We snuck out yesterday for an early Sturgeon fishing trip on the Snake River out of Heller Bar. With our steelhead season behind us we have been switched over to targeting catch and release sturgeon. The weather was a little unsettled, but the fish were cooperative. We landed a small 3 foot fish and one monster 8 footer. We also had a few other bites, but considering we only fished for a few hours I think we did fantastic.
Our bait of choice is salmon bellies and scraps from salmon season. We find this to be the most consistent bait, but we often fish other baits such as squid, roll mop herring, worms, or any fresh cut bait we can get our hands on.
Catch and release sturgeon fishing will be great from now through the end of June. On our sturgeon trips we average multiple fish landed per day with the fish ranging from 3-11 feet in length. We also offer sturgeon trips with the possiblity of keepers on the Hanford reach during this same time frame. These trips are a great experience that all should see. The power of these large sturgeon is amazing. 