GIANT STURGEON FISHING
a Division of Hells Canyon Sport Fishing
Snake River Sturgeon Fishing Guide Hells Canyon
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.
