For years I have reconsidered getting back into sturgeon (having fished only a few times in the last 20 years). The last time I went was 6 years ago and my 6 year old son (at the time) had great fun reeling in a 7' fish. This came to an end when I had him get out of the boat with the fish for a picture and he freaked out and started balling.
Fast forward to yesterday. I recently won a bid on a blem Hamachi jigging rod with the following specs: 1.65m, 2pc, 40-100# rating with max load of 40# at a 45deg angle. The rod appears to be fiberglass based on the color of the spigot. I paired the rod with an Avet Raptor HXW 5/2 2speed reel that has a 40# strike and 50# max drag setting. This setup is very light weight compared with my other boat sturgeon outfits from the past which were very heavy (Penn 30TW, Diawa 600H and 900H, and Shimano Tiagra 80).
I spooled up the reel with ~250 yards 80# spectra and using an FG knot added 100-150 yards 80# Trilene Big Game as a topshot.
I tested the rod/reel under a 20# load and confirmed there was no difficulty lifting the weights off the floor.
Yesterday evening I decided to "break in" the outfit for the first time so I headed to my favorite sturg fishing spots which remain generally boat free for miles on weekdays and this time didnt disappoint as I saw no boats on my sunset 15 mile boat ride back to the primative launch.
At my first spot I anchored in 7 ft of water, tossed out my favorite sturgeon "candy" and fished about an hour without luck before packing up and moving to spot# 2. At spot #2 I anchored in 5 ft of water close to a powerful eddy with occasional scary whirlpools. After 15 minutes a fish bit and the fight was ON! The rod handled the fish with finesse and the 92" fish was done in about 10 minutes.
After that fish I moved to spot #3. 5 minutes later another fish took my sturgeon candy (on 10/0 barbless gamakatsu) and proceeded to run full speed upstream getting well into my 80# spectra backing before I was able to get my boat motor started and catch up to it. It is quite difficult soloing a large fish on 20# drag while fumbling to pull up anchor and start the manual pull outboard. This fish was bigger and ended up taking me about 2 miles down stream and about 30 minutes to land in the strong current. This one went 115".
At this point the sun was starting to set and I was worn out and getting cold from standing waste deep in water trying to measure and take pictures so another fish was out of the question. The best part was a peaceful 15 mile boat ride in glassy condition in pure solitude back to the boat launch! I am very pleased with this new Japanese "Ugly Stik".
Thanks for looking!