Fishing for the ancient sturgeon creates mixed feelings for me. For the past couple years I have spent many hours heaving lead and bait, hoping to finally land a fish between the magical keeper marks of 42 and 60 inches. Although I have landed several small fish, called shakers, I have yet to mark one on my sturgeon tag. Thanksgiving Day changed that. Or so I think.
After taking Nomad 2 (my money-making boat), I anchored up is some medium current above a likely hole. on the Willamette. After dropping my 16-ounces of lead and whole herring, it bounced along the bottom until finally finding a holding spot. Within 10 minutes the rod tip gave a customary bounce and soon I was on a good fish. After about 10 minutes, I boated a great looking sturgeon. I quickly put it up against my measuring it and and checked the length. He was longer than the yard stick but I wasn't certain it was 6 inches longer. No matter, I thought, I caught one so there should be more about the same size in the hole. It was a good thought. Two hours later and I was still waiting for another bite. Three hours later and I was in another hole. Four hours later, I was back at the dock with only the one fish for the day. Should have measured it a little closer.
Motor back, I continued to wonder if I would actually keep a sturgeon between those magical numbers. A 42-inch fish is at least 12 years old if it's a male and closer to 15 if it's a female. Although I continue to fish for sturgeon, I have yet to know if I will actually keep one. So what does this have to do with frugal fly fishing? Well not much outside the musing I go through as a fisherman. As a fly fisherman, choosing, cutting and threading bait seems out of character, but I have yet to try flies for these bottom feeders. in the meantime, I plan on spending time on the river, bouncing lead and bait. It also gives me the opportunity to stay connected to other aspects of fishing and spending time with family as I did a few days later when my father and brother joined me on the river where we spend a nice morning catching shakers.
