Caney surprise

[Farley]

Fished early yesterday below the dam for a few hours. It was a really nice morning with some cloud cover to keep the heat away. When I arrived at the ramp I saw an example of what can happen to you if you don't respect the water levels both up and down on the Caney. I attached a picture of the boat below. The fishing was ok but not great, caught 9 different species which is always interesting to see what swims in that cool water. It was my fourth fish that totally suprised me. I fought it for quite while and knew it was too big to be a walleye, so I was hoping for a big trout. The longer I fought it the more I was afraid I had foul hooked a carp or gar. Once I got to where I could get a glimpse I did think it was gar because of it's long narrow shape. To my suprise it was a lake sturgeon. I quickly netted him snapped a quick photo released him. It swam off as fresh as when I first hooked him. Needless to say it was worth the trip.

[lupanfreitag]

A sturgeon. That is impressive. Always wanted to catch one.

[jad2t]

How cool is that!! What did you catch it on? Congrats, you probably won't do that many more times and most of us will never catch one!

[MNfisher]

Wow! First of all, what a beautiful ranger, sorry to see it beached!

Congrats on the sturgeon! How big was it? That's the 4th I know of caught below Center Hill in the last year and a half! Looks like they are striving well!

[browntrout]

I bet that guy in the Ranger understands why we run Riverhawks or a similar boat on the Caney. Congrats on the sturgeon. I really want to catch one so I can but another notch on the fishing pole handle. I guess he got the Ranger out once the water came back up. Lucky it was still there.

Roy

[Alphahawk]

Great looking fish. I have only seen a boat like that one other time. Same thing happened.....I was catching White Bass in the jumps below Pickwick and a guy....also in aRanger....was doing the same but had his boat atop a break water wall and we told him they were about to turn the gens off but it just happened that quick. His fishing bud asked me for a ride back to the ramp....LOL. The guy stayed with the boat all night until the water came back up next day.


Regards

[white95v6]

nice fish. would love to catch one.

and yea I would have not left my boat sitting there.

[Travis C.]

I cant do much here in orange beach on the phone but the twra wants to know if and where you catch the sturgeon. I believe there is a certificate like the tarp. Check pn their site or guide if interested.

[Reel Tune]

That's the second one I've heard of within the past year at Center Hill. Congrats on the 9 species, you never know what you are going to catch. It's been probably 25 years since I've caught a sturgeon, used to do it on the Wabash River in Indiana every once in a while when I was a kid. Yes, the TWRA is trying to bring back the native species, and would like to record your findings. Wow, bringing a Ranger up there beaching it and leaving it, that's one brave soul.

Jeremy

[white95v6]

I forgot to ask what did you catch the sturgeon on?

[Farley]

I was fishing a minnow on the bottom. My ruler only goes to 24 inches and he was 5-6 inches longer than that. Not huge by sturgeon stardards but quite a fight on 4lb test. I called the Region III office to report the catch and they are supposed to be sending out the certificate. I will dispaly it with my TARP certificates.