On Monday March 30th I joined my friend and local Guide Doug for a “test trip” in area 8-2 for sturgeon. When Doug doesn’t have clients he takes these trips to stay on the fish so his clients have the best chance at success.

We were on the water at 11:00 am and fished several of Doug’s tried and true spots which he has marked both by GPS and his memory. After about an hour one of the poles indicated a nibble and about 30 seconds later the second biggest fight of my life ensued. I say second biggest because as reported to WALakes.com last year I was fortunate enough to take this same trip with Doug and eventually caught and of course released a sturgeon Doug estimated at about 90 pounds. Doug’s wife actually began this fight playing the fish like a pro for the first ten minutes or so before handing the rod to me for the remainder of the fight. We were forced to follow this fish around in order to not allow the fish to take all the line from the reel. The fish made numerous runs peeling line from the reel which is an amazing feeling and without using the kicker to keep up, we would have likely lost this big fish.

35 minutes later the fish was in our control at the boat and released unharmed. What a day! There were a surprising number of boats in this area, all fishing for the same trophy. We were fishing in 2 to 5 feet of water during a low tide, and were using fresh dug sand shrimp w/smelly jelly. The shrimp is actually wrapped onto the single barbless hook with a felt like fabric and tied on with thread. Doug could tie these shrimp on in his sleep! We were using top of the line rods and reels fishing from his 25 foot Alumaweld boat with every bell and whistle you could think of which is pictured in a few of my posts for salt and river trips. What a blast!!!

I write reports on WALakes.com for all my trips and enjoy sharing my experiences with others as we all do. I have left out a few details about this and my last sturgeon trip, (mainly exact fishing locations) for obvious reasons but would be happy to pass additional information in a PM. If you would like information about my friend Doug’s guide service, feel free to PM me for that as well. Doug lives in Snohomish County and is an outstanding guide. His trips are reasonable in price and your chances of landing a big sturgeon or a salmon is very good. Sorry for the late report. Following my trip I was busy with pre-work week tasks. I was also waiting for Doug to email me some pictures of the fish at the boat which I have not yet received and had hoped to post in my report. I am happy to post the pics in the forum area when they arrive.

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