White sturgeon often hang out in brackish waters where the freshwater of rivers mixes with the saltier bays, and the best season to find them in many locations is the beginning of winter to early summer. Other common local baits include other types of whole or cut fish baits, nightcrawlers, salmon roe, shrimp and more.įresh bait is better than frozen, but they will pick up a thawed piece of that’s what you have to offer.įor their size, sturgeon often bite very gently, so it’s pretty easy to miss the bite for a newer angler using a heavy rod. Your typical salmon rod isn’t going to handle that.įresh fish make excellent bait, including the American shad that run up several California streams (including the Sacramento River and tributaries) each spring. The unofficial record is from the 1880s, and it took a team of horses to land and allegedly weighed 1,500 pounds. The official white sturgeon record in California is 468 pounds, landed in 1983. Use heavy line, heavy leader and a rod and reel that can handle a fish that occasionally reaches the 10-foot range. You’ll want to get the bait down to them, which means using just enough weight to hold the bait down, but not too much that it hinders the natural flow of the bait. This is because there are pretty tight rules around sturgeon due to their slow reproductive process and population declines in many watersheds up and down the Pacific Coast.Ī typical female won’t reach maturity until around 25 years old, while males mature closer to 15. But bring snacks.Īs discussed more below, be aware of current regulations before heading out. Be prepared for a quiet day, and you might get surprised with incredible action. ![]() It can also be frustratingly slow if you don’t find them. Spending the day targeting sturgeon can be epic. The two other major white sturgeon breeding grounds are the Columbia River system in Oregon and Washington and the Fraser River in British Columbia. These long-lived fish often move in and out of their home system to feed in other areas along the coast, including coastal estuaries elsewhere in California. The Sacramento and San Joaquin river system is one of just three major spawning areas on the entire West Coast for white sturgeon, which need big, cold freshwater rivers to reproduce. Sturgeon are actually able to live in both saltwater and freshwater. When anglers talk about “double digits” in fishing for bass or steelhead or trout, we’re often talking about pounds with white sturgeon, we’re measuring in feet. The West Coast’s most common sturgeon, the white sturgeon, is also the biggest fish caught in freshwater in the entire country. Once you really get into fishing, catching a giant sturgeon eventually becomes one of those “bucket list” items.Ĭalifornia’s deltas and river systems offer some pretty great opportunities for anglers to check this holdover from the dinosaur age off their lists.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |