I have a love hate relationship with sturgeon. I love to catch them because of their power and fighting ability, but I'm really starting to hate fishing for them.

I recently heard a saying asserting that there are two kinds of anglers in the delta. There are those that have the patience to fish for sturgeon and there are the ones that don't who become striper anglers. I'm starting to think there might be a lot of truth in this assertion.

I caught my last sturgeon, a 39 inch shaker, in December of 2005. According to my fishing journal I've spent 48 hours soaking sturgeon baits in a variety of west delta locations since boating that shaker without so much as a hookup. At this point I would much rather concentrate on striper fishing because I know I'll get more action, yet I'm not about to give up on sturgeon.

I've been paying my dues and the experience I've accumulated while fishing and hunting over the years shows that the more time you invest the greater the payoff you'll get when everything falls into place. With this in mind I'll continue soaking roe and eel until a hungry diamondback finds my bait. Hopefully it will be one of those massive 100 plus pounders that I've been dreaming off.

My latest sturgeon hunting expedition took place on Friday, February 23 when Larry and Candy Edwards, Ken Daly, Fish Sniffer Publisher Allen Bonslett and I joined Captain Barry Canevaro for a day of chasing sturgeon in the upper reaches of Suisun Bay aboard Canevaro's boat, the Fish 'N' Fool IV.

Canevaro is one of the most accomplished sturgeon and striper anglers plying west delta waters. He guided me to my first ever keeper sturgeon, so when it comes to sturgeon fishing I've got a lot of confidence that he'll put me on fish if anyone can.

With everyone aboard we cruised out of the Pittsburg Marina about 7 o'clock and headed west. A cold front had moved through the delta the day before and as is usually the case the front was followed by a north wind.

Canevaro had hoped to fish the area north of the Middle Grounds or in the cut between Freeman and Simmons Islands, but the wind combined with the tide would have kept the boat swinging and swaying, so we proceeded into the more sheltered waters of Montezuma Slough.

After slowly cruising several holes that often hold sturgeon we failed to mark any fish on the sonar so we moved up into Suisun Slough. We hadn't gone far when we marked a pair of big fish so Canevaro dropped anchor and tossed out four rods baited with salmon roe and one baited with lamprey eel.

We'd been fishing for about a half hour without results when the anchor broke loose. After reeling in the lines and pulling up the anchor, Canevaro opted to continue heading up the slough toward a deep hole. As we approached the hole we immediately marked multiple sturgeon. Canevaro had found a good concentration of fish, the question was whether or not they would bite.

Unfortunately, for us I think those sturgeon must have been on the Paris Hilton diet. They nipped at our baits a little, but refused to eat anything of substance. As we sat patiently waiting, a couple of the husky non-biters tantalized us by rolling on the surface only a few yards from the boat.

By early afternoon the outgoing tide started to wane so Canevaro pulled the anchored and took us back into Montezuma Slough. "We'll head up past Nurse Slough. The outgoing tide will still be flowing up there," said Canevaro.

As we cruised up Montezuma we passed over several areas that held big numbers of stripers, but sturgeon marks were few and far between. Finally about halfway between the Glass House and salinity locks Canevaro spotted some fish, so he once again set the anchor and pitched out our rods.

I'd like to report that the third spot was the charm, but it wasn't. The fish were there, but they just were not in a feeding mood. For a fish with a brain the size of a peanut, sturgeon sure are proving difficult for me to fool!

All things considered this winter has been a tough one as far as delta sturgeon fishing goes. On one hand, there has been a below average amount of rain and that means that the fresh flows that stimulate the sturgeon bite have not occurred.

On the other hand, the cold snap that moved in during the second half of January chilled the water and drove the temperature down to the middle 40's making all delta fish including sturgeon sluggish and difficult to catch.

More recently, warm weather and vigorous rain have moved into Northern California. Delta water temperatures are now back up to the 52 degree mark and the fishing for sturgeon, stripers and black bass has improved quite a bit.

"We didn't have any luck today, but there has been an upswing in the sturgeon fishing recently. The striper fishing has improved too. At this point my clients have been averaging from 1.5 fish per rod to limits on striper trips," related Canevaro back at his boat slip in Pittsburg.

Canevaro is confident that both sturgeon and striper fishing will continue to improve with the approach of spring. "March, April and May typically are the best months for sturgeon fishing in the delta. As we saw today there are plenty of fish around we just need them to start biting more consistently. Striper fishing looks to be really good this spring.

Last year the fishing was blown out by the big flows from all the rain we got. That doesn't look like it is going to happen this year. I'll start trolling for stripers around the first week of April. I'm planning to run a lot of combination trips. On these trips we'll troll in the morning and spend the afternoon bait fishing for sturgeon and stripers near Pittsburg," said Canevaro.

The day after I fished with Canevaro, his wife Diana took out a group of anglers on the Fish 'N' Fun and they picked up a 57 inch sturgeon while fishing in Suisun Slough. The day after that on the 25th Canevaro's clients aboard the Fish 'N' Fool IV nailed a keeper sturgeon that went 59 inches and a shaker that was just under keeper size at 45 inches.

Now you might be wondering why the sturgeon didn't bite while I was out with Canevaro. Well the answer is really pretty simple.the sturgeon gods hate me!