Sturgeon Fishing

[bligh]

Looks like these guys had quite a day. I cant tell exactly where they were. But I thought you weren't suppose to take the big fish out of the water...

https://youtu.be/iTyYcvKnsXc

 

[Shrew]

In California, Sturgeon over 68 inches are not supposed to be removed from the water prior to release. Those don't look like they exceed 5 1/2 ft. It also looks like one of the larger ones was left in the water, unhooked and released.

The Seabass are supposed to be a min. of 18". No clear if the seabass they netted were keepers, but then it was hard to tell whether they actually kept it or not.

 

[FlyWright]

Like Shrew says, 68 is the limit for removing fish from the water. Hard to tell if that big girl is over 68 or not.

It's physically hard on the fish to hold them vertically for pics...especially the oversized fish. They're not built for the stresses that occur out of the water in that position. Much better to keep them horizontal with minimum handling for a healthy release. My preference is to lay them on the deck or swimstep for hook release, maybe a quick pic and then a gentle release back into the water.

Those other fish are Striped Bass...or Stripers...or Rock Fish if you're back east. Some of them looked barely legal. We call the undersized fish Diaper Stripers.

 

[Acheron2010]

Sturgeon in the Delta IMHO is one of the most exciting game fish going. From dead calm to 300 yards of line singing out of your reel, hours of battle, all to finally either you or the fish wear out. He comes along side, you reach over and put slack in the line, and with a magnificent jump, he breaks your 50# spiderwire. When I lived there, I fished for stripers, but I always prayed for a sturgeon.