Mid-winter Portland Sturgeon Intel

I second the "dino soirée".  Get some intel done down there, and let's do it.  We gotta get some dinos up on the AOTY board.

I have little experience with both sturgeon fishing and Portland area fishing, but I'll do my best to scour the internet to try and figure this fishery out enough to give it a try.

The best info on the actual fisheries and local techniques I've found so far has been this site.
http://www.nwfish.com/Sturgeon/sturgeon.htm

For latest intel and reports
http://www.ifish.net/board/index.php
and
http://www.theguidesforecast.com/oregon-fishing-report.shtml

For kayak specific technique, Erik Kunz's article on the NCKA board is a good starter, although we'll need to modifiy the anchoring to allow for much deeper fishing wholes on the Willamette and Columbia Rivers.
http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?page=14

Here's a brief summary of what I've learned so far.

Right now the bite is in the lower Willamette River, north of Portland a bit and I still need to pin down potential launches in this area.  The sturgeon in the Willamette are less tied to the smelt run that occurs later in the winter and will eat a variety of bait.  These are mostly nursery fish and most are undersized, but it's not unheard of to catch 20-30 sturgeon in a day and you're likely to get only get one or two keepers out of the bunch.  Popular baits are worms, smelt, sand shrimp, squid, and small herring.  When the water is cold (<40ºF) it seems that many of these fish can be found fairly shallow (<60 ft) and the bite is so light that lighter tackle is recommended.   Here's a decent thread on cold water sturgeon in the Willamette from ifish   http://www.ifish.net/board/showthread.php?t=182868

Later in the winter/early spring the bite shifts to the Columbia river when the smelt run goes into full swing in February-March.  These fish are usually a bit bigger and more likely to be in the keeper range (42"-60").  Fresh smelt is the bait of choice if you can get it.   When the smelt run winds down these fish head back to Astoria and hang out at the mouth of the Columbia for the summer.

In the late spring and early summer the giant sturgeon come into the system chasing the shad run.  Anyone who wants to be the first to catch a 1200 lb from their kayak will probably want to use large fresh shad as bait near in the lower Columbia.

Be sure to read Erik's kayak sturgeon article.  We'll need sturgeon snares and anchor systems.  But remember we aren't anchoring in the shallow San Pablo Bay like Eric does.  We'll be looking at 60ft+ deep holes and will want a 3x-5x scope on our anchor lines.  FishesFromTupperware had some ideas about using 100lb spectra line with a winding mechanism, it might be worth bugging him about lesson's he's learned concerning anchoring in deep water.  The nice thing about deeper water is that you can actually use your fish finder to find sturgeon.

Other important bits of info..
-Unlike Erik's article, the "San Pablo Sturgeon Rig" is against regs here.  We can only use a single barbless hook that needs to have a  > 3/4" gap.
-Unlike almost every other fishery out there you can legally continue to C&R fish for sturgeon after you've reached your possession limit. 
-Oversized sturgeon can not be completely removed from the water. 
-There is a quota system for sturgeon so we should double check that it hasn't been exceeded. 
-Right now sturgeon retention is only allowed Thrusday-Sunday in both the Lower Willamette R and Lower Columbia R.
-No retention of green sturgeon.

I'll keep researching.  Meanwhile let me know if you're interested in giving sturgeon a try this winter.

Oh and FYI, other "research topics" that I'm looking into right now include.  If you have any intel you're willing to share I'd love to hear from you.

Sandy/Clackamas R. Winter Steelhead
Portland Area Springers (Chinook)
Columbia River Walleye
Willamette Smallmouth Bass

Brian

great info BSteves, I pretty much found the same sites, seem the best info. This site has some good info also:

http://www.wogameandfish.com/fishing/walleyes-fishing/wo_aa065604a/


That same site has some Walleye tips on it:
http://www.wogameandfish.com/fishing/walleyes-fishing/


Heres the latest ODFW fishing report, Sounds a little slow:

Cold water temperatures have slowed down the sturgeon bite on the lower Columbia River although a few anglers have found success in the Portland area.

Gorge Bank: No report.

Gorge Boats: Weekend checking showed no catch reported for two boats (complete trips).

Troutdale Boats: Weekend checking showed no catch reported for two boats (complete trips).

Portland to Longview Bank: No report.

Portland to Longview Boats: Weekend checking showed two legal white sturgeon kept and 33 sublegal sturgeon released for 28 boats (incomplete trips).

Bonneville Pool: Weekly checking showed one sublegal sturgeon released for four boats; and one legal white sturgeon kept plus five sublegal sturgeon released for 16 bank anglers.

The Dalles Pool: Weekly checking showed 17 sublegal sturgeon released for 12 boats; and two oversize and two sublegal sturgeon released for 20 bank anglers.


Man, theres some big sturgeon out there. I'd be excited enough catching a shad from my Kayak but catching the fish that eats a shad bait..we'll thats almost scary.

