Sturgeon Excursion 2008......Stories and Photos

[DTro]

Well just returned home from one outstanding weekend of Sturgeon Fishing at Schusters Resort

This was the third year for me and PapaGrump. The last two years were great and I was having thoughts about a possible letdown.

Could we have three great years in a row?

Fri morning we started on the river and the bite was confirming my worst fears. Will we even catch one fish over 50? Will we even catch one?

Instead of throwing in the towel right away we moved and moved until we found ourselves in the middle of 4 mile bay dodging ice chunks.

Was it worth it?

Oh Boy you bet it was!!!

I have this little streak going of catching a 60" fish, each year I've been up there so my personal goal was to continue that streak this year.

Well the second fish of the afternoon made the whole trip.

62 x 26 !

Then about 15 minutes later:

58 x 23

and believe it or not

15 minutes after that:

56 x 23

Wow what an awesome 45 minutes!

We finished the night with a couple more 50's and a bunch of 40's.

We headed back, recharged at the resort and back at it the next morning with more of the same.

And I couldn't believe it but somehow the horseshoe struck again and I was able to do battle with yet another 60" fish:

61 x 25

I swear, my camera was literally full of 50+" fish that we caught on Sat. It was amazing! I would have drove 12hrs for the fun time I had on Sat, not only catching fish, but watching all my close friends do the same. What a blast!

Here are a few more pics:

And one of my favorite from the weekend:

Shamu with his 61x25, flanked by LFC and Bob Moore Moores Bait and Tackle

Thanks again to everyone, and I can't stress enough how one should really set aside some time to get up there in the spring and try this Sturgeon fishing out. It really can't be described until you do it.

Simply Unreal!

[muc33]

Awesome recap!!!! Great to hear the streak is still alive!!!!

Shamu... toughguy bustin out the Tshirt only shot!!! nice!!

[iffwalleyes]

Very nice Dtro hopefully they are still bitting like that next weekend when I get up there.

[Papa Grump]

 Quote:

Thanks again to everyone, and I can't stress enough how one should really set aside some time to get up there in the spring and try this Sturgeon fishing out. It really can't be described until you do it.

Simply Unreal!

I can't add any more to this other than my arms are a little sore...and it's all worth it!

[fishn4kids]

NICE, VERY NICE. Any room in the boat for next year? I need a good workout. Can't believe the quality of those fish. Great job guys.

Duane

[hanson]

Nice!!!

Hmmmm... thought I mentioned something to you last week about "following the ice". Very, very interesting!!

[HaywardBound]

Wow, great report dtro! Looks like great weather too! I look forward to the other reports.

[Sandmannd]

Nice looking fish dtro. I would love to make it up next year. I'll have to start beggin the wife now.

[Rick]

Words can't do justice and I'm sure dtro and many others will be the first to agree it was an even better fishing event than what most are picking up on dtro's most excellant post.

[wastewaterguru]

Here are some pictures from Aanderud and I. We had 54 fish in the boat for the weekend with 4 over 55" with a 60"er as the big fish for us for the weekend.

Here is another one from DTRO and PAPAGRUMP with one of their doubles.....

And some of the highlights from Aanderud and I. We will definately be there next year. After the sunburn and war wounds heal. I am amazed at the power of these fish. Once these fish reach about the 45 inch mark, it takes about all a guy can muster to land one. I even got my buttt kicked by a couple smaller ones. Enjoy the pictures.......we certainly enjoyed taking them.

[Shack]

Thanks Dtro and wastewaterguru for the great reports and images. Also WWG, thanks for the last minute invite. I came very close to canceling my boys b-day parties this weekend

Mark it in stone, I have two events next year I will attend. Burntside and Sturgeon Excursion 2009.

Hey, I recognize that boat in the back ground! I guess there was a couple of jets out this weekend

[Ralph Wiggum]

Awesome time! We fished the river and did really well. We ended up with 12 over 50" and 4 over 60", topped by a mammoth 67" x 30" by my buddy Joe. My forearms are torn up!

Me with a 61"--first fish of the trip!

Joe with a 67" x 30" fish--tagged to boot!

