Willy Dino Meet Up Sat 11/26

Nice pics guys! It's a bummer I had to start late and miss half the fun. My vomitting 2 year old became priority. I'm sure you understand. It was really nice meeting up with everyone. It was nice to see some BIG fish caught. Everyone's photo's look awesome.
Sinker, your sturgeon is large dude. I agree the 2nd picture Craig posted does it justice.
Good times!

Good times & great pics! Inspires me to get gator gear & go for the next gathering. Haven't caught one yet, maybe this will be the year.

CastIron gota sturgeon but I will let him post the pic.

I know that joesnuffy got one too.

By the way Noah, joesnuffy gave me your scent to give back to you. However the last sturgeon swatted that and my camera case overboard. Let me know what your favorite flavor is and I will grab a bottle for next time I see you.

Popped my cherry and no longer a Sturgeon virgin. I think PDX is being conservative on his count as I was guessing closer to a dozen or more for him. And then there's DC, apparently a Sturgeon Legend with a plethora of great advice...Thanks DC.

Glad joesnuffy was able to land his Sturgeon and then got back home safely. It was great to see everyone out and meet a few that I hadn't previously. Hope your Son is doing better Jammer. Sick kids are the worst. Thanks again to all for advice...Good Times!

   Gentlemen,
  Those are some outstanding pictures of a great day.Congradulations to all who busted their sturgeon virgin status.
   A couple of questions---were there any non-Hobie boats out there with you ?
                                      Having not fished the Willamette since '87--is fishing sturgeon there do-able without anchoring ?
  I'm tempted to come down and try it myself in my "floating coffin".I can stay at my son's house ,come down the night before ,and be there for a sunrise launch.And it looks like the results make such a venture worthwhile.I'll check OF&W website for license requirements,etc. Having never caught a sturgeon for a kayak--it looks totally fun.I have caught a bunch out of power boats on the Colombia and the Chehalis but from the pictures posted the current on the Willamette doesn't look too bad.
   What do you "locals" think ?

Way to stick with it CastIronTrout.  And Mark, I really think you do need an anchor.  The bait has to be still for a few minutes for the sturgeon to find it.  But I'm happy to lend you mine, or better yet, just go with you and we'll anchor up together.  We did lots of that yesterday.

   were there any non-Hobie boats out there with you ?   

Hey Mark....Thanks, it was a great time. I'm in the last picture before your post and sitting in an Ocean Kayak. I don't recall who else, but there was someone else paddling as well. Also, I agree with DC fully. You're going to need to be anchored or tied into someone who is anchored. The bait needs to be on the bottom where the Sturgeon can track the smell to the source. In my previous experience, the only thing I can compare it to is fishing for Flathead catfish.

     Thanks deepcolor and CIT,
  I know your bait has to be pretty stationary for the sturgeon to find it.To be more specific--could a guy backpeddle to maintain position out there ? A little bit of wiggling around isn't too bad...helps spread the scent trail around. From what I can tell in your pictures...the current looks minimal.And I don't mind having to work it a little.
 I do have several anchors I can use...an 8lber or I can steal the anchor off my mini-drifter.I have never done that out of a kayak before.How deep was the water where you guys were fishing ?
  Other than those 2 issues..I
'm confident I have most other bases covered......
   Again thanks for the input.I have no problem making the drive down from Raymond.I might even talk my kid into coming out.I'd have to bring one or more of my Ultimate 12's to have a boat for him.But I do have 2 so that's no problem either.Anyone think the Ultimate might be a better choice than my sit in yak ?Again ...I'm just not sure of the current strength on the Willamette River.Appreciate the help guys..........

Depth is anywhere from 40 to 120 feet.  And on the outgoing tide, the current gets pretty strong.  You may be able to hold in place for a while, but not all day long.  I recommend anchoring for sure. 

   Gentlemen,
  Those are some outstanding pictures of a great day.Congradulations to all who busted their sturgeon virgin status.
   A couple of questions---were there any non-Hobie boats out there with you ?
                                      Having not fished the Willamette since '87--is fishing sturgeon there do-able without anchoring ?
  I'm tempted to come down and try it myself in my "floating coffin".I can stay at my son's house ,come down the night before ,and be there for a sunrise launch.And it looks like the results make such a venture worthwhile.I'll check OF&W website for license requirements,etc. Having never caught a sturgeon for a kayak--it looks totally fun.I have caught a bunch out of power boats on the Colombia and the Chehalis but from the pictures posted the current on the Willamette doesn't look too bad.
   What do you "locals" think ?

