The New Sturgeon Season Opens with a Couple of Boat Rides

Lovely Boat Rides to Begin the New Sturgeon Season…

March 8-9, 2012

The rod remained motionless this trip – but what a view!

My last fishing adventure was over three months ago! In my old age I choose to NOT fish during December and January, but this year’s hiatus included February, too. I spent waaay too much time in the recliner and next to the fireplace! But having survived the annual recliner-ectomy, and now back on my feet and learning to live without hot chocolate and TV, it was time to hook up the boat and head for my beloved Delta.

The trip was very pleasant with perfect weather, but a chilly night. I faithfully offered eel steaks to Suisun Bay’s sturgeon, but had no takers. No nibbles, no bites, nary a sniff! But as Henry David Thoreau said, “Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.” I reckon that what I really went after I found in spades – peace, solitude, country music, and cold beer. And of course, a grand boat ride down river from Brannan Island State Park – and back.

FishWisher the boat has a new tug nowadays. Just this week I flew to Salt Lake City and picked up my new ride!

My new tug is a 2011 Chevy Silverado 2500 WT.

My beautiful little half-ton Chevy was up to the task of pulling the aluminum North River, but the C-Dory was a bit more than she was able to handle well. The new ride has the 6.0 V-8, six speed auto trans and 4WD. This is my first ever 4WD, and I figure it will be good to have for the occasional slippery boat ramp. 

The new season has just begun! I’m anxious to get back out on another sturgeon adventure again in a couple of weeks. And it won’t be long ’til it’s time to try the foothill lakes for trout, kokanee and maybe even stripers!

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And Another Boat Ride…

March 21-22, 2012

…and the second trip of the season, March 21-22, was just another, albeit shorter, boat ride. I stayed close to Brannan Island State Park where I launched, a few miles downriver from Rio Vista, CA, and fished my original “sturgeon honey hole” near Decker Island for the two days.

Debris floated by during my wait for a sturgy visit, sent downriver by recent rains. A couple of smaller logs bumped the boat during the first day, and I spent the night close to the bank on the leeward side of Decker Island where less debris moves downriver.

Once again I faithfully tried my best for the season’s first sturgy, but it was not to be.

I had a couple of possible sturgy nibbles on the eel I was offering, but they also could have been weeds. This is sturgeon fishing, and those who quit after a couple of zero trips may never catch one! I’ll be back at it in another week or two!

The Bonaparte’s Gulls are back again for their winter stay and will likely be heading north soon. This fella claimed my boat as his own, as they often do, and chased off all other comers that tried to join him. They are beautiful birds, but they sure squabble over who gets my discarded bait!

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