Hooked a huge sturgeon on light sockeye salmon gear

Okanagan · August 31, 2018, 09:27:20 AM

Well, maybe not huge but about 15-18 inches thick side to side and my guesstimate was at minimum somewhere between 8 and 9 feet long. It weighed a lot more than I do.

Fishing sockeye yesterday afternoon my hook snagged on something at the end of a cast/drift when the lure was close to shore downstream from me. I jerked on it, tried snapping the line tight to loose, and walked downstream to pull on it from another direction. Suddenly the "snag" took off swimming and taking out line! I thought that a salmon must have hooked himself and pulled free from the snag. Then about 40 feet straight in front of me this monstrous dinosaur looking beast rose out of the water in a jump like from a sci-fi movie promo. WOW!!

WOW!!! I don't get flutters etc. from fishing anymore but that gave me a shot of adrenaline.

I'm running 65 lb. power pro braid with 17 lb. mono leader, more than needed for sockeye salmon but some margin for the times when I hook a big Chinook. 10.5 foot rod that is light for its length, rated for up to one ounce lure.

The fish ran out about 100 feet and then let me work it back close to shore. I decided to play it for awhile, envisioning how to unhook it and release it. (Dream on...) All sturgeon must be released. Then it began a leisurely trip to the other side of the 1/3 mile wide river heading 45 degrees across and downriver. It was not fast, merely inexorable. It made the longest sustained run against drag that I ever recall, including some ocean sharks. It ran off at least 150 yards of line non-stop against a drag turned almost to breaking strength of the 17 lb. leader. I think that there is 300 yards of line on the reel. Getting well down on the reel, I decided to break off the sturgeon while I still had some line left to keep sockeye fishing today, in case the line broke near the reel. I expected the leader to break but you never know.

I snubbed up the fish tight... and he eased to a stop (actually due to the thickness I suspect that it was a female). The sturgeon simply stopped and would not budge. After a few minutes of pressure the fish began to move slightly my way and I could get one turn on the reel handle at a time. With more very slow motion pumping I began to get 3 to 4 turns of the reel with each "pump". I would pull hard and the fish would slowly inch my way till the rod was straight up and I'd reel down. I'd guess it took 15-20 minutes to get the line back and get him close to me again. I was tired.

Close to shore he began to move away again and I decided it was time to break him off. I snubbed him tightly and the 2/0 hook straightened out enough to pull loose.

Imgur won't even let me sign in or I'd at least post a pic of the river where it happened...

nastygunz · August 31, 2018, 09:51:25 AM

Huy Carumba! That would have been the mother of all fish pictures! Sounds like hooking a mini sub

pitw · August 31, 2018, 11:05:23 AM

Great write up Oke. Bet that was fun.

Hawks Feather · August 31, 2018, 06:30:12 PM

Dang, I am tired and the only thing I did was read your post.

Jerry

Okanagan · September 01, 2018, 10:38:19 AM

Quote from: pitw on August 31, 2018, 11:05:23 AM
Great write up Oke. Bet that was fun.

Thank you! Yes, fun. I don't think the sturgeon ever got the least tired and don't think that I ever put enough pressure on it to get it alarmed and really fighting. It was resting the whole time that I pumped it back close to me from its casual long swim/run. It never moved and merely let me pull it like a log.

Here is the spot, photo taken just before I hooked the sturgeon. In mid-afternoon on a Thursday everyone had cleared out and left a long section of river to me alone till an hour later when the after work crowd showed up. Lousy fishing for sockeye. A commercial opening downriver the day before had vacuumed every fish off of a 24 hour section of the conveyor belt river. I hooked one salmon, played it for a minute and lost it. Caught my limit of 2 by 6:50 AM the day before.

FinsnFur · September 01, 2018, 06:30:03 PM

Wow...that sounded like quite a way to spend the day.
I like your pic. At first glance it look like the vehicle is being tied down

Okanagan · September 02, 2018, 08:59:07 AM

Found some pics of sturgeon taken in my area. Mine was a little thicker through the body than the one jumping here.

The one these men are holding looks like where I hooked mine.

FinsnFur · September 03, 2018, 10:32:37 PM

No pics of yours?

Dave · September 04, 2018, 03:27:52 PM

Great story!
Glad she jumped for you so you knew what and how big!