Setting the hook on a sturgeon

[Marley]

I have been out sturgeon fishing on the lower Fraser 4 times this year and am attempting to learn the fishery. We have been able to find the fish (see them on the fish finder) and have caught one which was about 6 ft long which was awesome.

The problem I have been having is setting the hook. We see the sturgeon playing with the bait but I set the hook twice last weekend and missed the fish, I did lose the bait.

How long do you let the sturgeon play with the bait and when do you set the hook? Do you wait for a significant bend and the set when the rod is bent?

Thanks for the help as this seems to be the last piece of the puzzle.

 

[Fisher_dude]

I used to wait till the 3rd good tug then haul off on it. Methods have changed a bit over the years and sometimes I just reel down on em till it’s tight.

 

[Pewpster]

You need to wait till you see the rod bending or feel the fish moving with the bait before setting. I've switched to circle hooks and have had much more success. With a circle hook, either the fish will set the hook on its own, or just reel down without moving the rod works best. The maruto offset circle hooks were recommended to me by a guide are excellent. I use them exclusively

 

[Marley]

I have been using circle hooks but they are not offset. I will pick up some of those.

I have a shimano rod that is pretty sensitive so I see the tip start tapping up and down and then a bigger bend. Is the bend when the fish is moving with the bait?

I have the rod in an orca holder. Do you leave it in the holder till you set or do you pop it out when they start playing with it so you get a better feel of what the fish is doing?

 

[leaseman]

What are you using for bait?

I see you are using a boat so take a look for depressions in the river bottom

In Freshet, fish inside the main current.....

I use 9/0 and 10/0 barbless and works great! 8' Shimano with sensitive tip is the best (for me!)

This time of year fish whatever bait is in the river, increases your odds.

Fresh bait is a mininum 4X better than frozen.....

Fished these beasts for over 30 years or so....any questions, ask away!

 

[leaseman]

How do you set your hook?

A high number I find three soft taps on the rod in the holder...slide the rod out and set the hook in one very hard pull! Like you are ripping its lips off......you need to know the difference between a sucker trying to steal your bait and the touch of a Dino, not much of a difference this time of year.

 

[Marley]

What are you using for bait?

I see you are using a boat so take a look for depressions in the river bottom

In Freshet, fish inside the main current.....

I use 9/0 and 10/0 barbless and works great! 8' Shimano with sensitive tip is the best (for me!)

This time of year fish whatever bait is in the river, increases your odds.

Fresh bait is a mininum 4X better than frozen.....

Fished these beasts for over 30 years or so....any questions, ask away!

The depressions are where we have found sturgeon. I have been using a combination of navionics maps and the downscan/side scan on my HDS live to find the fish. We have shimano technium rods and Tld 20’s.

This weekend we anchored up in a back eddy at the seam between the main current and the eddy, could see what we thought we sturgeon on the sonar and my buddy saw one surface so we knew we were in the right spot. I attached a picture of where we were fishing.

We fished frozen eulachon pumped full of sturgeon frenzy oil. 16 oz weights. The boat was moving back and forth a bit in the wind so I was considering getting a drift sock for the back end to keep the boat from moving so much.

Everything seemed to be going pretty well other than missing the hook sets. We are running 10/0 barbless hooks.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated. I told my wife what I really need is more practice so I should just go fishing more often.

 

[leaseman]

Where are you putting in?

Looks like I fish a lot higher up from where you are......I fish the mouth of the Stave River and head up river from there....

Mission Bridge (300 yards roughly above it changes to non tidal) and above is good fishing......but the trick usually is to match the bait that is in the river at the time you are fishing.

Keep at it, keep a journal on weather, time of day, seasons etc. Our first partial season, we caught42......so far to date, our best one day has been 42 dino's.....

My sounder is 20 years old....., all I look at with it is depressions and speed of water.

 

[leaseman]

There was an old site that a few of us posted the "How to....." for sturgeon....we had roughly 200 pages....

Just remembered the name..... bcfishingreports.com

 

[leaseman]

That was around 2007-2009ish

 

[Pewpster]

I have been using circle hooks but they are not offset. I will pick up some of those.

I have a shimano rod that is pretty sensitive so I see the tip start tapping up and down and then a bigger bend. Is the bend when the fish is moving with the bait?

I have the rod in an orca holder. Do you leave it in the holder till you set or do you pop it out when they start playing with it so you get a better feel of what the fish is doing?

Yes, a slow bend is what you're looking for. Sometimes small sharp taps are pikeminnow or sculpin eating your bait, sometimes it's a Sturgeon. If you are already using circle hooks, dont try and set by lifting the rod, it will almost always pull out the hook. Let the fish take the bait and swim off with it and just reel down until it's tight without lifting the rod.

 

[Marley]

Where are you putting in?

Looks like I fish a lot higher up from where you are......I fish the mouth of the Stave River and head up river from there....

Mission Bridge (300 yards roughly above it changes to non tidal) and above is good fishing......but the trick usually is to match the bait that is in the river at the time you are fishing.

Keep at it, keep a journal on weather, time of day, seasons etc. Our first partial season, we caught42......so far to date, our best one day has been 42 dino's.....

My sounder is 20 years old....., all I look at with it is depressions and speed of water.

I put in at Maquabeak park and head north towards the mouth of the Pitt River. It’s easy access as its 25 min from my house.

 

[Marley]

Yes, a slow bend is what you're looking for. Sometimes small sharp taps are pikeminnow or sculpin eating your bait, sometimes it's a Sturgeon. If you are already using circle hooks, dont try and set by lifting the rod, it will almost always pull out the hook. Let the fish take the bait and swim off with it and just reel down until it's tight without lifting the rod.

Ok that makes sense. All the videos I have seen and the times I have gone out with a guide the have set the hook hard. I guess that they are using J hooks?

 

[leaseman]

Ok that makes sense. All the videos I have seen and the times I have gone out with a guide the have set the hook hard. I guess that they are using J hooks?

For me, the hook set is a large part of the "game". Soft taps, usually three, while a sharper tap for the most is coarse fish, NPW, bull heads etc...

Make sure you have a rod holder that you can lift the rod without changing/moving the bait....

The rush is unbelievable when the fish knows it is hooked and the rodeo starts!

Nothing like it, especially once the fish get over 6-7 feet.

 

[Pewpster]

Ok that makes sense. All the videos I have seen and the times I have gone out with a guide the have set the hook hard. I guess that they are using J hooks?

Yes, that would be with a j hook. It's more fun for sure setting the hook, but at the end of the day you most likely would end up with less fish to the boat compared to circle hooks. All depends on your preference.

 

[wildmanyeah]

Some of the guides I’ve been with use grabber hooks

 

[Marley]

Some of the guides I’ve been with use grabber hooks

What are grabber hooks?

 

[Marley]

That was around 2007-2009ish

My buddy found the thread https://www.bcfishingreports.com/threads/the-incredible-sturgeon-thread.9851/page-8

 

[fearnodeer]

Waiting for the big bite is a mistake, you will get more hooked on small bites

 

[leaseman]

My buddy found the thread https://www.bcfishingreports.com/threads/the-incredible-sturgeon-thread.9851/page-8

That is the one!

117 pages.....

Everything you want to know about sturgeon fishing......

IIRC, some funny stuff we came across with new fishers.

Anyone new to the sport, everything is in that huge thread, right down to fishing with a "bobber" on slack tide.....was one of the fun things to do, you watch the bobber, see the dino pick up the bait and slowly swims off until you tighten down and the fun begins!