Willy Sturgeon Report-2/5/2011

I went out to George Roger's park on the Willy today.  I got out there around 9 am and paddled around for a bit to see if I could find Steelheader's anchor rig. Unfortunately, I didn't find it.  But the water was like glass and the river was very peaceful.


I learned something very valuable at the Next Adventure Tourney from Spot.  He appeared to have extra Mojo which, I believe, he credited to his Slayride Kayakfishing gear.   So I Thought I would give it a try. 


 
Apparently, it worked.  Within 10 minutes of anchoring up on the east side of the river I had a enormous fish shaker.  I didn't measure it, but my yak is 28 inches wide and it was about that wide.  Unfortunately, I wasn't used to my new Playsport camera and must have inadvertently zoomed in cutting off the head and tail in the photo.   Stupid thumbs.



I had a couple other bites, but unfortunately I just fed shrimp to them with no other hook-ups.  There were several jumping on the west side so I moved over there, but it didn't help.

There were a few boats out looking for salmon, but other than that, it seemed like I had the river to myself.  Deep Color came down to the shore and said hi when I was on the west side.

I had one boat pull up close to me and the driver thanked me for having a flag up.  He said he was surprised at how far away he was able to spot me by just the little blaze orange bike flag I had on back.   He said he noticed most of the kayak fisherman use them, but a lot of the people out just paddling around don't have them.  He said they can be hard to see, especially in the mornings and evenings.

Here is a little video.  The first with the Playsport.  I took some last night indoors as well.  I am impressed with its ability to shoot video in low light compared to the GoPro, or any of my other digital cameras:



I am hoping to get back out again tomorrow.

-Craig

   Nice dino,
Nice kayak also, I have never seen a wood SOT yak... Cool....  Dose she drain water? I am new to the NW, I hope this is not a stupid question.

Nice job Craig,
Thanks for looking. I got out about 2pm until dark and didn't see it either.

I used my new mushroom anchor setup and fed the fish as well. I got a number of bites but got nothing to the kayak. I forgot my gear box so I just clipped the weight and leader to the same swivel. It worked ok but I had lots of tangles.

Good Luck tomorrow. I think my old anchor was donated to the river gods...
Jay

   Nice dino,
Nice kayak also, I have never seen a wood SOT yak... Cool....  Dose she drain water? I am new to the NW, I hope this is not a stupid question.

Yup.  It has scuppers like the plastic ones.  I dropped it off the top of my truck when I was loading it at the end of the day.  Luckily, it just got a couple scratches. 

Nice job Craig,
Thanks for looking. I got out about 2pm until dark and didn't see it either.

I used my new mushroom anchor setup and fed the fish as well. I got a number of bites but got nothing to the kayak. I forgot my gear box so I just clipped the weight and leader to the same swivel. It worked ok but I had lots of tangles.

Good Luck tomorrow. I think my old anchor was donated to the river gods...
Jay

I left at about 12:45 due to the tangles.  The drift sock worked well when the tide was going out.  However,  when the current slowed I started drifting in semi-circles and tangling up the line.  I am not sure about tomorrow now.  My wife may have to do something late morning so I would be entertaining the kids unless my sister could cover for me.

Nice work Craig. I like the kayak too, you got some nice wood vessels.

Thanks.  Also, I stopped by Tap Plastics yesterday to check on some options regarding your idea.  They had some 1/2 inch inner diameter epoxy/fiber tube that was interesting.  I don't know if it would work for you, but it could be handy for other things. 

Nice fish.  Do you have two anchor trolleys, one with an anchor and one with a drift chute?

Nice fish.  Do you have two anchor trolleys, one with an anchor and one with a drift chute?

I just use the trolley to run the anchor off the stern and clip the drift chute to a padeye. The drift chute line is just long enough for the chute to be about to the bow. I have a second line attached to the small end of the chute that is a bit longer. Being longer, this line is kept loose, but a quick tug will dump the chute in a flash to make recovery much easier.

Jay

Nice job Craig.  That is a good looking boat.  Here is a shot from up at the park.  Sorry I couldn't be out there on the water. 

I must have just barely missed the both of you. I peddled over from the Milwaukie side at around 12:45. Set up anchor on west side just south of George Rogers and fishing by 1pm. At around 1:30 I decided to pick up and move to just south east of the rock island. I noticed earlier a nice shelf that drops from 40 feet to 70 feet. Since the 40 feet was upstream of the 70 feet, I decided to drop anchor on the ledge at 40, just in front of the drop off. All systems seemed a go as once anchored everything seemed pretty solid, so I casted of the back of the ledge into the deeper 70 foot section. This was going great as I had only been on bottom for about 5-7 minutes and whammo..... I had a very large fish on that was immediately running straight downstream. By the time I had released my anchor, I think the sturgeon had pulled enough pressure against me that it must have pulled my anchor to the end of the ledge, because after fighting this dino and eventually loosing it, I returned for my anchor and it was GONE. No sign of it anywhere. Is George Rogers Park turning into the Bermuda Triangle of anchors? Since I had no anchor, I decided to sit back and let the river slowly drift me back to Oak Grove Blvd boat launch(Milwaukie side) and call it a day. If anyone happens to see a wht/red bouy with a #1 on it that's attached to extension cord winder and a 12# mushroom anchor, its gonna be mine.
Tight lines!

