why this always seems to happen to us when we fish together...but I am FINE with it!!!

Heres a few more pics. 
                                                    The usual suspects Sean,Freddie,and Fuzz

                             

                                   

                                                      ChuckE hooking up

                                   

                                         ChuckE going for a ride Dragging anchor past Sean

                                   

                                          Last minute power surge!

                                     

                                          Getting ready for the round-up

                                   

HOLY S@%$!!, what a fattie! What was the weight on it??

OMG! That is one beautiful hunk of AOTY points--and good eating, too!  Can't imagine pulling anything that size into a kayak. Congrats, ChuckE!

Janice aka "Big J"

Good one ChuckE... wish I had some time off to get out there... looks like you took the longggg paddle out to the Banks...

Nice job Chuck.  The fish would actually be over the slot up here in Oregon, however we do get some monster sturgeon in the Columbia.  Any interest in coming up and trying for a 10 footer? 

Mark, I like your choice of photos, particularly your choice (or mistake) of showing the same photo of Sean before and after the photo of Chuck hooking up.  It gives the impression of Sean thinking "What the...Ah man, here we go again".

Brian

Brian I actually went back to edit that out but it doesn't show up in the box. But you are probably right in your assumption.

Wow - beautiful fish!  Way to go guys! Congrats ChuckE!

Heres my first attempt at video editing nothing fancy. Don't get seasick, I was zoomed out kind of far.

            http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=2642s1t&s=3

Heres my first attempt at video editing nothing fancy. Don't get seasick, I was zoomed out kind of far.

            http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=2642s1t&s=3

Shimmy,

That's cool.  Thank you!  I didn't realize you got some video to go with all of those action pics you took.  My old Pentax Optio WPi  sucks at video. I should pass my camera on to my wife and get a newer one.

I like how you combined the still pics and clips with the captions.  I need to do that with the clips and pics of Freddie's dino.  Several days ago, Sean was telling me to start off with Windows Movie Maker.  Is that what you used?

F*#K Chuck nice one now I'm sorry I didn't take the day off. Any caviar?

Nope.  No caviar.  I was hoping for some but I did find what looked like immature roe sacks, but it also looked like a really long strip of liver.  I'm not sure what it was.  I should have taken pic and asked our resident fish gurus.

Any interest in coming up and trying for a 10 footer?

Believe-it-or-not, I've thought about it.  I have friends who fish the Columbia every June for oversize dinos using whole 15" shad for bait.  I've seen pics of video of them catching and releasing fish over 11 feet long.  That fight on a kayak would be unbelievable, but what scares me is that I hear the super fast current on the Columbia can be much more dangerous than around here.  My friends came close to getting pulled under when they're anchor got snagged.

HOLY S@%$!!, what a fattie! What was the weight on it??

I never got to weigh it, but it felt close to 70 lbs.  I had a hard time holding it up for a quick shore photo.