More Torture & Punishment

Rick was finally going to get a chance at landing some giants today. I informed him of just how big they had been lately and he agreed to give it a go! Traffic put him a little late at arriving, but no matter as the fish would still be there and biting. As usual, the winds were blowing pretty good this morning from the east and we would have to hold the rods once gain. The first fish we had on, came unpinned after a couple of minutes during the fight. The second fish also did the same and I had no idea why! The third fish however stayed pinned and Rick felt the power of these beasts. An average, large sturgeon came to net in about ten minutes and Rick had his first landed one. Although it was tough, he managed to hold it for the pics and we were back at it immediately, following the release. After a couple more landed monsters, Rick finally hooked into the one I wanted. This was giant and the fight was going to be a long one! When it launched into the air, we had a confirmation on the size. This fish was definitely in the XXXL category inflicting more pain than usual as Rick tried to hold on. The runs were just insane as loads of line just spooled from the reel. Each time he reeled it back, the fish took more. This battle lasted close to 20 minutes before I was able to slide her into the net. Round one over, round two about to start! He knew what was coming next and wasn’t looking forward to holding this goliath for the pics. It was next to impossible to stand, so he opted for the sit down shots instead. Wise choice! When he released her back into the water, she torpedoed right down and we watched on the sonar. No worse for wear, she would live to fight again! Rick was sore all over, being the only one reeling the fish in and requested that I take the next one. Against my wish, I obliged his request and brought the next fish to the boat in about 2 minutes. Alright, it wasn’t the caliber he was getting but it was still pretty big! We stayed on the sturgeon until almost 1:30 and opted to try for musky for a while. Flat conditions now made it tough and we wasted about 90 minutes trying, without anything for our efforts. I decided to hit some walleye and in the last 90 minutes or so and we landed about 15 quality fish. Both of us took a few home for dinner and called it a day. Tomorrow we would be back at it hard and he would have a couple more people joining him for the day. He would need the rest after getting beat up today but at least he wouldn’t be the only one being punished tomorrow. I can’t wait to inflict pain on the others as well!!