July 1 Sturgeon Weekend

Dale S · #1 07-02-2012, 02:23 PM

We had one of the best weekends fishing for sturgeon. With offer 50 sturgeon landed,2 pearsonal bests, 3 fish tied for pearsonal bests and 8 over 50" it was a great weekend. I will let the other guys tell there own story and pic, but these were my biggest for the weekend.Biggest was 50" We had lots of double headers, 2 of them were with big fish.They were fighting hard and doing lots of jumping. A fantastic weekend with good frends. I'm sure there will be more pics to come with all involved.Forum members kicked butt this weekend.The last pic. is on the beach on the island of the forks,the water was way up there in the fire pits.

pike_king780 · #2 07-02-2012, 03:23 PM

woww!! nice dinos! im extremely jealous !

Alberta Bigbore · #3 07-02-2012, 03:28 PM

good looking fish!

the local angler · #4 07-02-2012, 04:11 PM

where was this down at the forks? i recognize the last photo of site 11, my god i have never seen the water that high before where half the site is under water. nice job

Dale S · #5 07-02-2012, 04:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by the local angler

where was this down at the forks? i recognize the last photo of site 11, my god i have never seen the water that high before where half the site is under water. nice job

The water had dropped by that time. It was up to the grass line along the trees.We caught all the fish in the Oldman River.

Tcw · #6 07-02-2012, 04:45 PM

Way to go guys; now I'm needing to come down. I thought 52 pike in two days was good, but now I,m thinking I need to make a longer trip and have some real good times.
Congrats guys , great pics, and yes , I am jealous

BobLoblaw · #7 07-02-2012, 05:10 PM

Yep, that was a great weekend, Dago!
Ogre(Bill) & I left Calgary at 4:30 yesterday morning to head down to chase dinos with Dago & his wife, Wayne Christie & his lady, Karen, as well as Dago's buddy, Curt. It was a great day of fishing with great company; couldn't ask for better!

I'm in the middle of editing pics; I'll post a bunch shortly...

Dale S · #8 07-02-2012, 05:34 PM

I think Orge will be changing his avatar picture.

WayneChristie · #9 07-02-2012, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dago

I think Orge will be changing his avatar picture.

aww come on, it wasnt that big

that fish was awesome, poor ogre got beat up pretty good! knocked him right to his knees in the boat.

WayneChristie · #10 07-02-2012, 06:23 PM

that was a weekend to remember for sure. upped my PB by an inch to 53, had a double header with 2- 52 inch sturge with Curt, and we also had a triple header going on with Fisherman guy's boat and a couple of us. Seems we were just in the right place at the right time. Friday night between 5 of us we lost 6 and managed to get one to the boat, then Saturday the fish went crazy. Got to be that we were looking down on the poor 40 inch fish, they just didnt cut it this time. how crazy is that!

:s Ha_shakeshout: Of course the wife "just had to" whup me again, awesome teacher that I am. and pulled out another 57 incher, the biggest fish of the weekend, thing was the fattest sturge Ive ever seen, took 3 people to get a good hold on it, definitely a 2 hander to land. lots of pics and video to follow as I get time, finally managed to get a jumper or two also on video. nothing like seeing a fish almost 5 feet long doing acrobatics!!! they were taking the bait so hard a lot of the time we saw a fish jump out in the river before a rod even started twitching, what a crazy fine weekend this was.

WayneChristie · #11 07-02-2012, 07:33 PM

this little fishie started us off Friday night

tied up to the campground markers at the forks, and this was way down

signs of erosion, the banks have taken a beating this spring

my personal best tying, and half of a 52 incher double header

Curts half of the 52 incher double header

my gawd this is fun!!!!

I turned mine so his would look bigger

we were thinking, and purely off the wall and baseless, that with so many double headers, and one of the double usually being thin and one being quite fat, that perhaps we were catching pairs of fish with the females being fatter, (sorry ladies its the truth) and the males being much trimmer and muscular and in better shape.

Rivers first sturgeon, but not his last, handleed them like a pro. sure looked beat at the end of the fishing though

the big release

BeeGuy · #12 07-02-2012, 07:37 PM

This just keeps getting better.

I wonder if there's any 100lber's left??

WayneChristie · #13 07-02-2012, 07:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BeeGuy

This just keeps getting better.

I wonder if there's any 100lber's left??

Id put money on it. and if the wife catches it and I dont??? there will be more than one 100 pounder swimming in the river

bobalong · #14 07-02-2012, 07:44 PM

Looks like a great weekend guys, you got some real piggies there!!

WayneChristie · #15 07-02-2012, 07:50 PM

and the biggest of the weekend 57 inches and 25 inch girth, anyone got that chart handy?

caught all sizes this weekend, from big to babies.

and Mr Bobloblaw himself

BobLoblaw · #16 07-02-2012, 07:51 PM

Nice pics, Wayne. Quite a color difference in that last double-header; the one on the right is very brown...

Ogre & I saw some cool clouds on our way down...

I started with a little sturge...

Wayne C.

Handle with care...

Bill(Ogre) & Curt. Bill had caught a few sturgeon on his previous outings; this was his first hookup with a substantial dino...

Got him!

Bill with his 47"er...

Carefully released...

Close-up of a little guy...

(more to come...)

Lefty-Canuck · #17 07-02-2012, 07:53 PM

Awesome guys!

Wayne I have a feeling you didn't get your tagging equipment yet???

LC

BobLoblaw · #18 07-02-2012, 07:59 PM

This was a familiar sight- Karen fighting a sturgeon...

Nice fish!

I lost count of how many times I found these bugs crawling over me...

We got a few other species, as well...

(stay tuned for more...)

gatorhunter · #19 07-02-2012, 08:13 PM

Now that's a sturgeon excursion!

