I ran into an old friend from high school a few weeks ago, and we talked about going fishing some weekend.

He called on Friday, and we made plans to go sturgeon fishing on Saturday. It’s been a long time since Ive been fishing for anything, and really dont consider myself a good fisherman. I’d never went fishing for sturgeon before, but thought what the heck… This could be fun.

So, we drove out to a pretty popular spot in the Boise area around 2:00PM, took a short boat ride up the Snake River and found our spot. Bites were happening almost instantly, but we werent able to get anything hooked. We were situated right below a dam, and after they turned on another turbine, the bites just quit. So, around 7:00, we got back in the boat and went down river a bit.

We ended up finding about an 18ft deep hole in the river, docked the boat and set up shop there. It was starting to get kind of dark out, so we put some neon glowsticks on the poles. Before long, my glow stick really started bouncing, and I had all the adrenaline going thinking for sure that I had one. As quick as it started, the bouncing stopped.

Shortly afterwards, Scott pointed out to me that my pole was now pointing opposite of the way I had cast it. Just about tripping over the fire, I grabbed the pole, and gave it a good hard yank. It really felt like I had a fish on, so I started reeling in. As the line came in, I saw a huge clump of reeds on my line, and disappointment started to set in. I just new that Id hooked a big bunch of reeds, or a tire, or something.

About 15 minutes later, I saw the fish at the surface (via Scott’s spotlight). I’m not sure Ive ever been that excited. Another 5 minutes, and I had finished catching my very first sturgeon.

It was not a big one, only about 3 1/2 feet. Some sturgeon can grow upwards 10-12 feet and get up to 300+ pounds. However, for my first one, I’ll take it. We didnt have a digital camera with us, but Scott took some pictures of me with the fish, which Ill post up here as soon as they get developed.

We took the hook out, and admired the fish for a while, and then turned him around and let him go. What a wonderful day. I cant even wait to go again.

Anyone in the Boise area wanna go fishing?