I just can't believe my sturgeon fishing this year! It must be that
the fishing gods are smiling.

I hooked the boat to the motorhome Monday morning and again headed to
Brannan Island (near Rio Vista, Ca on the Sacramento River) for a
couple of days of sturgeon fishing near the ship channel off Decker
Island.

I still used the same ol' stinky lamprey that's been in wifey's
freezer for seven months. It seems to smell worse every trip. In fact,
I used the same leader with chunks of it still attached that I used
the last trip.

Within half an hour after tossing the eel into an incoming current, by
gosh a sturgeon grabbed my eel and took off on a rare suicide run! I
was in the process of putting up a bit of canvas at the time, and was
fortunate that I heard the reel screaming. Luckily, he kept running
'til I could grab the rod and set the hook - and I knew at once that
it was probably a keeper. He immediately breached and cleared the
water entirely. When I finally got him to the boat, he jumped again
and then chose to go deep below the boat and defy my efforts to bring
him up. He eventually tired and came to the boat belly up. I measured
him with my little plastic tape, and then netted him and welcomed him
aboard with a couple of good whacks. He measured 49 inches and weighed
22 Lbs. He was tough! Again, I called a friend in Stockton who drove
right over to meet me at the ramps to take another sturgeon home.
Happy Thanksgiving, Willie!

Tuesday morning I was fishing the same spot. It was an outgoing
current but soon turned. Not long after the incoming began and I was
sitting with rod in hand awaiting another sturgy visit, something tick-
tick-ticked off a few inches of line. I set the hook hard and deep and
once again had a good sturgeon on! This one, too, fought hard and
preferred to stay deep. But after about ten minutes was along side the
boat in submission. I measured him at 46 inches, a keeper, and decided
to let him continue his trip upriver. I had only one tag left and may
wish to use it another time. That was my seventh sturgeon in two trips
- what a sturgeon year I've had!

I continued fishing 'til nearly nightfall, after a big outgoing
current began, but had no other bites 'til just before I called it a
day. Something took my eel, and I set the hook, but it was off in just
seconds. Ten minutes later I headed to the boat berths and a nice
evening in the warmth and comfort of the motor home.

Maybe there will be some warm days and good tides in December to
entice me back to Brannan for another try to use up my last tag. But
it'll have to be an unusually warm December day or two. I'm just too
danged old for cold weather fishing!

Photos on my homepage www.FishWisher.com

Dale

On Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:46:55 -0800 (PST), FishWisher
wrote:

I just can't believe my sturgeon fishing this year! It must be that
the fishing gods are smiling.

I hooked the boat to the motorhome Monday morning and again headed to
Brannan Island (near Rio Vista, Ca on the Sacramento River) for a
couple of days of sturgeon fishing near the ship channel off Decker
Island.
Great report and great pictures. Do you eat those things or what?
--
John H

"All decisions are the result of binary thinking."

On Nov 26, 4:10*pm, JohnH wrote:
On Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:46:55 -0800 (PST), FishWisher
wrote:

I just can't believe my sturgeon fishing this year! It must be that
the fishing gods are smiling.

I hooked the boat to the motorhome Monday morning and again headed to
Brannan Island (near Rio Vista, Ca on the Sacramento River) for a
couple of days of sturgeon fishing near the ship channel off Decker
Island.

Great report and great pictures. Do you eat those things or what?
--
John H

"All decisions are the result of binary thinking."

I've not tasted them, but I know they do eat them. I've watched them
cleaning them at the Martinez marina. Guy said they are very good.

On Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:10:33 -0500, JohnH wrote:

On Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:46:55 -0800 (PST), FishWisher
wrote:

I just can't believe my sturgeon fishing this year! It must be that
the fishing gods are smiling.

I hooked the boat to the motorhome Monday morning and again headed to
Brannan Island (near Rio Vista, Ca on the Sacramento River) for a
couple of days of sturgeon fishing near the ship channel off Decker
Island.
Great report and great pictures. Do you eat those things or what?

Oops. Didn't see this before I asked the same question.
All I know is they're the source of caviar, which I never tried, and
I think I heard they smoke them in Wisconsin.
Probably eat them with a cheese sidedish.

--Vic

ps Reminds me a Peter Sellers movie called the "The Party"
Sellers gets his hand stuck in some caviar, wipes it off.
A bit later he comes out of a room with Sterling Hayden's wife,
and shakes hands with Hayden. Sellers walks away.
Haydens nose gets to working and he sniffs his fingers.
Pretty good movie. Sellers was something else.

--Vic

Sturgeon are highly sought after for their white, very mild meat. (But
not by me, I don't eat fish.) I give those sturgeon I keep to folks
who really love to eat 'em. I have had sturgeon meat in the fridge for
several days, then opened the container and no odor at all is
noticeable. It is very mild.

The biggest issue with White Sturgeon, as these are, is poaching them
for their eggs - or caviar. There have been a few busts around the
delta of Russian immigrants who poach 'em and sell the eggs on the
black market. There's big money in that.

