Sturgeon

Tim, regardin your concern about running out of bait, no worry, as long as I'm working where I am, C-Brats will have no shortage of sturgeon candy :) ... better get those freezers cleaned out, any week now those little slimies will be showing up.
This year we're going to exploring the Sturgy possibilites out of Illwaco....I hear Baker Bay kicks out some nice ones....can't wait.
Folks have been catching a bunch of the big guys up here, we may go give it a try tomorrow just for fun, we're saving all our punch card slots for estuary fish
 
Ken

Yep, we've got a team in the derby. We'll be fishing below Tyboo's mill if it isn't to foggy. Lots of fog out there now. If foggy we will probably fish just up from the Puget Island Bridge. Come on down!
 
Larry, good luck tomorrow, I don't think we'll be venturing that far, gots a few things to get done in addition to fishing. We'll probably throw in at Ridgfield for a short trip
 
:oops: You would have to ask. I almost won the baton for the tournament.... and that is not a good thing.
I didn't put a line in the water. While putting my boat in there were 2 nice fellows that were going out fishing in their boat also for sturgeon. They launched and discovered that their steering cable was siezed after they pushed off. Luckily they had the stern pointing to the dock so they put it in reverse and backed back to the dock. They had driven down from Centralia. Short story is that we invited them on my boat and they accepted.
The wind was blowing rain and sleet. I stayed in the cabin with another team mate and watched as three guys tried to fish while the boat was being turned every which way from the wind. No fish and only a few bites. We moved 3 times...nothing to show for it. :embarrased
 
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
Contact: Anne Pressentin Young (503) 947-6020
Internet: www.dfw.state.or.us Fax: (503) 947-6009

For Immediate Release Friday, January 30, 2004

Rules change Sunday for Columbia and Willamette sturgeon anglers

SALEM - Anglers fishing for sturgeon in the non-estuary area of the
lower Columbia River and the lower Willamette River must release all
sturgeon caught Sunday through Wednesday starting Feb. 1, the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife said today.

Sturgeon retention is allowed in the same area for legal size sturgeon
Thursday through Saturday only. The three-day per week retention season
lasts from Sunday, Feb. 1, through Saturday, July 31, and from Friday,
Oct. 1, through Friday, Dec. 31, 2004. Catch and release angling may
occur on non-retention days.

The new sturgeon retention rules for the lower Columbia and lower
Willamette rivers were announced earlier this month by the states of
Oregon and Washington. The sturgeon season is managed to maintain a
healthy population of white sturgeon in all age classes by limiting the
annual harvest and the size of fish that may be retained.

The objectives governing the sport sturgeon fishery include: a maximum
annual harvest of 40,000 fish - with 80 percent of the harvest allocated
to sport anglers and 20 percent to commercial boats - split the sport
catch 60 percent in the estuary area and 40 percent to non-estuary
areas, minimize the need for emergency in-season action and maintain
fishery monitoring and management capabilities.

The 2004 sturgeon angling rules for the lower Columbia, Youngs Bay,
adjacent Washington tributaries, Multnomah Channel and the Willamette
River downstream of Willamette Falls are:

*Wauna powerlines (river mile 40) upstream to Bonneville Dam:
The retention of sturgeon is allowed seven days a week through
Saturday, Jan. 31 for sturgeon 42-60 inches. From Sunday, Feb. 1,
through Saturday, July 31, and Friday, Oct. 1, through Friday, Dec. 31,
the retention of legal size sturgeon is allowed Thursday through
Saturday and prohibited Sunday through Wednesday. The retention of
sturgeon is prohibited seven days a week Sunday, Aug. 1, through
Thursday, Sept. 30. Catch and release of sturgeon may continue during
retention closures.

*Columbia River mouth at Buoy 10 upstream to Wauna powerlines (river
mile 40):
The retention of sturgeon is allowed seven days a week Thursday, Jan.
1, through Friday, April 30, and Saturday, May 15, through Wednesday,
July 23. During the May 15-July 23 retention season the minimum size for
a legal sturgeon increases from 42 inches to 45 inches and the maximum
size remains 60 inches. Sturgeon retention is prohibited seven days a
week Saturday, May 1, through Friday, May 14, and Thursday, July 24,
through Friday, Dec. 31. Catch and release of sturgeon may continue
during retention closures.

In addition, anglers are reminded that catch limits and other
restrictions listed in the current 2004 Oregon Sport Fishing Regulations
pamphlet remain in effect the entire year. Effective Jan. 1, 2004, the
state of Oregon implemented a five-fish-per-year catch limit. Effective
April 1, 2004, the state of Washington will implement a
five-fish-per-year catch limit.

The retention seasons are expectations based on current scientific
modeling. Catches will be tracked by biologists in Washington and Oregon
and reviewed in July. Modifications to the seasons will be made if
catches exceed the 40,000 fish guideline.


###


Information and Education Division
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
(503) 947-6002
 
OK B-C,

I was up in Seaside this evening and went by the Bell Buoy Crab Company and their reader board said "Fresh Smelt". Does this mean we need to start eating more out of the freezer and slow up on the trips to Safeway? After working on the boat, storing bait for this years fishing seems more important than saving last years catch. How long do we have to cook things up? How many do I need to invite to dinner? Got to get that sweet slimy stuff a good home in my bait freezer!

Tim
 
Tim, I hear there has been a few of the slimeys come up the river, it'll probably be a few weeks before they start coming on strong.
For you folks in other regions...smelt (a small slimey fish) come fogging up the Columbia and into the Cowlitz and Lewis rivers where folks using dip nets scoop them up. If I recall, the daily limit is 10lbs. These little buggers make great bait for sturgeon. I have students that love to dip smelt but are forbidden from bringing them home (cuz their house is allready overrun with frozen smelt) so they come to school lugging coolers full of smelt which I relieve them of and distribute to the smelt poor and sturgeon needy. The adoption of free, homeless, smelt is much better than paying $6 a dozen at the bait store.
 
Yo B~C Ken. I was headed from Cathlamet to Longview today, just east of County Line Park was treated to the view of hundreds of seagulls and seals thick as the hair on Skipper & Oscar. I never seen such a sight. It means only one thing, the smelt are almost there! They're about 15 miles from the mouth of the Cow at 2:30 today.
 
This year, I'm paying for the damn ziplocks. Period. You'll go broke if I don't. Save your money so you can quit whining about the cold in the cabin.
 
Mike, nope, won't hear of it.....the only way I'll give my zip locks is when they're pried from my cold, hyperthermic hands
 
B-C,

Since you won't take help with the bag buying would you consider a trade. I'LL bid a quart of kerosene for every quart bag of slimies. Do I hear two?

Tim
 
The sturgeon candy is starting to roll in...if you're planning a trip down I5 to the big city, bring a cooler and stop in...or...bring your cooler up to the school, let me know ahead of time...gots to go play ping pong now
 
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