Me with a 55"

Me with a 58"

[Ralph Wiggum]

Check out the slime oozing off the fish in the last photo

[Sandmannd]

That 67 is sick, that's huge. Is that slime on the last pic or did it have to go to the bathroom?

[Eric Wettschreck]

Darrin, awesome re-cap and pictures!!! A big time super huge thank you goes out to.............YOU, for helping steer us to the right location after a slow first day. Another reason to attend these get togethers. Everyone helped everyone out and I don't know of anyone who didn't have a great time.

This was my first sturgeon adventure and I can pretty much say I'll be back. I've never caught a freshwater fish that literally tried to pull my arms out of my shoulders like these dinosaurs did. What a blast. The weather was great, the comradarie was great, the accomodations were great, the fishing was great, the entire package was, well, GREAT!!!! It was quite the sight to see all the FM'ers boats out there.

The first sturgeon of my life. This dude came in at 36 inches. Just a little fella. Yeah, you read that right. I caught a 36 inch fish and I'm calling it a little fella.

It doesn't come anywhere near close to some of the real brutes others caught, but my pride and joy of the weekend was this 46 incher. After I landed this fish I had to take a couple minutes to get my hands to stop shaking so I could load on another shiner/crawler/chub/cut/shiner sandwich.

Let's not forget to toss huge props the the FM kingpin, our very own Rick. I have no idea how big this fish is. We measured it, but in all honesty, I forgot. I'll let him chime in on size. I think it was 52 but guys, don't hold me to that.

Guys, this was awesome. I'm beat, my arms are sore, I'm sunburnt, and this trip was just what the doctor ordered for me. DTRO, I can't say it enough. Tons of thanks to you and Papa Grump for hooking me up with a few tips and a much better spot to be on.

[ChuckN]

It was indeed a great time! I made the best of it after becoming ill the night before leaving for the trip. Ron and I fished Friday afternoon and all day Saturday, and by Sunday the fish beat me up good and it was time to head home.

I think it would be fair to say our the average size of fish was 40"+. A lot of mid-upper 40" fish, simply incredible!

Ron's 50" "albino"...

The fight is on, it's a big one...

Yep, it's big...my new record. 63" beast.

Some guys absolutely put the hammer down on these fish! Great photos guys, and nice fish everyone.

[Ralph Wiggum]

 Originally Posted By: Sandmannd

Is that slime on the last pic or did it have to go to the bathroom?

It was slime

[Larry FlatCaster]

Awesome time and pretty cool to meet new Mates!!!

Some pics to follow in the next day or so....

Would do it again in a heart beat.

Great report DTRO!!!

Brian A..... Don't loose that orange Monkey.... It took a while to shake the curse...

[Shack]

Hey Bolier,

What happened to Tom?

Did he get skunked or did you throw him over board

[Eric Wettschreck]

It would be difficult to toss Tom overboard as it's his boat I was in and he's like 57 times bigger than I am. He boated a few very nice sturgeon and a bunch of suckers to boot.

[crazyice]

Man oh man, what a trip! I think I will be dreaming of sturgeon till next years event! Here are just a couple of pictures from this past weekend.

My new personal best, 62.5 X 28. We figured it to be between 75 and 80 lbs.

Here is another nice one, this one is 56" with no girth measurements taken, but we did get a weight, 58 lbs!

And one more, a low 50's fish, I forget the exact measurements on this one.

And then probably one of my favorite pictures from the trip, this is a release shot of my 62.5

[Flaco651]

Larry- Did you break in your Safari when you were up there? I'm still in the process, so far just 5-6 lb. channels....

[ec30_06]

Here's a few from our boat. Kyle has most of the pics of the bigger fish.

My new PB at 55x25

first fish of the trip

57.5 x 25.5

second fish of the trip at 48"

Where did this come from? 36" and fat

[crazyice]

 Originally Posted By: ec30_06

Where did this come from? 36" and fat

Junk fish!!

[iffwalleyes]

 Originally Posted By: crazyice

 Originally Posted By: ec30_06

Where did this come from? 36" and fat

Junk fish!!

Your right about the junk fish