Columbia River Sturgeon fishing, Cowlitz River, Washington fishing guide,

The Columbia River Sturgeon:

The Columbia River is one of American West infamy. Lewis and Clark, in their famous cross American journey, traveled the Columbia as their last great waterway to the Pacific ocean. The present day Columbia River has it's headwaters in British Columbia and flows South through Washington where it takes a sharp turn west at the confluence of its biggest tributary, Idaho's Snake River. At the Snake, the river sets it course due west to the Pacific Ocean. On its westward journey, the Columbia creates a natural border between the American States of Oregon and Washington, before eventually dumping into the Pacific near Astoria. By the time the Columbia reaches Astoria it has traveled over 1,200 miles.

The Columbia has a number of important and well known tributaries including the Deshutes, Willamette, Cowlitz and Lewis. The Snake River can lay claim to a 1,500 pound fish that was caught in 1928.

The Columbia of Lewis and Clark's time is not the Columbia of today. With 11 major hydroelectric projects on the mainstream, and hundreds more on its tributaries, the Columbia holds the dubious honor of being the most hydroelectrically developed river system in the world.

The Columbia River is home to both Pacific Coast sturgeon species-- the Green Sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris) and the White Sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus). The White Sturgeon of the Columbia River are some of the largest on the West Coast, and in the world. The Columbia Sturgeon though, like other populations, have been pressured to near extinction. The damming of the river has cut off access to the Pacific for the anadromous Sturgeon. Before the arrival of white settlers and subsequent development of the Pacific Northwest, White Sturgeon were well dispersed throughout the Columbia River Basin from the estuary at the mouth of the river, up the Snake River to southern Idaho. The hydro projects have hurt the Sturgeon populations two-fold; they block upstream migration as well as altering the rivers habitat and affecting water temperature levels.

Although white sturgeon were brought to near extinction by commercial fishing in the late 1800's, populations have slowly recovered and sturgeon are once again an important fishery resource in the Columbia River system.

The Columbia offers sturgeon fishing opportunities year around. There are always plenty of smaller sturgeon in the river as they live in the river until they grow large enough to migrate out to the salt water usually at around 3 feet in length. Once the fish have reached the age that they begin migrating they are constantly on the move looking for sources of food. These food sources are the key to targeting a specific age class of sturgeon. 

For the keeper sized sturgeon the main food sources are smelt, crayfish, clams (both freshwater and saltwater), anchovies, sardines, herring, salmon roe and carcasses, sand and mud shrimp. By far their favorites are smelt, clams, anchovies, shrimp. They feed heavily on these food sources with the food of choice dependant on where in the river system they are and what the predominant food source is for that time of year. The keeper sized 42"-60" fish migrate with the food. Usually The fishing for keepers is good in the lower Columbia river below Bonneville dam down to Rainer when the smelt run is in from January to May with the bulk of the smelt arriving around mid Feb to mid Mar. The smelt run tends to congregate the fish in the sections of the river where the smelt concentrations are the highest. When the smelt run begins to wind down the keepers begin migrating down river to feed in the estuary at Astoria Oregon on shrimp, clams, anchovies, herring, sardine and so on. Usually the majority of the keeper sized fish will arrive in the estuary at the mouth of the Columbia river around mid May to mid June and will remain there until late fall then they will start back up river following the fall salmon run. They will remain somewhat scattered until January when they begin stacking up again in anticipation of the upcoming smelt return. 

The following is a chart that gives the estimated weight per inch for a sturgeon.

As you can see these fish grow to tremendous size and that is why they are such a thrill to catch. I have taken out clients that have caught Salmon, Pike, Muskie, and other large fish, and they are amazed at the shear power of these monsters.

 Sturgeons
Sturgeons are the largest freshwater fish in the world, the largest on record reaching 25 feet! There are 24 different species of sturgeon found in Russia, Northern Europe, Asia, the United States and Canada. All sturgeons have a cartilage skeleton, five rows of bony plates on their bodies instead of scales, thick lips, and four sensory barbs in front of the mouth for detecting food. Along the Pacific coast we see mostly white sturgeon (Acinpenser transmontanus), with the occasional visiting green sturgeon (A. medirostris).

The life cycle
It may seem like a little bit of a stretch to call a sturgeon anadromous. They do not undertake long, dangerous migrations like salmon. They do not spend years at sea fattening up for the return trip to their spawning grounds. In fact, they may spend very little time in ocean waters, preferring instead the calmer, brackish waters of coastal estuaries. Nevertheless, they are a fish that spends part of their life in saltwater and spawn in fresh, and that makes them anadromous.

Life as a sturgeon begins as a sticky egg attached to some gravel at the bottom of a fast-moving stream or river. Eggs hatch quickly, within two weeks. Little larval sturgeon stay close to the bottom and feed on algae and small aquatic insects on their way to estuaries, where they'll spend the majority of their lives.

Sturgeon are slow growing, long-lived fish. It may take them over 10 years to become sexually mature. Once mature, they mate only every 4 to 11 years. But when they do, they don't fool around. A single female sturgeon can produce several million eggs. Most of these eggs will be lost in the current or eaten by predators.

In the late spring and summer, sturgeons swim up their home rivers in search of good spawning habitat. Males and females cast eggs and sperm into the fast-moving water. Fertilized eggs sink to the bottom and stick to the gravel bottom, where they'll stay until they hatch.

