Sturgeon fishing on the Delta and Sacramento River can be a trip of a lifetime. These fish can weigh well over a hundred pounds and over six feet long.The real big ones have to be released for spawning purposes. You can keep fish between 46″-66″ long. These will give you a battle that you will not soon forget.I fish for sturgeon from November through March. River flows will determine where I fish for these prehistoric fish. In November and December I will concentrate my efforts about ten miles below Rio Vista and work my way up the Sacramento River to about Tisdale as the fish travel up the river to spawn.
I look for schools of fish with my Lowrance HDS so we don’t waste our time fishing an area that is not holding fish. Once I locate a school of fish, we will drop anchor and bait up the rods and get them in the water.I use a variety of bait including eel, salmon eggs, also known as roe, grass shrimp and ghost shrimp. One of my favorites is my secret roe eel combo to entice the sturgeon.The fish hit differently in the delta vs. the river. In the delta the bites are usually very light. You need to set the hook as soon as you see the rod tip start to move. In the Sacramento River, where we are not dealing with tides but are dealing with current, the hits are hard and it definitely is not a settle bite. Just set the hook as hard as you can and hold on.