California has all of 170 or so DFG enforcement agents in the entire
state. We're at a ratio of about 1:12,500 licensed sportsmen (anglers
and hunters) while many other states are at about 1:5000. The schmucks
in Sacramento will waste billions of tax $$ to educate and medicate
illegal aliens, but won't put up the money necessary to defend our
wildlife. Meanwhile, the legal fishermen have their take reduced every
year while poachers know they are unlikely to get caught. It's all
very disheartening.

Dale

On Fri, 28 Nov 2008 04:35:51 -0800 (PST), FishWisher
wrote:

Sturgeon are highly sought after for their white, very mild meat. (But
not by me, I don't eat fish.) I give those sturgeon I keep to folks
who really love to eat 'em. I have had sturgeon meat in the fridge for
several days, then opened the container and no odor at all is
noticeable. It is very mild.

The biggest issue with White Sturgeon, as these are, is poaching them
for their eggs - or caviar. There have been a few busts around the
delta of Russian immigrants who poach 'em and sell the eggs on the
black market. There's big money in that.

California has all of 170 or so DFG enforcement agents in the entire
state. We're at a ratio of about 1:12,500 licensed sportsmen (anglers
and hunters) while many other states are at about 1:5000. The schmucks
in Sacramento will waste billions of tax $$ to educate and medicate
illegal aliens, but won't put up the money necessary to defend our
wildlife. Meanwhile, the legal fishermen have their take reduced every
year while poachers know they are unlikely to get caught. It's all
very disheartening.

Dale

The more recent estimates of the number of illegals in this country are in
the 25 to 40 million range.

Why the liberals want this country to become another Mexico is beyond me,
unless they just want control.

It's the only reason I can think of.
--
John H

*Have a Super Christmas and a Spectacular New Year!*

On Wed, 26 Nov 2008 12:46:55 -0800 (PST), FishWisher
wrote:

I just can't believe my sturgeon fishing this year! It must be that
the fishing gods are smiling.

I hooked the boat to the motorhome Monday morning and again headed to
Brannan Island (near Rio Vista, Ca on the Sacramento River) for a
couple of days of sturgeon fishing near the ship channel off Decker
Island.

I still used the same ol' stinky lamprey that's been in wifey's
freezer for seven months. It seems to smell worse every trip. In fact,
I used the same leader with chunks of it still attached that I used
the last trip.

Within half an hour after tossing the eel into an incoming current, by
gosh a sturgeon grabbed my eel and took off on a rare suicide run! I
was in the process of putting up a bit of canvas at the time, and was
fortunate that I heard the reel screaming. Luckily, he kept running
'til I could grab the rod and set the hook - and I knew at once that
it was probably a keeper. He immediately breached and cleared the
water entirely. When I finally got him to the boat, he jumped again
and then chose to go deep below the boat and defy my efforts to bring
him up. He eventually tired and came to the boat belly up. I measured
him with my little plastic tape, and then netted him and welcomed him
aboard with a couple of good whacks. He measured 49 inches and weighed
22 Lbs. He was tough! Again, I called a friend in Stockton who drove
right over to meet me at the ramps to take another sturgeon home.
Happy Thanksgiving, Willie!

Tuesday morning I was fishing the same spot. It was an outgoing
current but soon turned. Not long after the incoming began and I was
sitting with rod in hand awaiting another sturgy visit, something tick-
tick-ticked off a few inches of line. I set the hook hard and deep and
once again had a good sturgeon on! This one, too, fought hard and
preferred to stay deep. But after about ten minutes was along side the
boat in submission. I measured him at 46 inches, a keeper, and decided
to let him continue his trip upriver. I had only one tag left and may
wish to use it another time. That was my seventh sturgeon in two trips
- what a sturgeon year I've had!

I continued fishing 'til nearly nightfall, after a big outgoing
current began, but had no other bites 'til just before I called it a
day. Something took my eel, and I set the hook, but it was off in just
seconds. Ten minutes later I headed to the boat berths and a nice
evening in the warmth and comfort of the motor home.

Maybe there will be some warm days and good tides in December to
entice me back to Brannan for another try to use up my last tag. But
it'll have to be an unusually warm December day or two. I'm just too
danged old for cold weather fishing!

Photos on my homepage www.FishWisher.com

Very nice, Dale. You're living my dream. I bookmarked your website,
and will soon give it the attention it deserves. Your previous C-Dory
looks like a heck of a boat. Bet you didn't catch as many sturgeon
from it as the Klamath though. But what do I know?
Lots of interesting stuff and links on your site.
Since I haven't read much of your site yet, maybe you cover this, but
I'll ask here. Do you eat those sturgeon?
Man, when I wished you luck when you said you were going after them,
I was hoping it would get you a hit. And here you are pulling them in
left and right. You must have a lot of "Fishwishers" out there.

--Vic