Bucket List

I have been too busy lately.  I hate when it goes from winter to summer instantly.  You all know what I am talking about.  Last winter when there was nothing to do and I was reviewing my "Bucket List" I once again began my quest of the great white sturgeon.  This has gone on for years with no success.  Lots of research but no direction. 

I had met a guide last fall when fishing for Chinook in Tillamook that said he fished for sturgeon so I contacted him and set a trip up even though it was early in the season.  The time finally arrived this past weekend.  As a fisheries biologist, I had seen and read about sturgeon but I had never touched or examined them.  That is how they got on my "Bucket List".  Fishing in the mouth of the Columbia River with the constant rain and wind, it happened.  With an anchovy on a single barbless hook the tap, tap, tap started.  The pole "loaded up" and the jerk.  The battle ensued and in a half hour an exhausted fish and angler finally met.  Too large to keep at 65" we held it for a minute and parted ways.  A sense of satisfaction came over me.  Another lifetime goal accomplished.  Never give up on your dreams.