Suisun Sturgeon

Early last week, I took a ride with a buddy of mine, Capt. Jay Lopes of Right Hook Sportfishing to do a little sturgeon fishing in Suisun Bay. We had bluebird weather, no other boats around us and some pretty nice sturgeon action. Here’s Jay hooked up with a nice jumper…



But I’m getting ahead of myself…

We enjoyed a nice sunrise on the way out to the fishing grounds.



Then, we motored around and watched the graph until Jay found what he was looking for — in this spot, there’s a sturgeon on the bottom and some suspended stripers.





After dropping the pick in a fishy-looking spot, the skipper busted out the sturgeon candy…



Once we had the hooks baited and our gear in the water, we propped up the rods on balance holders and waited for them to “go horizontal.”



Of course, sturgeon fishing is a game of patience — basically, it’s glorified catfishing and there’s often a long wait between bites. I think the whole point of the deal is just to have an excuse to go hang with the fellas and B.S. for the better part of a day.



We didn’t have to wait too long between bites that day…we hooked 5 fish and missed several other bites. Here’s my first diamondback, a fish just barely under the maximum keep size. To help give Jay some positive sturgeon karma for the rest of the season, we sent this 70 pounder (my first-ever sturgeon, by the way) back on its way after a quick grip-n-grin.



We landed a nice shaker not long thereafter…



And then, Jay hooked the biggest sturgeon he’s ever encountered late in the day…a fish that was probably 9+ feet long and over 200 pounds. Shortly after hooking the behemoth, it jumped right behind the boat and then went on a blazing hot run that forced us to pick up the pick and chase after it. 20 minutes into the battle, however, the hooks simply pulled free.

Related Articles:

• Hey Pal, order the chicken…
• Busted: Sturgeon Poachers using Baby Salmon for Bait!
• Somewhat Worthless Fish Trivia
• Dreamin’ of Time Travel
• Salmon-eating sea lions to be captured!