Northwest Fishing Reports

Hey, does anyone know if they ever plan to reopen Lk Roosevelt for Sturgeon in the forseen future. If they are doing any studies. I know they have planted them in there and I do see them around Kettle falls juping from time to time. It sure would be nice to at least have a catch and release season there.

I surfed around for the right place to ask the WDFW this ? too no avail. If any body can link me it would be greatly appreciated.

gross...

Gross?

eustace wrote:Hey, does anyone know if they ever plan to reopen Lk Roosevelt for Sturgeon in the forseen future. If they are doing any studies. I know they have planted them in there and I do see them around Kettle falls juping from time to time. It sure would be nice to at least have a catch and release season there.

I surfed around for the right place to ask the WDFW this ? too no avail. If any body can link me it would be greatly appreciated.

Eustace, I don't think that anyone, including F&W, can answer your question. The OFFICIAL position is that they would re-build the population to at least allow for C&R, but how often does that happen? Perhaps, someday, but I suggest that it may not be for 15 or 20 years.

You can call the regional F&W and ask there fisheries manager, if you can get them to call you back. I have an outstanding phone call out on another issue, and I e-mailed Stacy on this site, and no response at all from anyone. I don't know if they just don't have the time to talk to us, or they are reluctant to deal with the pressures they are receiving from the politics on one side and the sportsman on the other.

I hope that someone else on this site can give you better news. My final suggestion, call, call again, and then call again. That reminds me, I should call again today.

Sorry. I think something in my early childhood created an insurmountable fear of some specter in the deep water...just lurking, and ready to suck your face off. Maybe it's finally time to move on...

Thanks guys.

Aaron42ash my first Sturgeon came from Lake Roosevelt 21 yrs ago next month. It was an expierince I will never forget.
After a very long strong fight on a steep abankment the water turned white before us and when that fish came to the surface no one would touch it. Except me and we had to make a human chain. I put my arm though its gills and out its mouth. Together we pulled it up for a measruement. It was 5' 11'' long 1'' to spare. A memory burned in my fishing psychi. Back in those days you could keep them between 4 and 6'.

As far as I am aware of, there is no hatchery for white sturgeon in Wa. state. There is a hatchery for Columbia river White Sturgeon in Cranbrook BC (as well as one for the geneticaly different Kootenay fish). These fish have been released cooperativley with BCFW & USFW for 10-15yrs in Canada. Naturally, the fish dont stay in Canada (.....DUH!!) and their developement is being monitored constantly. The reason they have gone to a hatchery program is partially the absence of age class structuring. In any species you want to have lots of pre teens and teens (they have the highest mortality). The eggs were viable and they hatched fine.......... they hatchlings never seemed to develop past a 5-6" length. Lots of speculation on why (including Walleye and Nothern Pikeminnow predation), but I'm not going there!!! As far as I am aware the ll guys are growing well and are repopulating the system just fine. We have a long time to wait for them to reach maturity. I dont expect that we will see an angling season for a long time, unless a catch & release season was on the horizon.

Just my $0.02 worth.

Chronomid_guy, I was under the impression or had been told that they rear Sturgeon in the Sherman hatchery. Or at least did in the past. I have seen them surfacing in the KF and Marcus area and I recently seen one caught at Little falls (last june). It was a 24'' er or so.

Hey I am a fisherman in all the senses, if even only dreaming and wishing for the days gone by. I also will say for some experiences the good ol days are yet to come.

do they really surface? I was always under the impression they were a deep water fish. I'm probably mistaken. And nice job eustace...don't think i could have done it.

The Columbia Basin Hatchery outside Moses Lake has Sturgeon for the stocking program. You can go out and take a look at thier setup its pretty cool.

aaron42ash wrote:do they really surface? I was always under the impression they were a deep water fish. I'm probably mistaken. And nice job eustace...don't think i could have done it.

Surface........... ya ... big time. My wife hooked a 19 footer on a bottom bouncer a couple years ago. It breached several times until the hook finally straightened out and pulled (my wife wouldnt give up on that fish). We watched a sturgeon surface/jump all day in that same bay for the rest of the day. We assumed it was the same fish with a sore mouth. TTFN

aaron42ash wrote:
Surface........... ya ... big time. My wife hooked a 19 footer on a bottom bouncer a couple years ago. It breached several times until the hook finally straightened out and pulled (my wife wouldnt give up on that fish). We watched a sturgeon surface/jump all day in that same bay for the rest of the day. We assumed it was the same fish with a sore mouth. TTFN

a 19 footer?

chironomid_guy wrote:
Surface........... ya ... big time. My wife hooked a 19 footer on a bottom bouncer a couple years ago. It breached several times until the hook finally straightened out and pulled (my wife wouldnt give up on that fish). We watched a sturgeon surface/jump all day in that same bay for the rest of the day. We assumed it was the same fish with a sore mouth. TTFN

a 19 footer?

Sturgeon can be seen porpoising in many areas, especially in the tide flats where rivers dump into the salt. I don't know about 19 feet but the first sturgeon I saw breach the water was just below Bonneville Dam while I was fishing for shad. It was very close to shore and huge, bigger in diameter than most trees. I don't think it would have noticed being hooked unless you were using marlin gear.