I must have just barely missed the both of you. I peddled over from the Milwaukie side at around 12:45. Set up anchor on west side just south of George Rogers and fishing by 1pm. At around 1:30 I decided to pick up and move to just south east of the rock island. I noticed earlier a nice shelf that drops from 40 feet to 70 feet. Since the 40 feet was upstream of the 70 feet, I decided to drop anchor on the ledge at 40, just in front of the drop off. All systems seemed a go as once anchored everything seemed pretty solid, so I casted of the back of the ledge into the deeper 70 foot section. This was going great as I had only been on bottom for about 5-7 minutes and whammo..... I had a very large fish on that was immediately running straight downstream. By the time I had released my anchor, I think the sturgeon had pulled enough pressure against me that it must have pulled my anchor to the end of the ledge, because after fighting this dino and eventually loosing it, I returned for my anchor and it was GONE. No sign of it anywhere. Is George Rogers Park turning into the Bermuda Triangle of anchors? Since I had no anchor, I decided to sit back and let the river slowly drift me back to Oak Grove Blvd boat launch(Milwaukie side) and call it a day. If anyone happens to see a wht/red bouy with a #1 on it that's attached to extension cord winder and a 12# mushroom anchor, its gonna be mine.
Tight lines!

I believe you were just starting to drift downriver when I showed up. I saw someone in light colored Hobie that seemed to be trolling away. It sounds like our anchor setups only differed in the anchor style. Mine was a 5# claw with a few feet of chain. I tested my new mushroom setup in 25 and 90' of water. No problems in the glassy water yesterday.

Jay

I was out on the river yesterday and had my daily chat with the sheriff marine patrol, after we covered the normal bases I asked if anyone was fishing out of a kayak down around George Rogers.  The look he had was great, "How'd you know that?  Yah, I've been seeing those guys more and more"  I filled him in on NWKA etc.  so if he swings in your direction he's probably not there to hassle you just a little "hows the fishing chat".. There's a couple different dudes and I can never remember their names but both are decent guys who seem to mesh well with the "local" fishermen

I saw them twice today, and the State guys stopped to make sure I was releasing my fish.  I had my biggest sturgeon next to the boat when they came.  I should have asked them to take my picture.  The SO Marine Patrol guys went by and said, "I'm sure you have the required licenses and safety gear, right."  I said yes, and they didn't even slow down.  That is efficiency.  To bad the rest of the Multnomah County Government isn't that efficient.  Of course, it may have been Clackamas County.  I didn't pay attention.

Nice fish.  Do you have two anchor trolleys, one with an anchor and one with a drift chute?

Yeah, I have one on each side.  They worked great today.  Then I lost the shoot and after that I was all over the place.

I must have just barely missed the both of you. I peddled over from the Milwaukie side at around 12:45. Set up anchor on west side just south of George Rogers and fishing by 1pm. At around 1:30 I decided to pick up and move to just south east of the rock island. I noticed earlier a nice shelf that drops from 40 feet to 70 feet. Since the 40 feet was upstream of the 70 feet, I decided to drop anchor on the ledge at 40, just in front of the drop off. All systems seemed a go as once anchored everything seemed pretty solid, so I casted of the back of the ledge into the deeper 70 foot section. This was going great as I had only been on bottom for about 5-7 minutes and whammo..... I had a very large fish on that was immediately running straight downstream. By the time I had released my anchor, I think the sturgeon had pulled enough pressure against me that it must have pulled my anchor to the end of the ledge, because after fighting this dino and eventually loosing it, I returned for my anchor and it was GONE. No sign of it anywhere. Is George Rogers Park turning into the Bermuda Triangle of anchors? Since I had no anchor, I decided to sit back and let the river slowly drift me back to Oak Grove Blvd boat launch(Milwaukie side) and call it a day. If anyone happens to see a wht/red bouy with a #1 on it that's attached to extension cord winder and a 12# mushroom anchor, its gonna be mine.
Tight lines!

Did you have your name on it?  Some fisherman stopped by and asked if I lost an anchor.  I said know,  but I knew someone who had (Steelheader).  They said there was a phone number on and they will call it.