Double Trouble

William and his son Peter were with me this morning on another unbelievable day of weather. Flat calm water and bluebird skies along with high temps for the third straight day! Although the morning air was a little chilly we knew that it would change pretty quickly. Peter, at only 7 was an amazing fisherman and hoped to tangle with a sturgeon today. As they were only doing a half day, I wasted no time in getting set up. Well it didn’t take long before we were into the first fish and William took the rod to battle his largest fish of his life. I wasn’t sure what we were dealing with as it never jumped showing its size. In just under 10 minutes he was able to bring the fish to net and was shocked to see just how large it actually was. He had a hard time holding it for the pics but finally got a good grip on his catch allowing me to snap a few shots. I wanted Peter to fight one but it had to be the right size or he would have to receive help from one of us. Not long after releasing the first fish, I noticed a bite on one of the rods and seconds later was hooked up. I handed the rod to his son and told William to reel in the other lines. I had noticed movement on the middle rod when I locked into this fish and as luck would have it, William grabbed that rod and we had a double. I really don’t like two at once and knew it was going to be chaos. As Peter seemed to be doing well, I decided to clear the other rod at the exact moment that the little guy’s fish went airborne. It was a monster compared to him and seconds later William’s also took to the air. They were almost clones and I definitely had my hands full. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do and just concentrated on Peter’s fish with him. William was seeming to be doing alright but I still needed to get these fish into the boat, sometime! I’ve never come across a situation like this before and was just happy that the two fish never really crossed lines during the fight. After what seemed like an eternity, or 10 minutes, I saw Peter’s fish and was able to get it in the net. At that exact time, William also had his up to the surface and I decided to try and take the second one as well. It wasn’t easy but we managed and now I had two big sturgeon laying in the giant net. Father & son had doubled up and fought fish almost equal in size, only to land them at the same time. There was plenty of laughter and talk as I unhooked their catches. I think we were all amazed at the fish but what we were overlooking was the fact that a 7 year old had just fought and landed something almost equal to his own body weight. I was caught up in the moment but took the time to congratulate this little champ on his amazing accomplishment. He had done it completely on his own and during a time of major chaos! Although the battle was over, the hard part was about to begin, starting with me getting them into the boat. I heaved them over the rail and somehow managed to not hook any of the mesh, on anything along the way. Part one was over but now  I had to figure out how to get the pics done. There was no way Peter would be able to hold his fish so I decided that a floor shot would have to suffice. William picked his up and the little guy remained below holding the sturgeon’s tail. I quickly shot multiple pics from different angles before releasing them both back to where they belonged. It was going to take a while to calm down after this. Laughter was all around as everyone talked about this insane feat of accomplishment. Not wanting to waste any more time, I reset the lines and hoped for another fish. We were lucky enough to hook up about 20 minutes later and Peter was ready for this fish. It was a perfect size for him after what he had just gone through. In about 5 minutes time he brought it to net and now had 2 sturgeon under his belt. I knew that if I propped it in his hands he would be able to hold it and did just that. We were quick to shoot the pictures for fear of the fish kicking and injuring one of the other. I tossed it right back after and thought we’d try one more time seeing as these fish were biting good this morning. As luck would have it, we did manage to hook up on one more but after a couple of minutes, the hook popped out. I gave them the option to switch up for bass and walleye and they gladly jumped on the offer. We packed up and headed to cast for a different fish! The lake was like a mirror and the heat was becoming almost unbearable so I knew what I had to do. I gave a quick demonstration and hooked up immediately on a walleye. They went to work on catching their own and Peter picked up two walleye pretty quick. His father was having a difficult time but I refined his technique and he too was now hooking into fish of his own. In the last hour or so we managed to land a bunch of good bass & walleye before ending the morning trip. They had wanted to bring a couple of walleye home for dinner, so I livewelled two for them to eat.  It had been a great morning, filled with all kinds of exciting things and both William & his son Peter were fully satisfied with the outcome. We were done for the day and apparently just in time too as the lake was getting a little too busy to stay out. I was really glad it was a half day and pulled out, zig zagging around all kinds of people blocking both the parking lot and ramp. “Weekend Warriors” will be done after today and I can’t wait to get back out tomorrow with practically no traffic on the water. A great half day of fishing was had by everyone today and hats off to Peter who impressed us all!!