Exploring for the Big Ones...

The fishing boat trip on Saturday didn't happen. Doug, Pam's workmate, ended up with a bad back and canceled the trip. I was bummed out big time. But, maybe we can go this weekend or sometime soon. I am really looking forward to checking out the river from the water after seeing most of it from the banks.

My new best tool for exploring the river for potential sturgeon fishing spots is Google Earth. It is an amazing program with great maps. I use it all the time to track down good spots - with some type of road accesses. The key is being able to get down to the river and it shows all the little trails and 'roads' less traveled.

Yesterday, I went to the other side of Box Canyon, where they have this very large fish hatchery. You can fish from their grounds, if you are old, disabled or a kid. Since I fit a couple of those, I am good to go, but you have to sign in first. I ended up talking to one of the workers there who gave me lots of good info on fishing there and about big sturgeons in the river. He said that people catch 6-10 lb. trout in the river there all the time where the output water from the hatchery flows into the river. I have sorta gotten away from fishing for trout, but 6-10 lb. ones perked me right up...

He goes out on the river in a canoe all the time around there. He was saying that last week, he was cruising along in the middle of the river and hit something solid. He said he checked it out and it was a 10 foot, or so, sturgeon that had surfaced and almost knocked him over. He also showed me where he has seen lots of them and I will be going there in the next day or two to check it out. I am going to find them one of these days...