The Weekend Fishing Trip...

The fishing trip was totally underwhelming. I still don't know what all this night fishing crap is... All these guys use these giant 15' long rods with large open face ocean type reels and 70-100# test line. They use railroad spikes, they pickup along some abandoned train track, as their weights and really large hooks that barely fit in your hand. More like High-Tack than High-Tech. We camped there, and before setting up the tents, had to clear out all the cow patties, or at least the softer ones.

Then there were the weeds in the water. Where we were, the river is very wide and very fast. I have never seen a deep river run that fast before. Right down stream from us there was a little eddy that ended up causing the water to swirl around in front of us. And, did I mention the weeds. They were all over our lines and a constant problem.

We build a big fire and had hot dogs, Smores and had a big time with all that. One of my friends ended up bring 5 kids and a three month old baby, so there was always lots of trauma and drama for all. About the only real excitement, late in the evening after everybody but the fishermen were in bed, was when I had finished a plastic coke bottle that had some Jack and coke in it. My friend threw it into the fire, sealed up, and it blew up sending coals and ashes all over the place.

There was only one strike from the sturgeon during the whole trip, and I got it. It was when we had first gotten there, while I was attempting to set up a new tent. They started yelling for me and I ran over to hear my reel screaming. It was on the telescoping 12' Cabela's pole, which I have never gotten a bite on before, and started working the fish. Well, maybe 'working' is the wrong word - It was just going. I could feel its tail movements in the line, the super braid line is so responsive to feel. I was down to about 1/4th of the line left, that's about 250 yards out, and did a couple of jerks and slacks to try and slow it down and then the hook came loose. You have to use barbless hooks and typically have to keep pressure on, but in this case, it was not going to stop. After I finally reeled all the line back in again, the large 7/0 hook I was using was slightly bent out.

As I understand there are three classes of Sturgeon. The little ones are called 'Shakers' since they shake their heads as they fight - these are usually in the 'up to 4 feet' category. Then there are the 'keepers', which we actually don't get to keep in Idaho, but thats what they are called - They do the normal run and jump stuff, and they run in the 4 to 6 foot category, Then, the biggest ones are called the 'Strippers' which are the ones that just take, read 'strip', all your line off your reel and you cannot stop them, unless you have the serious hardware to stop them, or a boat to keep them in range. They usually are the 7 foot and larger ones.

So, I am still trying to figure out what I learned from all this, besides I don't plan on ever going back to that place again. I assume that I had a hold of a large 'Stripper', that was running with the current of the river and I really don't know if I could have ever stopped him, or if I did, could ever bring him back. And, I really don't know if any setup could have brought him back, that wasn't hooked to the front of a 4X4, which I hear was a widely used sturgeon fishing method here in DaHo, before all these laws started.

I also learned again that camping was sorta fun. Storm and I destroyed the cheap tent I had gotten for the trip, trying to get a blown up queen size Aero bed in it, but we did finally get it in and it worked out well. Then, yesterday, on the way home, we stopped by Sportsman's Warehouse to return it and ended up getting a real nice one for future trips. It's even got a remote controlled light and doggie doors, both of which should come in real handy...

Well, currently I am pissed at the sturgeon, so I went back to my regular fishing hole today to beat up a couple of their little brothers and pull out some mental 'stickers' from the weekend. But, didn't even get any good bites all day - again...