So sticking with the theme of Father's Day, I took my dad to Portland to go Sturgeon fishing for his special day.
First off, these pics I will post do no justice at all. These fish are CRAZY big. I guess when they say over sized Sturgeon they are not kidding!
You start the day with your guide by going and catching as many Shad as possible early in the morning. I think we had 20 total. The Shad are then have the heads cut off and the lungs and gills removed for bait. The guide explained that this is like dessert for the Sturgeon and they cannot resist.
We then proceeded to the spot in the river where we cast out 5 lines and sat and waited. These fish are aggressive when they take the bait and you just sit and watch your pole for any SUDDEN movement. And when you see the movement you grab the pole and yank back as hard as you can so you set the bait in it's mouth.
Sturgeon are bottom feeders so their mouths are located on the underside of them. Long story short, my dad when his line got hit, it got hit HARD!!! He had the battle of all battles with this fish and it took 55 minutes for us to finally see him reel in a 8 foot 250 pound plus Sturgeon. NO JOKE. This thing was HUGE!!! When they hit the bait they just sit at the bottom and run with the line. They are so big and strong that it comes down to a battle between their fat asses and you and your arms. You have to pull and reel these things off the bottom while they are taking just as much reel as you are trying to reel in. Pretty impressive.
Needless to say we had a blast and the day was beautiful. Nothing like sitting on a boat for 8 hours fishing. My dad, who is not right in the head, liked the fight with the fish a little TOO MUCH!!! All I can say is that we had a great time and our planning our next trip to fish soon.
