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HUNTING
FOR STURGEON IN THE FOG
By
Ron Wilson
I
finally got a day away from any commitments and went sturgeon fishing
with Ken Moore of Ripon. We were heading for the mothball fleet in the
Martinez area. On the way over, Ken informed me that he had a dream that
we caught a big striped bass.
We
launched at MacAvoy’s, the fee now is $10. I had brought salmon eggs
for bait, so we saved a little money by not having to buy any. It was
foggy, so I used a compass to get across the river; I missed Snag Island
by a couple hundred yards so I then went through the cut between it and
the duck club and then traveled down toward the mothball fleet.
There
is a small island on the right hand side with a cut; I took the cut
through to Grizzly Bay where they hunt ducks on the flats. The cut is
about 100 yards and at the end there used to be an old duck house. Now
there are just old broken posts left standing. I positioned the boat so
that I was heading north and kept the boat on plane for several minutes
until I came to a flat topped duck blind that is in the back of Grizzly
Bay on the flats. There were guys working their decoy spread so we moved
on back toward the ships just a couple hundred yards from the dolphin
and anchored.
Ken
said he had been doing great on this spot. He had limited on
diamondbacks 3 weeks in a row there. I dropped the anchor and about 15
feet of rope and then anchored the back of the boat with PVC pipe that I
stick in the mud to keep the boat from rocking and rolling and swinging
back and forth. This does about as good a job as you can expect and much
better than using two anchors.
We
soon saw a sturgeon roll and were confident we would soon have one tied
to the boat. A short time later another one jumped nearby, things were
looking good. The stripers started moving in and eating the eggs off our
hooks. Every now and then we would catch a small one. After about an
hour I had a good pull, got him I said the fish made a run and then
turned and started rolling on top. The white flash on the tail told me
it was a striper and we soon had one in the boat that was in the
10-pound class.
Another
hour and Ken nailed a fish, I was just starting to pull the pole up when
I noticed a white flash on top of the water. Heck it was just another
striper in the 10-pound class. 5 pounds of eggs and a couple hours later
KEN HOOKED UP AGAIN! The rod was bent and line striping off the reel but
the fish soon came up to the top and rolled showing the whiteness of its
tail as it splashed and made another run. Another darn striped bass.
While they were better than nothing they were not what we were after.
At 2
p.m. I told Ken it was time to head for home, I didn't want to drive
thru the fog at night pulling a boat.
As
we neared Byron, I could see the moon just peaking thru the high fog. I
said “Well there’s another reason that we didn't get a sturgeon
today”. Ken said what? I said see that full moon just coming up, the
fish will feed at night instead of during the day. I told Ken we had
several things against us. The moon, not hitting the incoming tide when
the sturgeon usually come back onto the flats and you dreaming all night
long about us catching striped bass!
I
told Ken “the next time we get together to wet a line for sturgeon, I
wanted him to dream about sturgeon and I mean big ones”! I don't care
if they keep or not I just like the feel of something huge on the end of
my rod!
The
fish will be there for the next couple months as they work their way
through the bays and slowly head upstream to their spawning grounds.
The stripers are heading upstream now and if that’s what you
prefer to have grab your rebels, hair jigs and spoons then head for the
river, there here!
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