Kevin VanDam's Line & Lure Conditioner

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ENTRY#: L-00004

Car trouble.

I was fishing in the Sacramento River Delta one day with some friends at a place called the Mothball Fleet. Mothball Fleet is a shallow bay area where the United States government anchors old ships awaiting their death and dismemberment. The place is well known as a hangout for striped bass and sturgeon. The day had grown long and no one and seen any rod action for about an hour. We whiled away the time watching setting sun and a small boat with a couple of divers that were anchored about hundred and 50 fifty feet away.

Just about the time I was ready to call a day, my rod started into a dance and just about leapt out of the boat. I was lucky enough to get one hand on it, as it was in mid-air. The fish I had on the end of the line was definitely larger than anything any of us had caught during the day and could have possibly been one of the biggest fish I ever caught. In any case I knew it was going to be the prize to cap off a great day of fishing. I struggled with this fish for about 20 minutes and was barely able to make any headway with it. My biggest concern was that the fish would head into the anchor chains of the old ships and become hopelessly snagged.

Of course, as luck would have it within a few minutes there was no tension on the line and I could do nothing but hope that the fish would calm down and free itself from its entanglement. After waiting about 10 minutes for miracles to happen, I lost patience the came up with a great idea. I yelled out to one of the divers from the boat anchored near us and asked him if he would follow my line down to whatever had snagged it and my prize fish on the bottom. He kindly obliged and we watched him disappear from the surface of the muddy water. He resurfaced within minutes telling us he had located my fish and that it was a large sturgeon taking refuge in an old car buried in the mud bottom of the river. He asked if we had a rope on board saying he thought he might be able to lasso the tail of the fish and be able to pull him out of the sunken vehicle. I hurriedly fashioned a noose at the end of the anchor rope lying at my feet and threw it to him. He grabbed the rope and disappeared from sight for what seemed to be 15 minutes. As my anticipation of my great catch grew all I could do was watch the bubble trail that marked the divers location. I watched the bubbles grow closer to our boat but was confused as to why there was no tension on the rope that would indicate the diver was successful. The diver surfaced shaking his head in that telltale negative fashion. I asked I asked him if his idea had worked. He replied with a puzzled look on his face, " I'm sure it would, but every time I get the lasso up to the open window of the car the fish rolls the damn thing up!"

Rob
Acworth, GA

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