Thanksgiving Sturgeon

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.

What is Frugal Fly Fishing?

I started fly fishing in my early teens. I lived in a small town in Oregon and grew up fishing and hunting with my family. I am not sure what caused me to switch from bait fishing to fly fishing, but the transition wasn't easy because money was a luxury. I remember my first fly rod - a Berkeley 8-foot, 7-weight and my first line - a level 7 weight. I also remember no matter what I did, I was never able to cast that level line like the guys in the fishing magazines.

In time, and with money from my paper route, and doing odd jobs (including the ever-popular lawn mowing and weeding), I was able to buy a double taper line and a Pflueger Medalist reel. My grandfather, knowing that I was interested in fly fishing, gave me his old Union Hardware bamboo fly rod. After adding a few cheap flies, a metal Perrine fly box and a vest, I was on the water feeling like Lee Wulff. Within a couple years, I taught myself to tie flies and even had a little business selling flies at the local sporting goods store. During my transition to fly fishing, the main lesson I learned was that fly fishing did not take a lot of money, but did take some skill, patience, an appreciation of nature and an understanding of what fishing gear worked and what fishing gear simply looked good.