China camp 12/16 NCKA double- header!

Right on!
            
Thanks for sharing.

Excellent, Mr. Smithers.


:fingers steepled:

MolBasser

Congrats to everyone. 

Erik is easily the most consistent sturgeon fisherman ever...simply amazing.  Erik, your ne anchor rig is SUPER clean...genius really.

Mooch, glad to see you finally got one, hopefully my turn is soon. 

Great work! That's a lot of fish for the freezer. Joel thanks for bait tube photos last week, my tube turned out great. May have to join the dino hunt next year when I get my P15.

Scott

great report! glad mooch's efforts finally paid off.

that is the first quick-release anchor system that I understand immediately from looking at the photos!

I guess it's a lot easier to sit and wait if you've caught one before and know that it is possible to catch
one again.

the first one must be the hardest by a long shot.

J

Right on, fellas. I'm lookin' forward to getting back out there. I can only hope the conditions are half as nice!

Congrats on your first dino, Mooch. Hopefully you'll be out there next time I can make it out!

 

Congrats Blue... his middle name isn't Joel by chance is it? 

Glad to hear everyone is healthy... big boy you got there!  Way to go mama!

Now that's the way to hijack a thread!

Good work!

EK

CONGRATS TO BOTH!
Man you guys hit it right!   It sure was DAM COLD! 

You guys braved it out last trip and now get PAID-OFF DOUBLE-TIME!!
I'm jealous as HELL!  way to go!!......Mooch? you got any COLD WEATHER STURGEON GEAR you don't want anymore?  

Congratulations Mooch!

Erik must have been right...being quiet must be the critical factor.

Doug

Thanks to all And MANY, MANY thanks to EK for putting up with my "loudness" for the past 4 years of fishing for Dinos

So, I was actually surprised that EK had anchored his yak pretty close to where I was....but that didn't last very long...as soon I started hooking up with some leopard sharks, EK picked up his anchor and moved a mile away (sorry EK, I tried to be quite )....I guess I tend to celebrate a little too loud every time I hook-up Anyway, I was starting to loose hope as the "bait stealers" were very active  I was running low on shrimp but Chris / backslider offered me his leftovers before heading home (thanks bradah ). But the bait stealing did not stop...had to stay clam and just roll with the punches. EK then hooks up and that gave me "the lift" I desperately needed "It's my turn" I told Ben  Erik came by to re-measure his catch and to remind me what a sturgeon looks like....at the end of his line....again  Erik handed me the rest of his bait (Thanks EK ) as he paddled away....so I replaced my old bait with some fresh ones and 20 minutes later, HULI KA!!!  I felt a similar shark tug and I was thinking that it maybe another shark or even a bat ray...my line was peeling away and I was hoping to identify the bandit but it never showed itself. I felt sorry for Ben and Nate as they had to listen to my cry: "PLEASE LET IT BE A STURGEON!!! PLEASE LET IT BE A STURGEON!!!...this went on and on.  We were only at 4 feet of water and the mystery fish swirled on top a couple of times and I was yelling at Ben, "Did you see it? Did you see it?" Ben could not make it out as well. After more and more runs, I realized I did not even release my anchor But it was OK since the fish was running the other way. I finally started gaining line and sure enough, I saw diamonds  YEEEEEEEEHAW  . Picked up the snare and everything worked out fine until I tightened it and the dino went ballistic    I could not imagine dealing with the bigger ones like EK, Josh, Dustin and Ben Had to deal with in the past What was even harder, was trying to measure it while it was giving me an undesired lap dance...with the sharp diamond chutes cutting up my waders  Had to re-measure at least 5 times with my paddle cause it was just too close to call....I finally got it dialed and it was definitely a keeper = 47 inches Got my fish-be-cool stick and let 'em have it  It's just a "puppy" compared to what the other sturgeon slayers have caught in the past, but I was happy and felt the monkey was finally off my back  "I'M DONE" 


Bungle - can't beat the Shimano trevala rod = very light and and perfect for other uses: great for rockfish, Halibut, Sharks and Batrays

Blue - congrats on the little one I can see the similarity witht the eyes and the nose 

Joel way to go and thanks for the fillets. Didn't get to eat them yet as the line for Santa last night was terrible.  My son asked for an Umbrella.    Who the hell asks for an umbrella.  After the Elk tourney I though he was be asking for his own Kayak.

Anyway Eric you are seriously the number one sturgeon fisherman I have known. Now that is not saying much but you got the knack for the dino's.  I have some time off the next two weeks, do the tides look favorable after christmas?

jason

Joel way to go and thanks for the fillets

No worries - always happy to share!


Forgot to thank my local butcher - Joe / Skyboy for filleting the sturgeon....here he is with the noto cord of the sturgeon 

here's one of the leopards I caught....

Glen and Justin from FW also recomended using Owner "Cutting Point" hooks - size 8  for sturgeon.....I've always been loyal to Gamakatsu but after they had mentioned about a test that they did, I decided to do a similar test for myself to see if the results were conclusive...

I kept the sturgeon's head and stuck the "cutting pont" owner hook in the mouth of the sturgeon and then lifted the head off the table. The owner hook point punched through the lip but the barb did not go through....I jerked it once (to simulate a hookset) and the barb easily punched through the leathery mouth.

I did the same with the Gamakatsu hook and it did the same BUT, I had to jerk it twice (harder) to get the barb to go through the lip.

I did the test again (but held the hooks with pliers instead = easier) and the results were the same.

Let's just say, I'm now using Owner "cutting point" hooks....especially when targeting the tought mouths of Sturgeon, stripers , SMB, LMB and rockfish.  But for trout and panfish, the Gamakatsu will do fine.  (FYI: the Owners are cheaper too)