Gone Fishing!

Well, the excitement is over, but this trip is one I will never forget. Our trip started with a nice flight to Oregon on Sunday. We did a little sight seeing including going to the Bonneville Dam. Here at the Dam we have a tradition of going to the fish hatchery and seeing Herman the Sturgeon. Herman is a white sturgeon that is 11 feet long and over 500 lbs of fish. This stop always gets us fired up to go hit the river and catch our own Herman.

Monday morning came early, but we were ready to go. We met up with Kevin, our guide for the last 3 years, and headed out. It was a beautiful day and we had a ton of fun. Let me share a lil' fishing lingo with ya. A "shaker" is a fish under 45 inches, a "keeper" is 45-60 (the ones you can take home), and anything over that is called a "MONSTER". We caught 15 sturgeon, which wasn't a bad start we had some shakers, 8 keepers, and our first monster. It was our last fish of the day. When we hooked this one, we didn't even know it. We were taking pics of Craig's fish, when out of nowhere, this monster comes flying out of the water. Oh, by the way, it doesn't matter how big these monsters are, they jump!!! And they usually clear the water. Our guide said, "There is only one reason they jump". So we looked at the poles, but none were moving. Little did we know the monster ate it, jumped, and then laid on the bottom of the river. A few minutes later Kevin picked up the pole to check it, and sure enough he was still there. So the fight was on! I reeled as hard as I could and got him within 50 ft. of the boat, but then he turned and ran. Next thing I knew my line was out to 250 ft. and everything I gained on him was gone. So we pulled anchor and chased the beast down stream. Two jumps, a lot of hard work, a half mile downstream, and 30 minutes later, I landed my eight foot monster!!! This is the fish in the picture Marcie posted. An eight footer is estimated to be over 200 lbs. After fishing we went up to the Astoria Tower, this gives an amazing view out over the city and the Columbia river. Then we went to the ocean and spent a little time on the beach. We finished the night off with some fun at the arcade down town.

Tuesday wasn't such a nice day, but the fishing was still good. We fought the wind and the rain all day long, but it didn't slow us down. We caught 16 fish. No monsters that day, but we did catch 9 keepers which made for an awesome day. The rest of that day we spent eating and traveling to our next fishing spot up stream.

Now the reason we go up stream is because only oversized sturgeon or "monsters" spawn. These monsters swim up river to do this. The next day we were going strictly for monsters. To start off Wednesday we went and caught some 3-4 pound shads. Once we had caught a bucket full, we took the shads upstream and used them as bait. We fished about a hundred feet or so down stream of a beautiful waterfall. Now fishing up stream for the monsters is a little different, you usually only catch on average two oversized a day. It's not as fast as in Astoria, but the fish are a lot bigger. After waiting for about an hour and a half, our patience paid off. We laid into an even bigger Monster! Before we could even get our cameras out, the beast jumped out of the water, rainbowed over, and swam back down to it's eighty foot deep home. Kyler started off fighting him for as long as possible. Once he was tuckered out he passed the rod to his dad, Craig. Craig gave it all he could, but he couldn't land the monster. He passed the pole off to his other son-in-law, Lee. Lee put up a good fight, and reeled as hard as he could until the sweat was dripping off the tip of his nose. But we still hadn't seen the beast again since he had jumped. Just as Lee was getting ready to pass the pole off to me, the Sturgeon decided to make a run for it. Lee held on to the pole, but the sturgeon was too strong. It snapped the pole in two. So now it got passed to me and I only have half of a fishing pole and no leverage on this thing. I gave it all I had, but when push came to shove the beast defeated me and I passed the pole off to Kyler. Kyler got a second chance, but he was still to much. One hour after hooking this monster, we finally landed him. We were beat, but it was worth it to see him up close. Our guide estimated him to be 10 feet long and about 500 lbs. I couldn't believe we reeled in something of that size and strength. But it was an amazing sight to see. We caught two other pigs that day, an eight footer and a seven and a half footer. By the end of the day we were dead.

After getting some food we went for a drive along the Historical Columbia River Highway. We saw six different tall waterfalls and took the opportunity to hike up to them. The last day of fishing was a little slower but one of the more fun fish to catch. Kyler hooked a seven and a half footer that gave us a fun fight. Once while Kyler was reeling and once while I was reeling the fish jumped only about 10-15 feet away from the boat, and we caught both of them on video camera. I'm trying to figure out how to download the video to this blog but it's the wrong format. I'm still trying though. That night we crossed the Bridge of the Gods and climbed Beacon Rock. It is a giant rock along the river that is over 800 feet high. Not the best idea after four days of fishing, I was really sore. Friday was the end of our trip. We flew back home and I was ready to be back. My own bed was looking really good after being gone all week. Craig is already talking about next year's trip and making plans. I've really enjoyed our little annual fishing trip on the Columbia River.