Today's sturgeon

CaliFFL

Did a little fishing on the Columbia River near Kettle Falls, Washington. This 84" ~160lbs fish was caught (and released) using an old Shimano Calcutta with 25# line. The rod is a 10' Fenwick. My biggest freshwater far by far. 

earlyagain

I've never seen one except in pics. You eat the eggs?

Jayhawker

Nice! We have them here in MI...I foul hooked one while salmon fishing, it was like reeling in a log...got a glimpse before he broke off...

Linefinder

160 on 25???? Wow!!!!

That's skill to the max.

Mike

Zee

Wow!


Two threads of, I’m not worthy!!!

Gene L

Nice!  No, Great!

CHIRO1989

Dang, a good day hey, can argue with the wife you need a bigger boat now

CaliFFL

Linefinder said:

160 on 25???? Wow!!!!

That's skill to the max.

Mike

Thanks. I'm sore all over today. Took about an hour to land. We pulled anchor and let him drag the boat. There's some videos but too many swear words. 

Weight estimate found here:
https://www.riverfishingbc.com/WhiteStrugeonWeightandAgeChart.pdf

Linefinder

A few years back I read an article about a guy who's specialty was big fish on really light line. He already held a few world records. This day he set the hook in a humongious tarpon (I don't recall the weight, but it was way up there) on 4 lb test.

He was fishing from a kayak and at one time considered letting the fish break off since it had drug him so far out he hadn't seen the shoreline for 3 hours. Took him 14 hours to finally land the fish. Said after it was over, it was the 3rd day before he could get out of bed.

I've never been that fish hungry......LOL.

Mike

Linefinder

BTW.....love the pic of the rod bend.....that's epic!!!

Mike

JerryBobCo

Well done.  That is one huge fish.

The closest I've come to such a feat was pulling in an 18 lb. Jack Fish on 14 lb. line.  I can still hear the drag on that reel screaming.  It took an hour and 45 minutes to land, and my arms were tied up in knots when it was over.  The worst part of the whole ordeal is that we were hauling in gaff top catfish at the time and everyone quit fishing.

Linefinder

When I was ~ 9 YO I was crappie fishing and an accidently caught 4 lb jackfish slashed my wrist so bad I was close to an ER emergency. Toothy bastages......

FWIW, I haven't done much saltwater fishing, but it seemed to me gaff tops were mostly considered a "trash fish" and no one specifically fished for them. ???

Mike

Ernie Bishop

Impressive!

CaliFFL

Linefinder said:

When I was ~ 9 YO I was crappie fishing and an accidently caught 4 lb jackfish slashed my wrist so bad I was close to an ER emergency. Toothy bastages......

FWIW, I haven't done much saltwater fishing, but it seemed to me gaff tops were mostly considered a "trash fish" and no one specifically fished for them. ???

Mike

Gafftop are good if you can get passed the slime.

My youngest on the Gulf coast a few years ago.

10canyon53

Linefinder said:

He was fishing from a kayak and at one time considered letting the fish break off since it had drug him so far out he hadn't seen the shoreline for 3 hours.

There is zero chance I will fish from a kayak in water where I could potentially hook something bigger than the kayak I was on.  And then have it drag me out to sea out of sight of shore?  Nope.

Linefinder

Hey, Jerry.....maybe I misunderstood. When you said jack fish, I assumed freshwater, similar to a Pike. If saltwater, possibly a Jack Cravelle? The saltwater guide I fished with a couple times told me if I hooked one, he was going to cut the line.....long fight, not worth eating, and disrupts the "real" fishing.

Mike

orchidman

Awesome caliFFL. A catch like that on 25# shows impressive skill and an angler who knows how to use his gear.

Linefinder

10canyon53 said:

Linefinder said:

He was fishing from a kayak and at one time considered letting the fish break off since it had drug him so far out he hadn't seen the shoreline for 3 hours.

There is zero chance I will fish from a kayak in water where I could potentially hook something bigger than the kayak I was on.  And then have it drag me out to sea out of sight of shore?  Nope.

Could be why he has more than a couple world records under his belt. Willing to do what no sane person would even consider.

Mike

JerryBobCo

Mike, we called them Jack Fish, but probably the correct name is Jack Crevalle.  We were fishing in salt water, and try as I could, I could not eat the damn thing.  They're usually used as shark bait.

As for gaff top sail catfish, they're damn fine eating.  Maybe you're confusing them with hard head catfish, which aren't worth the trouble.  I totally agree about how slimy they are, though.

My apologies for side tracking your thread, Califfl.

NN

Outstanding 

Diver43

Congratulations on an awesome fish.
When stationed in Washington I caught a few, but none near as large as yours.  Well done

N454casull

That’s a good one! Spent many a morning on the Columbia cashing a 10+ foot one. Best I ever did was just under 9ft. Hooking into the big ones is like tying your line to a tractor and putting it in low gear and letting it idle away. They truly are and amazing fish. 

10canyon53

Linefinder said:

10canyon53 said:

Linefinder said:

He was fishing from a kayak and at one time considered letting the fish break off since it had drug him so far out he hadn't seen the shoreline for 3 hours.

There is zero chance I will fish from a kayak in water where I could potentially hook something bigger than the kayak I was on.  And then have it drag me out to sea out of sight of shore?  Nope.

Could be why he has more than a couple world records under his belt. Willing to do what no sane person would even consider.

Mike

Yeah, whatever floats his boat (or kayak).  To me, no world record is worth having my name changed to "Shark Bait".  But some people live for that kind of adrenaline rush.  Heck, I have even heard that some people jump out of perfectly good airplanes just for fun. 

Linefinder

I bungee jumped once. Although my mind knew it was perfectly safe, my body didn't. The jump went fine, but 2 minutes later I  just wanted to puke. To hell with an adreniline rush....I'd rather shoot heroin.

Mike

Six-Gun

That's a dandy, for sure.  I've never even come close to something that big in fresh water.  Very nice job.

tennmike

Huge fish, and on light tackle, too! Good job hauling that hawg in! Sturgeon are being stocked in the TN River again. Used to have lots of them in the river a hundred years ago but they were mostly caught out. Still some native sturgeon, but they are pretty rare. Still have  some big paddlefish in the river, too.