What are you using for bait, hooks, line? And what's with the mutant Goldeye or Mooneye? Freakin tank!

BobLoblaw · #20 07-02-2012, 08:16 PM

I got a 42"er...

The only other boat we saw all day...

I beat my personal best (by one inch...); 49 inch sturgeon- powerful fish!

In the background of the next pic, you can Bill fighting a fish. When I set the hook on the 49"er, he jumped right away; out of the corner of my eye, I saw another sturgeon jump- it was a bigger fish on the end of Bill's line! Double-header time!

Bill's big sturgeon. He had set his P.B. at 47'' earlier; this one was a pig!
53 inches, with a big girth; way to go, Billy-Boy! Good on ya, man; couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Another successful release...

Karen hooked up, again...

Dago tails Karen's sturge; this little guy was full of p1ss and vinegar...

Dago cranks on a good fish...

(almost done...)

WayneChristie · #21 07-02-2012, 08:19 PM

Lefty no I wont be able to start tagging until August, after a weekend where not one tagged fish was caught out of at least 60, you can see why I thought one more tagger could be a help!
Dagos double header

note the bloody finger, this one decided to squirm of course since I had my shirt off, got bruises and cuts all over to prove it. didnt drop the fish though!

note the professional stance, mt BBLaw is starting to get cocky

off with you!

unhooking another little guy

can we get an bit of a smile Ogre????

hows your weekend going Bill? dont know if Id get up at 4:30 am for one that small, but you know

BobLoblaw · #22 07-02-2012, 08:32 PM

This is what you get when you try to get a pic of a good-sized sturgeon next to the boat just as he decides he doesn't like the look of Dago's face...

Dago's best of the day...

Do you think Wayne enjoys this?

I love the pattern on this sturge's back...

Wayne, ready to release a nice sturgeon. This was the last fish caught before Bill & I headed back to Calgary...

Didn't expect to see this guy so far from the mountains...

See that big cloud bank up ahead? That's the thunderstorm we drove into east of Strathmore. It was kinda cool to watch all the flashes from outside the storm cell as we approached, then see 'em close up as we drove right through the storm...

Parting shot...

Thanks to Bill for the good company; those early morning/late evening drives require a good buddy to pass the time with. Thanks to Wayne & Karen, Dago & Pam, and Curt for a great day on the water; couln't ask for finer folks to spend the day with. It was a great Canada Day!

WayneChristie · #23 07-02-2012, 08:41 PM

one of the double headers.

Ogre getting a whuppin

and another sturgeon tastes the wrath of the Tiger rod

Ogre unhooking a decent goldeye

Curt with a sucker

BeeGuy · #24 07-02-2012, 08:47 PM

Wayne, how would you be able to tell if the sturgeon were tagged or not if they are pit tags?

Do they have spaghetti tags as well?

WayneChristie · #25 07-02-2012, 09:13 PM

Curt getting schooled by his dog. no word of a lie, that dog would bark if you made a good cast, and just give you a "look" if you messed up. she also told Curt when he had bites and got mad at him if he didnt hook the fish, quite a dog!

definitely not the cuddliest of critters, and I have the bleeding to prove it

cow races

going in the freezer for next ice season

and my own double header and my last sturgeon before we packed up today, sturgeon and chub.

ogre · #26 07-02-2012, 11:10 PM

What a weekend! Canada Day was a 20 hour bonanza of adventures. Got to Steve's at 4:30 am. Drove to the river with only half of the direction confirmed, the other half was off the beaten tracks, not searchable on Google map. Luckily, Steve's directional instinct was deadly accurate. After I got us stuck in a muddy rut, and me contemplating turning around, we made it to the rendezvous.

Things got interesting almost instantly with upping my previous personal best sturgeon of 15" to 47". Just a little while after lunch, I hooked into my current personal best. It was a hog of a sturgeon measuring 53" with a 26" girth. Got scraped up pretty good when the old girl decided to wiggle. The day also produced some of the biggest goldeyes I've ever seen.

Dago, Pam, Wayne, Karen, Curt, Steve and the pets were the very best of company one could have asked for.

Curt whispering a goldeye

Karen with one of her many smaller sturgeons. There would be several big ones later on

Steve's and mine on the double-header

My PB

One of Dale's

A local denizen wishing Steve and me happy trails

On the way back, we were treated to a super bright moon that is very nearly full on the left, and nature's light show for Canada Day ahead of us. The light show was on for almost 2 hours, First through the multicolored clouds of the storm cell, then as we neared the center, the jagged lightnings sometimes spanned my entire range of vision from left to right. Drove by Chestermere with their version of Canada Day's fireworks just after 11:00 pm. Finally got home at midnight to sweet slumber.

BeeGuy · #27 07-02-2012, 11:13 PM

That is a beast ogre! Nice to see a fatter one.

ogre · #28 07-02-2012, 11:55 PM

Oh, almost forgot Wayne Christie's sturgeon video taken just before we headed back to Calgary.

http://s1072.photobucket.com/albums/...t=P7011150.mp4

Scales · #29 07-03-2012, 01:32 AM

Awesome pictures everyone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by WayneChristie

and the biggest of the weekend 57 inches and 25 inch girth, anyone got that chart handy?

55 lbs according to this chart.
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dn...n_174130_7.pdf

51 lbs according to this one
http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/areas/f.../lksweight.pdf

I think you told me it was 51 lbs.

WayneChristie · #30 07-03-2012, 06:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BeeGuy

Wayne, how would you be able to tell if the sturgeon were tagged or not if they are pit tags?

Do they have spaghetti tags as well?

I will be spaghetti tagging them as well, not 100% yet that every fish gets both, but I will be finding out.