SUMMER (JULY - SEPTEMBER)

Snake River Sturgeon Fishing

Time of Year: Summer (July - September)

As the weather warms up river activity amongst boaters and fishermen escalates. On any given weekend in the summer you will find sturgeon fishermen in most of the “common fishing holes” along the Snake River in Hells Canyon. By now the Sturgeon here in Hells Canyon have been fished hard for 2-3 months and with fishing pressure building each week the bite tends to become much more difficult. Water temps warm into the 60’s and no longer are the spawned out steelhead available to the sturgeon for food. Their diet changes to fresh water mussels, crawfish, and available fish species like Suckers, Small mouth Bass & Steelhead / Salmon smolt. After many years of fishing for sturgeon in the summer months here in Hells Canyon we get the feeling that the combination of warm water and heavy fishing pressure tend to put the fish into mode where the fish are much pickier on what types of bait you will get them to commit to. There will always be days where your bait may not matter, but on the day where the sturgeon are on a light bite we have found that nothing will out fish live steelhead smolt as bait. There is just something about a nice fresh, soft & bloody trout that will get a picky sturgeon to commit every time. Our guides will spend an hour in the morning having our clients casting small spinners baited with a piece of worm to catch that day’s fresh bait. Totally legal in Hells Canyon fresh trout is the key to Sturgeon in warm water. With the warmer temps the river have dropped by now and the river current has tamed considerable. Most Sturgeon fishermen here on the Snake River will continue to fish the same parts of the “Sturgeon Holes” that they have caught fish earlier in the spring. This is where you may want to mix it up. Fishermen always tend to target the deepest part of the hole when looking to catch Sturgeon, but when the diet of the fish changes here is when you need to know….Actively feeding Sturgeon move into the tail outs of the hole and here is why…

1. The tail out of a large deep sturgeon hole almost always consists of a gravel bottom.

2. A gravel bottle is where you find the most Clams, Mussels and Suckers.

3. Almost nobody has been fishing these tail outs sore lipping the sturgeon.

4. Sturgeon that you find in tail out conditions tend to be good biters even in the summer.

HOW DO YOU LOCATE THE TAIL OUT OF THE HOLE?

Start by finding the deepest part of the hole with your sonar. Take your boat straight down river with the flow of the current always watching your graph. You are looking to see when the river starts to shallow up. The deepest part of the hole may be let’s say 60 feet deep and as you go downstream the river depth may shallow up to 15 or 20 ft. you will notice that as you shallow up the river current will increase. Somewhere in the middle of this gradual rise of the bottom will be the sweet spot. Finding this will be trial and error as every “sturgeon Hole’ is a little different from the next.

BACK BOUNCING FOR STURGEON

Yes, that is right I said back bouncing for sturgeon. Many of you may be familiar with the Technique of back bouncing for Salmon. Exactly the ame principle and it very may well be the funnest way to hook up on sturgeon there is. Start by finding the tail out of the hole and position your boat at the beginning of the tail out or let’s call it the deepest part of the tail out. Use your trolling motor to hold your boat bow into the current and slowly lower your bait and weight downstream behind your boat. Once you have the proper amount of line out behind the boat you will feel the weight (10-20 oz) make contact with the bottom. At this point continue to adjust the amount of line that you have out behind the boat so the you can just barely get your weight to make contact with the bottom. You want to be able to lift your weight off the bottom with a lift of your rod tip and place it back down by dropping your tip. All the while you feel your weight “Bouncing” on the bottom of the river. Now that you have the “Bouncing” thing working for you can maneuver the boat around in the tail out of the hole. Go side to side and drift back a little at a time working the entire tail out. It will be obvious when Sturgeon begins to take your bait. Often times the bite will start with a small “TUG TUG” at the end of your rod. When you feel this keep your rod tip high and stop the movement of your boat and just hold still. When the fish takes the bait you want to wait until it pulls your rod tip down and basically set the hook itself. The hookup will be very positive because there will be little or no slack or stretch in your braided line. When you are sure you have the weight of the fish at the end of your rod set the hook and the battle begins.

It’s what we do…..
Fish hard every day – We love what we do so this comes natural.
Take our Job seriously – We are professionals providing a public service.
Doing it right – We put forth the extra effort to make sure every day on the water goes as best as possible.
Take care of and fight for our precious resources – Without rivers full of fish we would be nothing.
Make everyone’s trip special – We are in the business of "Making special memories!"
Pay it forward – We give back to our communities as much as possible because we can and it’s the right thing to do.

At Hells Canyon Sport Fishing we are proud to provide what we feel is a top notch guide service to our clients. A combination of experience, passion and talent all come together right here.

We know that giving an honest 100% and being totally focused will put more fish in the boat at the end of the day. We want to catch more fish than the next guy!

We know to never give up because sometimes by spending that last extra hour on the water can make the whole day. This is true and sometimes going a little above and beyond will make all the difference in our clients fishing experience.

We won’t blow smoke just to get you to book with us. We provide honest fishing reports and do not want you to book if we know fishing will be bad. We try to give you as much information as possible so you can decide if a trip with Hells Canyon Sport Fishing is right for you.

We want to see you catch fish just as much as you do. We do everything we can to put you on fish and put fish in the boat. Our guides won’t just hook fish and then let you reel them in. We want you to hook your own fish and we work hard to make that happen. A boat full of happy clients is our goal each and every day.

Our fish catching ability is well known, but our safety record is just as important to us. All our boats are equipped with lifejacket, first aid kits and other safety equipment. All our guides are trained in CPR and first aid.

Our guides are all licensed in their areas by… The U.S. Coast guard, Idaho Outfitters and Guides Licensing Board, Oregon State Marine board, Washington Dept. of Fish & Wildlife. All our guide boats are Safe, Licensed, Bonded & Insured for a liability of 2 million.

These are just some of the things we do every day to be the best that we can be. Be Honest; try harder than the next guy and Fish Till It Hurts!

It’s what we do….

Hells Canyon Sport Fishing is a professional outfitter licensed in the great state of Idaho by the Idaho Outfitters and Guides Licensing Board (license #12808). All services offered in this advertisement are provided by the licensed Outfitter not the individual Guides, Booking Agents or Lodges that may be mentioned in this advertisement. All guides mentioned in this ad are direct employees of Hells Canyon Sport Fishing. Our guides are all licensed captains through the U.S. Coast Guard, CPR and First Aid trained as well as bonded and insured through Hells Canyon Sport Fishing.