Dreaming about Sturgeon

I was trying to sleep and kept thinking about catching a sturgeon from my kayak.  I got up and was looking over the regs... if they remain the same for 2013 then the lower columbia (around astoria) will be open January 1- Apr 30 and the May 12 to July 8... so this is what I am wondering for you sturgeon catchers...

1. Are the sturgeon really around and biting during that Jan to Apr window?  I have only ever fished in June for them.
2. If you catch one, get it to the yak, determine it to be a keeper... I read you just run a rope through the mouth and gil plate... then you just paddle for shore dragging this enormous LIVE fish? That seems like a recipe for disaster.  Did I miss the killing it part?

Thanks!

Probably not. These fish are vary calm after a good long fight. You should have no problem with it moving around much.
I have also never caught and kept a sturgeon and probably never will. They are a protected species in BC.

1) Not the entire time.  But for a good portion of that time.

2) Pull em into your yak.  Keep em upside down and they'll stay quiet.  They don't die quickly but I've found that driving a knife thru their skull plate at the base of the nodocord<sic> speeds things up nicely.

-Spot-