Mr. Mark,
Now that you're living in WA instead of Soldotna, AK we need to get together more often. I have an extra Hobie Outback hanging in my garage if you would like to use it.. Dude, you and Kardinal 84 showed me parts of AK that I may never see again and for that your covered on kayaks. You too K84!! Anytime!

Is anyone interested in another group outing for Willamette Sturgeon in December? Say Dec 10 or so? We could have a mini tournament amongst friends or something. Maybe do like a $5-$10 a stick and biggest fish caught between 8-12noon wins the cash. Just a thought! I know that Ndogg, Rawk and myself will soon be planning next years Willy Dino Tourney from Next Adventure, so this may be another great chance to hone in your Dino hunting skills. I'm sure there's a few peeps here on the forum that want Spot's title. Spot's the 2011 NA WDT champ! Should we post up a similar sturgeon meetup for Sat Dec 10?? Again, nice dino's yesterday guys!

Hey Mark. I think even if you could paddle in place your effectiveness would be greatly reduced. The problem as I see it is that the bite is often pretty light and I think your ability to keep your rod tip still would be challenging. I have wondered about drifting (slipping) for sturgeon. I posted this question on ifish and got a negative response from almost everyone. However there were a couple of positive responses.

I saw Deepcolor offered already and I also would be happy to act as a backup as a stationary point for you if you did not feel like bringing an anchor. You could try paddling in place and test it out. Maybe by the end of the day we will all be doing it

     Thanks deepcolor and CIT,
  I know your bait has to be pretty stationary for the sturgeon to find it.To be more specific--could a guy backpeddle to maintain position out there ? A little bit of wiggling around isn't too bad...helps spread the scent trail around. From what I can tell in your pictures...the current looks minimal.And I don't mind having to work it a little.
 

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. I was using a ten pound mushroom (no chain and a decent scope) and was constanly pulled off point. Others were using around eight pound claws and having the same issues, but then others were fine. The water was swirling pretty good and there was a lot of debris coming down river, to include logs, but no casualties. We were all to the side of the main current where there was less drag, but still present. I think it'd be best if you brought an anchor. Then at least you'd have it and could use it rather than wishing you had....My two cents.

   Jammer and PDX,
 Thanks for the very generous offers .I will most definitely take you up on that .
 Jammer--you're close but no cigar about living in Prudhoe...residence is actually Raymond,Wa. ..and I'm between jobs for the time being.And I'd love to try out your "spare" outback..Of course,I might have to visit Next Adventure soon to pick up my own...then one for the wife...and on and on....oh well.
  From what I can tell on OFW website,theWillamette is totally catch and release.Is that correct ?And does it open up to retention in Febuary ?I might have missed an emergency order but that's what I think I read. Is there an opening coming December 10th.? Yeah Micheal---the 10th gives plenty of time for folks to gear up,make plans,etc. I'm game to do a group gig.No doubt it'll be a serious kick.Post it up...........
  PDX---paddling in place would probably wear me out pretty quick.I was throwing that out there just to see if it was do-able or not.Thanks for the offer of using your boat as an anchor point.I do have anchors available and if I borrow Jammer's outback,I'd guess he has that already set-up.But I do appreciate your generosity.
  With 2 weeks until the 10th --we have lots of time to set this up.And I'd be pleased as punch to meet up with some of our Portland area people.I need to expand my horizons and what better way to do it............

Ya Mark, I totally screwed up the Prudhoe thing. Sorry about that.

The Willamette is catch and release only for now. There's some talk of it opening in Feb for Friday retention only, but I don't think they've announced anything yet. I guess they figure if its only Friday retention this might prolong the Willamette Sturgeon season possible into summer. We'll see what they say soon. As for Dec 10th, I'm all for it... We'll finalize something soon..

I should be able to make the 10th and would be happy to donate my 5-10 dollars to someone

It sounds like you have it covered Mark, but I also have a spare 12' Tarpon 120 you could borrow. My 8 lb mushroom was holding just fine in 85 feet of water.

And here are a few more photos.







The much rumored and anticipated..... ME


a few more photos are located here.


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