The Urban Legend: Prehistoric Sturgeon pulled a team of horses into the Snake River

The other day I was invited to go fishing for sturgeon on the famous Snake River in Hagerman, Idaho. My good friend and B&B pro staffer and hunting consultant Cory Glauner from Gothunts.com and WebDog Service treated us to an amazing Sturgeon fishing trip.

We started out at Silver Creek Outfitters in Sun Valley where my colleague Russ Pillar bought his fishing license and we listened to stories about the ancient sturgeon that live in Idaho’s Snake River.

Fishing in 100 degree weather is.... well, HOT. We were all happy when the sun went behind the hills.

By the time we arrived at Cory’s home in Hagerman at 6:00 pm it was still over 100 degrees.  As we were setting up, Cory shared a story with us regarding the urban legend of the 1500 lb sturgeon that after being caught in the 1930′s pulled a team of  horses into the Snake River. Needless to say that the horses ended up at the bottom of the river.

By dark, Russ and I had each caught a sturgeon… a first for both of us. One was just over 4 ft. long and the other was around 6 ft., weighing approximately 100 lbs.  Sturgeon fishing in Idaho is catch and release only, and you are not supposed to even lift them out of the water.  After seeing up close and personal these magnificent fish it is no wonder why they are called prehistoric where some fish live up to a century.  Catching sturgeon requires both patience and strength because these big brutes can take several hours to reel in.

~Chris Burget

]]> http://www.bullsandbeavers.com/2010/08/04/fishing-for-the-prehistoric-sturgeon-on-the-snake-river-in-idaho/feed/ 2 http://www.bullsandbeavers.com/2010/07/29/snake-river-sturgeon-fishing/ http://www.bullsandbeavers.com/2010/07/29/snake-river-sturgeon-fishing/#comments Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:38:16 +0000 admin http://www.bullsandbeavers.com/?p=5684

My friends Collin and Todd with a nice Idaho Sturgeon

by B&B Pro Staffer Cory Glauner

The middle portion of Idaho’s Snake River is home to the White Sturgeon. This area has a stable population of these large fish that are the focus of freshwater trophy fishing. This is a catch and release fishery which is good throughout much of the spring, summer and into the late fall months.

We are lucky enough to have great sturgeon fishing just minutes from our house and we fish for them on almost a weekly basis throughout the summer. Many of the sturgeon we catch are small, young fish, but we catch a lot of fish in the large size, (5-7 feet) and a few people even catch fish that are nine feet plus and weigh well over 500 pounds! In an upcoming blog post I will be discussing conservation issues effecting the Snake River White Sturgeon. In the mean time, enjoy the little video I put together from a sturgeon fishing trip I took with my family and some friends a few weeks ago.

Here are a few of our pictures from last year:

by Deneki Outdoors



One of the biggest casting mistakes made on the saltwater flats is ‘dropping the backcast’. Dropping your backcast usually happens when the fisherman is trying to add distance to a cast, and the effect is quite the opposite.

How do you avoid this scenario? It’s simple to describe but only easy to execute with a lot of practice and a lot of calm.

• On your backcast, stop your wrist high. Imagine throwing your backcast high behind you.
• Wait for the line to straighten, loading the rod.
• Make a nice, smooth forward stroke.
• Catch the fish… it’s just that simple.

Single Strand Wire
The most unusual piece of gear that you’ll need when fly fishing for sharks is also the most important – single strand wire leader. Sharks have  sharp teeth and  strong jaws.

Other Gear
10 weight rods are the minimum.  Sharks get big and they pull hard.

Reels need to be big with lots of backing capacity and a very durable drag.

Flies tend to be streamers in bright yellow, red or orange, or some combination thereof.

Techniques
Most of the time sharks cruise slowly and steadily. To get a shark to eat you don’t need to strip your streamer really fast like you would with a barracuda. Just lead the shark, and get the fly right in front of his nose.

When you do hook up, hold on and get ready for a battle. Sharks fight hard!

At most bonefishing destinations, there are two distinct ways to target bonefish – wading and poling.

Wading for bonefish is pretty simple – you’re on foot, walking on a shallow tidal flat, looking for bonefish and casting to them. You arrived at the flat via skiff, but now it’s anchored up and you’re on your own. The most typical setup involves two anglers and a guide, with the guide walking between the anglers and helping them spot fish.

There are a number of situations in which wading for bonefish makes a lot of sense.

• The fish are in shallow water – maybe water that’s too shallow for a poled skiff.
• It’s windy, making it difficult to pole the boat effectively.
• The flat has a relatively hard bottom, making it possible to walk without sinking into mud/soft sand bottom/mucky turtle grass.
• The anglers prefer wading, because wading is fun!

When you’re wading, both anglers can fish at the same time, but anglers on foot don’t have the benefit of a guide positioning the boat for the optimal shot, but finding and hooking bonefish on foot makes it feel a lot more like you ‘did it on your own’.

Stalking bonefish on foot can involve a little more strategy on the part of the angler – each step might get you closer to that fish, but walking also makes noise so your moves need to be chosen carefully. The upside is that when you see that fish, walk wisely, make the right presentation and hook that fish…

by Deneki Outdoors

Guides in the Bahamas say some pretty strange things, so today we present a handy reference to Bahamas Guidespeak.

Blackback – n. A large bonefish, called such because big fish look dark. ”Blackback – 1 o’clock, 60 feet.”

Bubble – v. To motor slowly in a skiff with the motor trimmed up – necessary for navigating very shallow water. ”We’re going to need to bubble through if we want to fish The Back [see below].”

Bonette – n. A very small bonefish. “Hold your cast man – that’s a bonette.”

Sharpshooter – n. A good, accurate caster. ”I love a sharpshooter in my boat!”

