This weekend we went out fishing – for sturgeon.

These prehistoric looking fish can live for hundreds of years growing up to 18 feet long. In Oregon, you use barb-less hooks and can only keep fish of a certain size – between 4 and 5 feet!

While we didn’t nab any keepers, the four that were pulled in seemed big to someone (me) who has only ever fished for trout.

The experience was also quite different for lake/bank fishing. We set out early Sunday in Gary’s (Sam’s dad) boat and sunk our lines just noth of the St. Johns Bridge. Gary estimated that the water was about 75′ deep. The sturgeon seemed to the nibble the bait around the hook, rather then swallow it whole.

This meant that your timing had to be perfect – as to grab the fish mid-nibble. The whole thing gave me a bit of trouble, but there was a positive side…

Rather then swallowing the hook, every fish was caught near the edge of it’s mouth, making the release very easy and leaving the fish relatively undamaged.