Napa river 4 12 24
California Fishing
Apr 13, 2024 13:41:56 #
OldBassGuy wrote:
Great story Steve! If that were me, I would have handed it off to Ben.....he's the youngin!!
LOL! I am older than Steve....
Apr 13, 2024 13:43:43 #
saw1 wrote:
Seriously, if It would have lasted another 5 min o... (show quote)
I was having a blast watching Steve fight that fish!! I had my hands full trying to keep the boat positioned in that turbulence. It was a challenge.
Apr 13, 2024 14:02:03 #
FishermanLeeSonoma wrote:
I was having a blast watching Steve fight that fish!! I had my hands full trying to keep the boat positioned in that turbulence. It was a challenge.
Ben did a wonderful job of handlin the boat too. That current was flowin at a pretty good clip.
It was at a BIG cut that emptied a BIG mudflat and the tide had a huge drop yesterday.
Just shy of 8 feet. Was 7.7 drop.
Apr 13, 2024 14:03:00 #
Ridleyblake2017
Loc: Honesdale Pennsylvania
What a story, it seemed like I was right there. Sometimes the ones that got away stick in your memory more than the ones you landed.
Apr 13, 2024 14:12:21 #
Ridleyblake2017 wrote:
What a story, it seemed like I was right there. Sometimes the ones that got away stick in your memory more than the ones you landed.
That one will.
It was so heavy/big that the rod I was usin couldn't budge it off the bottom unless it decided to come up some.
I cold have easily broken the rod. It was like I was hung up on the bottom when it would just lay there.
Then when it decided to move there was NO WAY I could stop it. It would just eventually stop.
We kept the boat positioned down river from the fish so all the pressure I was putting on it was helped/increased by the heavy current. That helped me keep it on as long as it did.
When it started on a big run I could feel the pulse of it's tail. Felt like I had a whale on. LOL. Just wish that we could at least SEEN it to see how big it really was.
Apr 13, 2024 14:13:14 #
saw1 wrote:
Seriously, if It would have lasted another 5 min o... (show quote)
Not sure I agree with you on that Steve. I have been involved with three handoffs during my life. Two fish were landed and one lost. The excitement of landing was awesome and far more rewarding than the lost one. Each time the person on the rod was pretty sure if the he didn't hand the rod off it would be lost. One was a 610lb Black Marlin and three of us fought it and landed it after 4 hours. The next was a 110lb Bluefin that was handed to me and we got it in. When he handed it to me, he was on his knees begging me to take the rod ,and I refused. I finally took it and he was very grateful. He was going to lose it for sure. The last one was a 1,000lb marlin that I was on for over 2.5 hours and I finally had to hand it off or pass out. We lost it, but the experience for both of us was one of my fondest memories. Just sayin!
Apr 13, 2024 14:36:02 #
Wowee, what a story, Steve! A memory of a lifetime for sure. I've heard that the big ones that got away that you also never see are the ones that haunt you the rest of your life.
Apr 13, 2024 14:36:16 #
OldBassGuy wrote:
Not sure I agree with you on that Steve. I have be... (show quote)
That's true. Sometimes we just have to hand off or feel like we would have to cut the line.
I don't feel bad that the line broke after 20 min fightin the fish. It was goin to be a very tough time tryin to get that thing to the boat on that little rod.
Apr 13, 2024 14:45:49 #
saw1 wrote:
That's true. Sometimes we just have to hand off or feel like we would have to cut the line.
I don't feel bad that the line broke after 20 min fightin the fish. It was goin to be a very tough time tryin to get that thing to the boat on that little rod.
I don't feel bad that the line broke after 20 min fightin the fish. It was goin to be a very tough time tryin to get that thing to the boat on that little rod.
As we all know" "The tug is the drug"
Apr 13, 2024 14:55:21 #
OldBassGuy wrote:
As we all know" "The tug is the drug"
Yep. And it sure was too.
Apr 13, 2024 16:13:25 #
saw1 wrote:
Hey guys. Ben and I went out on the Napa today and... (show quote)
Great story Steve! You and Ben always seem to hook up on a sturgeon every now and then. Bet the adrenaline was flowing just a bit with that on!
Apr 13, 2024 16:26:05 #
40GRIT wrote:
Great story Steve! You and Ben always seem to hook up on a sturgeon every now and then. Bet the adrenaline was flowing just a bit with that on!
Yeah, But I really don't like to hook Sturgeon. Knowin that I'm never gonna keep one and there's always a chance to break your rod, or the very least lose your lure, I just don't like to expend that kinda energy to fight a fish like that. I know a lot of people do. Maybe if I hooked it on a bigger rod where you had more of a chance of getting it landed it would be different. OR if the fish BIT the hook and it was hooked in the mouth, that would be different.
ALSO, when we hook one it is ALWAYS foul hooked and it was an accident you hooked it to begin with.
When you foul hook a fish, if it's not hooked at least NEAR the head it is always a hard fight to begin with, no matter the size.
But when you hook a 6+ foot fish and it is down on the side or somewhere it's gonna be near impossible to land on a bass rod with 25 pound braid. Just Sayin.
Apr 13, 2024 17:07:37 #
saw1 wrote:
Yeah, But I really don't like to hook Sturgeon. Kn... (show quote)
Yup, I hear ya and you’re right on the foul hook, not really the way to fight one. At least if the line broke off near the lure and with a foul hook on the body or fin somewhere, the fish has a great chance at complete survival with no real harm done, and you with a great fishing story! (Albeit one you’d rather not have)
Apr 14, 2024 00:14:41 #
PaulFish
Loc: Southern California
Great story, l hooked a sturgeon on the Columbia one evening with family and friends around the campfire.
I had 40 lb braid with a 13 ft rod and it was like hooking into a jeep in low gear. It just swam away, l could not turn it, no way.
I finally just cranked the drag down and snapped it off.
I have since caught a 9ft 6 in and one a bit over 10 ft which l could not keep.
They are fun to battle and they are pretty tasty indeed.
Thank you again for the pictures ☺️
I had 40 lb braid with a 13 ft rod and it was like hooking into a jeep in low gear. It just swam away, l could not turn it, no way.
I finally just cranked the drag down and snapped it off.
I have since caught a 9ft 6 in and one a bit over 10 ft which l could not keep.
They are fun to battle and they are pretty tasty indeed.
Thank you again for the pictures ☺️
Apr 14, 2024 02:39:39 #
PaulFish wrote:
Great story, l hooked a sturgeon on the Columbia one evening with family and friends around the campfire.
I had 40 lb braid with a 13 ft rod and it was like hooking into a jeep in low gear. It just swam away, l could not turn it, no way.
I finally just cranked the drag down and snapped it off.
I have since caught a 9ft 6 in and one a bit over 10 ft which l could not keep.
They are fun to battle and they are pretty tasty indeed.
Thank you again for the pictures ☺️
I had 40 lb braid with a 13 ft rod and it was like hooking into a jeep in low gear. It just swam away, l could not turn it, no way.
I finally just cranked the drag down and snapped it off.
I have since caught a 9ft 6 in and one a bit over 10 ft which l could not keep.
They are fun to battle and they are pretty tasty indeed.
Thank you again for the pictures ☺️
Wow, those are some big fish.
I was usin a 6 1/2 foot medium heavy bass rod with 25# braid.
Foul hooked this Sturgeon so there was very little chance I could have gotten this Sturgeon landed with that setup. If I did it would have been a VERY LONG fight to say the least. As it was, I still fought it for 20 minutes and it didn't appear to be tiring out at all.
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