That wogameandfish link was interesting.  I'd seen the walleye one, but hadn't looked there for sturgeon.  I like the back bouncing idea; seems doable in a kayak and will keep you warmer than just sitting there on anchor.

Another article on that site called "DIY Sturgeon Fishing"
http://www.wogameandfish.com/fishing/WO_0607_02/index.html is about catching sturgeon from small boats in the flats near Astoria.  This fishery seems more inline with what Erik Kunz and the NCKA guys are doing down in San Pablo Bay and might also be worth checking out later in the year.

Brian

Here's a link to some info on kayak launch sites on the Willamette R. from Alder Creek Kayak and Canoe.  Now I just need to translate some of the locations mentioned recently on IFish for sturgeon fishing and figure out which launch is going to be best.

http://www.aldercreek.com/web-resources/willamette-river-map.cfm

Good info. Brian!  A good place to launch on the lower Willamette is Cathedral park.  I've done pretty well just down river of there in my buddy's powered boat.

Another idea is the Multnomah Channel.  I understand that there are a couple of really good holes in there and traffic and flow are minimal.  I'll definately be checking this out soon.

Like you, I still need to figure out the anchoring process.  I think the most important part of the set-up will be a quick disconnect.  Maybe we can get FFTW to put on a clinic.  

I've attached a map of the public boat launches on the Willamette.  In case it doesn't come thru, the link is:
http://www.aldercreek.com/web-resources/willamette-river-map.cfm

Maybe we can get FFTW to put on a clinic.

That would be a lot easier if FFTW hadn't moved to Florida in October.    At least he still reads this board once in a while and has plans to come back here every now and then so maybe there is hope.

Spot, for fishing the Multnomah Channel, where would you launch? The mouth of the channel is about 2 miles from Cathedral Park.

^&%(*&  I forgot that FFTW moved....  Now whom am I going to show that awesome fishing reef to?!?!?

Launching is easy on the Multnomah Channel.  There are two boat launches on Sauvie's Island.  The 1st one is about 2 miles west of the bridge.  The second is most of the way around the island at the Gilbert River mouth.
The M/C is also known for Springer fishing.

Brian, time to get your GIS groove thing on and start making maps.  It would be a great thing for a wiki ... oh yes, just working on a wiki page now.  It's been installed but I haven't had time to configure it yet.

-Allen

Allen,

There is a wiki add-on that is installed on the NCKA wiki that allows you to add Google Maps.   I think that is probably the way to go as it allows anyone to make/modify a map.   This would be great for launch sites, etc... 

I've done a bit of work on the NCKA WIKI, but now that I moved, I'm less enthusiastic.  I was actually about to start some NWKA pages on the NCKA wiki to keep notes on some of my research, but our own WIKI is probably a better idea. 

For those unfamiliar with wiki's they are community written web pages. Wikipedia is probably the most famous  http://en.wikipedia.com
For something a little more relevant here is a link to the NCKA WIKI
http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
and here is a more specific link to a NCKA Wiki page with a google map of launch sites..
http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/wiki/index.php/Launch_Sites

On an NWKA WIKI I'd personally like to see ...
-Launch locations (directions, logistics, etc..)
-Fishery intel (i.e. the where, when and how of Columbia Sturgeon, Brookings Rockfish, Puget Sound Blackmouth, etc.. )
-Gearing up info (anchor systems, rigging options, etc..)


Brian

Another article on that site called "DIY Sturgeon Fishing"
http://www.wogameandfish.com/fishing/WO_0607_02/index.html is about catching sturgeon from small boats in the flats near Astoria.  This fishery seems more inline with what Erik Kunz and the NCKA guys are doing down in San Pablo Bay and might also be worth checking out later in the year.

That's the sturgeon fishery that I've always thought was most yakable. They're not always deep.

I read last year (and saw posted photos) of guys catching sturgies, near Bonneville, while pulling sardine wrapped plugs for spring chinook. That was on the Piscatorial Pursuits site.

two more links:

These two have great pics

http://www.totalfisherman.com/columbia%20river%20sturgeon%20fishing.htm

http://www.columbiariversturgeon.com/

FishShim over at NCKA just posted his sturgeon anchor system on the following thread and I think it's a pretty clean setup.

Brian

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php/topic,11567.0/topicseen.html

I've also heard that Tillamook Bay can be a decent sturgeon fishery.  There was even a post about it recently on IFish.

http://www.ifish.net/board/showthread.php?t=185849

A bit farther than the Willy, but at least it should be shallower and thus more ideal for anchoring the yaks.  If anyone's interested let me know, I'm still itching to get out to catch something soon.

Brian

I'm still itching to get out to catch something soon.

How about Sunday after next (24Feb)? I'm in for a few days and that one looks the most likely time I can escape.

I'm still itching to get out to catch something soon.

How about Sunday after next (24Feb)? I'm in for a few days and that one looks the most likely time I can escape.

Oooh .... I'm gonna have to see if I can fill up the GAF tank by then!!!

-Allen