Small Medium & XXL

Back on the water this morning after hitting another lake yesterday for some toothy critters. Albert & his son Nicolas had requested a morning of fishing and we were going for some giants. The winds were blowing pretty big when I dropped the boat in the water and 2 footers or better were average. Today however it was out of the SE instead of the usual northern direction. I don’t think these guys realized what was about to happen when we arrived and I set up! I was hoping that the first fish would be a smaller one and lucked out pretty quickly. I felt a take, set on the fish and passed the rod to Nicolas for him to fight. He had a hard time controlling the sturgeon but after 5 minutes or so managed to bring it to net. A perfect starter fish and one that he could hold! Several pics later we were back in and waiting for our next bite. Plenty of false strikes and some goby nibblers later, it happened! This one was large and took plenty of line on the initial run causing me to think about unpinning. Although it never jumped, I could tell by the way Albert was struggling that she was going to cause him pain. After close to 20 minutes of battling the sturgeon, it was confirmed. Definitely the biggest thing he had ever fought! Albert was relieved when I finally got her in the net but I told him it wasn’t over. Holding the fish for the pic was going to be even more difficult! I prepped everything and instructed him on what to do. His son even had to give him a hand with the tail in order to lift it off the floor. Not the prettiest pics but we got it done and released the fish back right after. In the next couple of hours they landed several more as well as a drum with multiple moves to stay on the fish. I really wanted them to get into something epic and eventually I set into the one! After the drum was released and before I could get the line back in, I noticed another rod getting hit. When I set on this one, it didn’t move. I knew it was the fish we were waiting for and handed the rod to Albert. He had already battled a big one earlier and I was sure this one was much larger. Although we never saw it until the end, the length of the battle indicated that she was definitely huge. Albert had a difficult time during the last 5 minutes of the fight as the fish stayed under the boat, going from one side to the other many times. He & his son both took turns on the rod trying to wear the fish down. After 15 minutes of this tug of war, I was finally able to net the dinosaur and they freaked at its size! I think Albert knew that he was in trouble after the last big one as I prepped for the pics. There was absolutely no way they would be able to stand up holding the fish so I just told them to take a seat for the shots. Even at that, I had to help lift her up and onto their laps as the overall mass of the fish made it almost impossible to do. About all Albert could do was bear hug this goliath so as not to lose his grip. I shot fast and we got her back in, just as quickly. She took off instantly and went right back to the depths from where she had come from. In fact, we got to see her on the sonar heading down! Mission accomplished! Another beast in the books and probably one of the top three for the season so far. As we still had some time left before noon, I reset the lines in hopes of one more fish. As luck would have it, we hooked up and Nicolas fought his last big fish of the day. This one actually tried to attack him during the battle when it jumped 3 feet from the boat. Not overly large, but still a great fish for the last one of the day. We pulled the plug after taking more pics and packed everything up, ending the morning. I think they would have been happy with just the first fish and never thought they would have landed so many big ones in one day. They had battled a bunch of sturgeon from small to XXL and experienced the best fishing of their lives. All this in a half day too! I can only imagine how many more they would have landed if we were out for the entire day. We ran back in almost flat calm conditions as the winds had died off late in the morning. This not only made for easier fishing but also a smooth ride back to the ramp. Despite a light sprinkle at times, the weather held out great completing a perfect fishing day. I’m sure this won’t be the last time I see Albert & Nicolas as they are already talking about a return trip for possible bass & walleye. Hopefully the results will be the same and they will have another great day of fishing. Today was definitely one to remember!!