Long strip – n. A phrase used by a clever Bahamian guide to get you the set the hook without raising your rod tip and executing the dreaded Trout Set [see below]. ”Strip. Strip. Wait. Strip. Long strip! Long strip! He’s on!”

Trout Set – n. The painful-to-watch and extremely ineffective hooksetting method of raising your rod tip when the fish eats. ”Big fish man – whatever you do, don’t do a trout set on this one.”

The Back – n. The West Side of South Andros. ”If you want big fish, I say we head to The Back.”

The Front – n. The East Side of South Andros. ”It’s blowin’ pretty hard today – let’s stay in The Front.”

Up – adv. South. We don’t know why (we’ve been told a story about going upwind with prevailing weather), but on South Andros, south is ‘up’. ”We’re going to run all the way up to Water Cay to find some big schools.’

Down – adv. North. Yep, down means north. ”Reel in guys – let’s head back up to camp.”

Silver Dollar – A bright scale right behind the dorsal fin on a large fish, say over 5 pounds. ”That’s the fish of the week right there – check out that silver dollar.”

Ocean Bones – Very big bonefish that have come out of deeper water. ”Don’t cast at that bonette – I got a group of ocean bones coming at 10 o’clock.”

Gangsters – n. Sharks. “The gangsters are here – that’s not going to make the bones happy [see below].”

Happy – adj. Used to describe fish that are content, comfortable and feeding actively. ”Oooh, that’s a happy fish man – land it right in front of him.”

by Deneki Outdoors

 

One of the most fun and unique ways to target rainbow trout in is by ˜mousing. Small voles and other rodents often find themselves in the river, and big predatory rainbows are always on the lookout for a meal.

Mousing involves fishing a giant dry fly that imitates a small swimming mammal. Its highly visual, its really exciting, and it tends to select for bigger fish.

 

1. Let him eat it! By far, the hardest part of mousing at first is waiting long enough to set the hook. A mouse represents a big meal to a trout, so they move to the mouse fly really aggressively. Seeing a giant rainbow tear out from under a log to slam your giant dry fly is not exactly easy on the nerves¦but you have to be patient! When the fish eats, wait for him to close his mouth and turn his head“ otherwise youll be pulling that fly out of the mouth of one fish after another. Its hard. Relax. Breathe deep. Wait to set the hook.
2. Pound the bank. That big mouse fly will move fish from a lot of different lies, but trout that are tucked right up against the bank may not see the fly unless you put it right in front of them. Besides, a vole that just launched itself from shore is going to land right up against the bank, so why not do your best to imitate a suicidal little mammal?
3. Strip and swing. After youve pounded the bank, cover the water down and across using a combination of stripping and slow swinging. A variety of factors including which fly youre using will impact which works best, so try both.
4. Cover the water quickly. Trout have good eyesight, and theyll move a long ways for a mouse“ weve seen them come from 15 feet or more. Theres no need to land a second cast 6 inches from where the first one landed“ anybody who was home would have eaten the first time. Covering the water really quickly is a much more effective use of your time, and its more fun too.
5. Let him eat it! Did we mention that you need to be patient on the hook set? Relax. Let him close his mouth and turn his head. Wait.

Photo: Trevor Covich

Whetherin Chile or Montana, when dry fly fishing from shore or wading, the best approach is to start in the tailout and work your way up the pool. Fish are almost always facing into the current, up stream, so by fishing from the tail of the run to the top, you are in the fish’s blind spot and you can better sneak up on the fish, plus you can get a better drift.

Cast from below or to the side of your targets, trying not to line the fish.

Lay the fly far enough ahead of the target so you can get a mend in the line if necessary, setting up the fly so when it gets in front of the fish, the fly floats naturally.

When fishing really small dries, it may be hard to see the fly, so keep your eye in the general area of where you think your fly lands and follow that area down in the current looking for a rise.

The slower the water, the more time the fish has to look at the fly. Educated fish will often reject an almost perfect imitation so sometimes a small dry is better. If fishing a big dry in slow water, a good trick is to make the fly seem alive. This can make all the difference.

Yet another reason to start from below and work up “ when you hook the fish, they usually run downstream and you won’t disrupt the rest of the pool.

Photo: Cameron Miller

Lodges can be a great places to learn how to fly fish.

Here’s why:

1. You will catch fish and you’ll have fun doing it. Our remote fisheries are really productive and have extremely low angling pressure, and that means you’re going to be successful. Having too many people around screws up the fishing. Catching fish is fun.
2. The guides are really patient and skilled in working with anglers of all ability levels, including first-timers.
3. They run instructional programs designed to help people get better at particular types of fishing.
4. The atmosphere at most lodges is really low-key and you don’t need to by shy about what you don’t know. The people, guests and staff alike, are going to share in the fun that you have when you get it right!

Heres how to present and then set the hook when a bonefish eats.

1. Make your cast.
2. Strip out the excess slack. Keep your rod tip in the water, pointed straight at the fish.
3. When the fish sees the fly, give it a few quick trips.
4. Once he follows, keep moving the fly, pausing only to let him keep up with it.
5. Keep your rod pointed straight at the fish.
6. When you see the fish tip down to eat, or you feel resistance when stripping the fly line, keep your rod pointed straight at the fish.
7. Now set the hook by giving the line one more firm, long strip. Itll generally stop dead, or the fish will take off. In either case, the hook is now set and you can raise the rod tip and have some fun fighting that bonefish.

Its really hard at first to not raise your rod. For us the idea that finally got it through our thick skulls was keeping stripping until the line is tight. If you keep stripping until the line is tight and you dont raise your rod tip, chances are youve buried the hook into that fishs mouth and youre good to go.