Syracuse.com - Auburn land lands giant sturgeon in Columbia River

[HuntingNY-News]

The nine-foot long, 300-pound fish jumped three times.

Joe Leogrande, of Auburn, went on fishing charter boat recently on the Columbia River in Vancouver, Washington and hooked into, and landed "a giant, 300- pound, 9-foot long sturgeon."

He wrote: "This is a 40-50 year old fish. This fish was caught on light tackle similar to salmon fishing in New York state. This fish stripped off line from 8 feet to 600 feet in seconds then I had to start over again reeling it in."

 

Leogrande said it jumped three times.

"It took one hour and 10 minutes to get it near the boat and to take the lure out of its mouth," he said. "You can't keep the giants, though. They are needed for making babies when they get age 25, and then again at age 35. This was a giant old grandfather or grandmother."

Editor's note: It is illegal to target sturgeon in New York State. They are on the threatened fishes list. If you accidentally hook one, do not fight it and release it quickly.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog