Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3801 Dec 22-Jan 4 | Page 22

22 Dec 21, 2018 - Jan 4, 2019 WHAT’S HOT FRESHWATER VOL.38 • ISS. 1 Continued from page 1 stealers grabbing our baits as fast as we could rig them up. After an hour or so, the bigger fish started to move in. I saw my noodle rod pump a few times and then stop. I moved into position by steadying the rod with one hand and grabbing the reel handle with the other hand. The rod pumped again, and after about five seconds of movement, I slowly reeled in some line. Suddenly, the rod slammed to the water, but I kept reeling with the rod still in the holder. Once I was sure the circle hook was pinned in the corner of the fish’s mouth, I pulled the rod out of the holder and the fight was on. This fish was clearly bigger than the others I had hooked earlier in the morning. It peeled line off the reel several times before I got it to the side of the boat. Kirby netted the fish, and I got a quick weight and some photos before releasing it back into the ripping ebb current. The fish came in at just over ten pounds on my Boga Grip, and it marked the beginning of the great feeding frenzy of 2018. For the next hour, we couldn’t bait our hooks fast enough. We lost count, but estimated that we landed between 15 and 20 keeper stripers. As the current began to fade, I tried to prepare sturgeon baits, but it was no use. I finally just reeled in my striper rods to get some roe balls tied up. It was time to go try for sturgeon. We moved downstream to deeper water looking for sturgeon on the sonar unit. I wasn’t seeing much, but below the Pittsburg power plant, I saw 4 or 5 good marks on the screen. We set anchor downstream from the fish in 56 feet of water. The current was really starting to slow down at the end of the outgoing tide. Since I only had a few extra roe balls tied up, I started making more once I had my rods cast out. About two minutes into the soak, I was tying my Jack Naves displays his 44 inch sturgeon that inhaled a nickel-sized ball of second sugar and salt cured salmon roe in a mesh sack. The fish was landed near roe ball. I Pittsburg, CA, and was released after the photo. Photo by JACK NAVES, Fish Sniffer Staff. peeked at my sturgeon rod out of the corner of my eye and saw movement. The tip was pumping up and down about four inches at a time. The scene was played out one again as I frantically dropped the partially formed roe ball and reached for my reel handle. With sturgeon, I use standard Kirby Desha of Lincoln with a 7 pound striper that couldn’t pass up chicken livers tied to an 8/0 circle hook using Magic Thread. The fish hit during the J hooks incoming tide near Chain Island. instead of Photo by JACK NAVES, Fish Sniffer Staff. circle hooks, so I reel as Captained by David Hammond of Delta fast as possible to set the hook. Pro Fishing. After the current flipped I reeled like crazy for about seven directions and the incoming tide picked seconds but didn’t feel any resistance. I up, we moved back to our striper spot. stopped, and the rod tip started shaking. Although the bite wasn’t on fire, we still “He’s still there”, Kirby related, and I were able to land several more keepers to started reeling again. Finally, the rod 7 pounds before stopping for the day at loaded up and the battle was on. It was five 12:30 pm. minutes or longer before I had the fish to If you enjoy fishing for striped bass or the boat side. After a quick measurement sturgeon, now is the time to go. The stretch and release, the sturgeon was back in the of the West Delta between Decker Island water. Although the fish was a 44-inch and Pittsburg is loaded with fish. The bite keeper, I decided to release it. will remain good until the water tempera- We saw two other sturgeon caught by tures dip below the 56-degree mark. 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