CA Delta White Sturgeon

Pushing water at 10 Kts...WOT



Giggitoni and daughter, Jenny





Sturgeon Fishing by the Mothball Fleet



Jenny's first fish at 7 ft 0 in (84 in) and approx 180 lbs

That is one BIG fish!
Congrats!

Nice pics and a beautiful fish. Is that a tarpon?

Not a fisherman GFC

GFC, that is a sturgeon and there is a bunch of them right where you are parked in that same size range. Columbia River is a great sturgeon fishery.

Yes, it's a white sturgeon. Our biggest sturgeon in Northern CA run up to about 9 ft...maybe 10 ft. The Columbia River fishery yields fish to 13 ft or more!! For such a huge fish, it's amazing how they take such small baits with a very gentle touch. This fish was caught on a small piece of eel 1/2 inch by 1 1/2 inches.

The Reserve Fleet, aka Mothball Fleet, on Suisun Bay is dwindling. The USS Iowa now sits proudly in San Pedro, CA near Long Beach as a floating museum. She looks great and is now well cared for in her new home.

What size reels you using?

N4712 said:

What size reels you using?

Click to expand...

My reels are Shimano Tekota 500LC. It's a levelwind reel with a strong drag. I have 4 Shimano Tekotas and they have all been flawless in the many years I've owned them.

I have the linecounter version of the reel shown in this video.

Interesting, FlyWright has protected the top railing caps, Mahalo has not. Expressly for fishing?

Yes, Bruce. I leave the protective fire hose covers (aka rail condoms) in place during fishing. The 8-10 oz weights are tough on the varnished rails.

I wish I had Ray's SS rails.

Al, I'd think a fisherman would also be curious on the nature of the fishing line, hooks, etcetera you use.


Al's sturgeon caught 2014 in Suisun Bay, perhaps a half mile or so west where Jenny caught her fish:

Interesting article on SF estuarian (Carquinez, Suisun, etcetera) sturgeon:


The Fish Sniffer - Suisun Bay: Home Of Huge White Sturgeon

FlyWright said:

My reels are Shimano Tekota 500LC. It's a levelwind reel with a strong drag. I have 4 Shimano Tekotas and they have all been flawless in the many years I've owned them.



I have the linecounter version of the reel shown in this video.

Click to expand...

Wow those are small reels compared to the size of the fish, must be a hell of a fight! Or are they more of a docile fish?

We East Coast boys are lazy, electric artillery for the deep drop yellow eyes and wahoo. But we don't cheat on the trolling side of things for fish like dolphin, kingfish, etc..

markpierce said:

Al, I'd think a fisherman would also be curious on the nature of the fishing line, hooks, etcetera you use.


Al's sturgeon caught 2014 in Suisun Bay, perhaps a half mile or so west where Jenny caught her fish:

Click to expand...

And the NUMBERS forgot about those... :lol:

Yes Oliver, they're small by blue water standards, but it's pretty much normal fare in the delta. We are fishing in fresh and brackish waters that are typically 20-30 ft deep...sometimes 40 or 50, but that's rare. My target depth is 30 ft.

Oh, they fight! The big boys (5-7 ft) and can take anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes to bring to the boat. I've heard many stories of the huge ones (over 8 ft) taking 2 or more hours to bring to the boat. Many guys drop their anchor (with a buoy) to float with the fish while fighting it. A lot of these guys are fishing in 18-22 ft boats. With a relatively big boat, I don't do that, though...I bring the fish to the boat. The boat record is 90 inches in 2010.

This fish that Jenny caught at 84 inches took 15 minutes to bring to the boat, but Jenny needed help in doing it. Here are some short videos of parts of the fight. You can see where she is unable to lean over the side and keep the fish from going under the boat, so I helped her. Her arms were also getting fatigued, so I provided her some relief at times.

Keep in mind that she's 5' 2" fishing a 7 ft long fish that outweighs her by at least 80 lbs.

N4712 said:

And the NUMBERS forgot about those... :lol:

Click to expand...

What numbers would you like...coordinates?? Sure no problem....

38 08.9215 N/122 03.4212 W

FlyWright said:

What numbers would you like?

Click to expand...

I was joking, as in Numbers I meant lat and long.

Wow, very cool!

Cool! We used to see sturgeon going through our DIDSON beams at Mission. Here is one example which is about 2 metres.

http://www.soundmetrics.com/image-gallery/Fisheries/Behavior-Observations/Fraser-River-Sturgeon

There is some even more impressive DIDSON imaging of sturgeon at Qualark Creek, with large 3 metre individuals feeding on the pink salmon migration going by the site, but it's not available on the internet.

Jim
Sent from my iPad using Trawler Forum

Here's a video of a typical sturgeon fight.


Here's a good article on the general how-to's.

The Fish Sniffer - Sturgeon Strategy For The Aspiring Diamond Back Hunter

Great looking day for all! The water looks clear of debris, calm, and apparently, giving.

We'll be back out there Wed-Fri, Kevin. Untie that dock from your boat and come out and raft up with us. BYOB!

(Bait, beer, babes, bottles and bagels)

Let me warm up my propulsion.....

Cool videos Al. Thanks for sharing!!


1983 Present 42 Sundeck
Twin Lehman 135's

That thing pulls like a yellowfin. Are they good to eat?

Gulf Comanche said:

That thing pulls like a yellowfin. Are they good to eat?

Click to expand...

Excellent table fare, GC. It's the firmest and cleanest tasting fish I've ever had. Clean taste like halibut, firmer than shark....almost like a pork loin roast. It takes whatever taste you give it in the form of spices or marinades.

We can only keep 3 per year, but I only kept 2 last year out of 13 on the boat. Some were oversize, some were undersize and some were in the slot as keepers but returned to the water. Our keeper slot is 40-60 inches measured to the fork of the tail.

MyBad said:

Let me warm up my propulsion.....

Click to expand...

What gives, Kevin? Listening to Art, those Tolly's are invincible. Need a hand getting it running?

That's fantastic you were able to put your daughter on her first sturgeon!
Impressive!

In all my years living/fishing in the Bay area, Sturgeon was the only fish I couldn't catch.
I even bought Keith Fraser's book on how to fish for them.
I made the run from Oyster Point to San Pablo Bay in my 21' Whaler many times, to no avail.

I did catch lots of halibut, stripers, salmon, albacore, lingcod, cabezon inside and outside of the Gate though.
Thanks for sharing, brought back lots of memories!

No, that is Ray's (Giggitoni's) daughter.

markpierce said:

No, that is Ray's (Giggitoni's) daughter.

Click to expand...

Gotcha.

Still a cool achievement for the gal.

Thanks, Tunajoe. Jenny was thrilled with that sturgeon. She can't stop talking about the adventure. She teaches 2nd grade and I'm quite sure her "kids" have heard all about the monster.

In all honesty, she wouldn't have had a chance without the knowledge and savvy of Al. We had a great trip with a storybook ending. Thanks, Al!