The white sturgeon is the largest fish in North America with some reports of fish nearly 20 feet long and weighing 1,800 pounds. It is also one of the longest living fish--old-timers reaching the century mark and beyond. Sturgeon find their food on the bottom with sensory barbels under their snout. They root around in the mud looking for invertebrates and small fish that they will suck up with their tube-shaped vacuum mouth. The Columbia river is home to a population of white sturgeon. They spawn in early summer from May to July and spend the rest of the year in estuaries along the Pacific coast. Some sturgeons have been isolated by human activities resulting in at least one active population in Montana. Since sturgeons do not use fish ladders, dams become impenetrable barriers.

ENDANGERED There is one landlocked population of white sturgeon in the Kootenai river of Montana and British Columbia that is listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The Columbia river population below the Bonneville dam is large enough again to support sport and commercial fisheries. Due to increased fishing pressure and demand for caviar worldwide all sturgeon species are now officially protected under CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

  Fishing for Sturgeon can be tremendously challenging some days and then other days can be a walk in the park. The main challenge is to find them on any given day. There will be days when we might try up to ten different holes trying to locate the fish. Once you find them you need to get your bait on the bottom and try to keep it as still as possible. We do this by using short leaders of three feet in length and shorter. The bait varies at different times of the year. Smelt is one of the more popular baits and it will work most of the year. Try to use the freshest bait you can find. People have used old stinky baits that they have concocted by combining different items and then letting these sit out in the sun to ripen until you can smell them from a mile away. These baits work, but you need a strong stomach to use them. Fresh bait works all year and it is not nearly as bad to work with. When you put the bait on the hook you try to get it as streamlined as possible so the river current will not move it in all different directions and make it hard for the Sturgeon to eat.

  If you have a depth finder simply motor up or down the river searching for holes or sharp changes in depth. Gradual changes in depth do not work as well as sharper changes in depth. The Sturgeon try to find places where they can get out of the main current and still be close enough that the current will wash food by their resting place.

  Once you find a promising looking hole, motor above it and drop anchor. One of the key points when anchoring is that if you know where the hole is, don’t motor over it. Come in from the side or from upriver and drop anchor. This will keep the hole undisturbed. When you motor over the hole sometimes it will take up to twenty minutes for the fish to settle down. Before you drop anchor make sure your feet are away from the rope. When the anchor hooks up in heavy current it can put a tremendous pressure on the rope and if your feet get tangled it can easily pull you overboard. I always make sure the entire anchor system is in front of me before I throw out the anchor.

  When pulling up the anchor with a EZ pull ball system never motor over the rope, even with a jet boat. Start going upriver at a forty five degree angle to the rope. Once you get a good angle on the anchor, usually about twenty to fifty feet to the side, you can head straight upriver. Keep a sharp eye on the rope while you are pulling it to make sure it does not go under the boat. One thing to always remember in a river is NEVER, NEVER, NEVER tie a anchor rope to the back of the boat. Many a boat has went to the bottom from someone using a double anchor system, or as they are drifting downriver they tie the anchor rope to a back cleat to pull it and before they can head upriver the rope tightens and water starts coming over the transom, not that a smart Captain like myself has ever experienced one of the above….. 

  When you get anchored over a good hole, throw out your bait and wait for the subtle tap of the Sturgeon. There are many different baits that work. I use smelt, sand shrimp, shad, worms, salmon bellys, and other baits. One day the smelt will out perform the other baits and the very next day one of the other baits will be the top performer. I don’t know what triggers the different tastes on different days, but it happens quite a bit.

  When I set up my rig, I like to use a sliding weight system. With this system I can keep the bait on the bottom and see the smallest of bites. I vary the weight with the conditions. Sometimes I use up to two pound weights to keep the bait on the bottom. When I get the bait down, I then make sure there is a slight bend to the pole tip. You don’t want to have any slack in your line, but you also don’t want to much pressure on the line or the Sturgeon will feel the tension and drop the bait.

  I like to use poles with sensitive tips. If you use a pole with too stiff of a tip you might not see the bite at all. We tried some poles that were too heavy and we would reel up to check the bait and the Sturgeon sucked the bait off without the pole tip moving. For keepers and shakers I use the Ugly Stick Lite Heavy. It has a sensitive tip and good backbone for fighting fish. The Tiger Ugly Stick is great for fighting oversize Sturgeon. It gives you great leverage for fighting these monster fish. 

  I recently did a TV show with Outdoor America. We fished for oversized Sturgeon up near Bonneville dam. Steve Gruber, who is the host of the program, hooked on to several Sturgeon with the largest being a TWELVE FOOT MONSTER. Usually when we hook on to a big one everybody in the boat takes a turn hauling them in, but Steve fought that huge giant for over two hours without any help. The show with this fish will be showing sometime in January. It is something you just need to see to believe.  

  The entire time with the Outdoor America crew was a great experience. We had a ton of fun, caught lots of huge fish, and had enough footage for two great shows. It is quite the experience to just see how they put the show together. They had an underwater camera man and the footage he got on these fish put the shows over the top. It was the first time I had seen oversize Sturgeon from underwater and the footage was excellent.

  Sturgeon fishing can be a great experience. If you have never anchored in a river I highly recommend going with a guide for your first trip. It can save you a lot of grief and you can learn a lot from one outing with a good guide. See you on the water!!!!!

Salmon | Steelhead | Sturgeon