Giant Family Outing

Sam & his brother Hassan were with me today along with their father, for a little sturgeon action. We had a rather cool morning ride to our starting location, but pleasant weather for the remainder of the day. Water temps were holding just around 69 degrees, winds were light & sunshine was in the forecast. I set up in another area this time and it didn’t take long before Hassan was locked up! I know they hadn’t expected anything the likes of what was about to happen next! I tried to tell Hassan to conserve energy as it was going to take a lot out of him. I think he realized what I was referring to after several minutes of just hanging on and changed his grip completely. After what seemed like forever, the inevitable bubbles showed and the end was near. I always love the first reaction of people when things this large appear! All three of them were shocked when they saw just how big the fish was and I slid the net under the first one of the day. Pics were taken, a quick release was had and we resumed fishing once again. Shortly after the first release, Hassan hooked up again and readied for the burn from another giant. This fish was even larger and tired him out quicker due to lack of time between fights. He wanted to pass the rod to his brother but Sam refused his generous offer, wanting one on his own. By the time the fish came up Hassan was totally exhausted and happy I was able to get it in the net quickly. More pics were had with all three of them as it was tough for only one person to hold this thing. Sam finally got his wish a little later and battled another quality sturgeon. These fish were on fire and I didn’t want to move! Never leave fish to find fish is my motto and I was about to practice it. In the next few hours they tangled with many more and all three of them had multiple shots at personal bests. By the time we were ready to try for another species, it was it was early afternoon and they wanted to leave by 3:00. I had my work cut out for me at this point but managed to get them into a few smallies before pulling the plug. We had concentrated on almost entirely large fish leaving a very short period for the bass. Fortunately our efforts weren’t lost as several sturgeon were fought & landed for some really nice pics. Oh yeah, there were a couple of decent walleye taken as well that their father would be enjoying tonight for dinner. All in all a pretty good day for only 6 hours of fishing time!!