The Newbie Scores a Slam

Sam brought a gang with him today for a multi species outing. He had Stephan, Phil & Gaurav, making for a real full boat! We headed to fish sturgeon immediately and had the lines in before 9:00. Although a slightly later start than I was use to, they would still be in for a great day. I told them to pick numbers to see who was up first and as luck would have it, Sam had first rod. He also got lucky with the fact that it was giant too! When I set into the fish, I knew the battle would be a long one and handed him the rod. He fought it well and almost 20 minutes later, the results were in the net. Large! He had a little difficulty picking the fish up and we had to settle for a curved pic, but it was still great. Back she went and Gaurav was next on the list. He got lucky with a smaller than normal one and was happy to see it after watching Sam’s battle minutes before! Phil was also nervous and happy to land a small fish as well. When Stephan was up he wanted big, but unfortunately boated one in the medium size instead. As we had done a full rotation, I was hoping for other big ones but another juvenile sturgeon was boated when Sam’s turn came back around. The next fish felt a little bigger and Gaurav began to get nervous until I got a visual. He was hooked into a big catfish and the exotic species of the day! I shot a group photo of them and also returned the kitten back to the lake! We moved around a little more and I finally held in an area that looked better and was soon rewarded. This time when Phil was handed the rod, I knew it was a good fish. We also got confirmation when she jumped behind the boat. Yuup, it was going to be a long battle! Although smaller than Sam’s earlier fish, it was still large to him. About 10 or 15 minutes later, it was alongside the boat and I slid his catch into the net. A few quick pics were shot and we were done! They had wanted to fish for bass and we were off to target them for the remainder of the day. I had to teach Gaurav everything about handling a spinning rod as today was the first time he had ever fished. He caught on pretty quick and it wasn’t long before he was battling a smallie as well. He had managed to land a slam on his very first time, ever fishing! The rest of the gang was also getting into fish but this spot was difficult for me to hold on and I eventually moved to a more open area, allowing everyone to cast. It was from this point on that rods were constantly bent and fish were being netted. The size was also impressive as most of them were quality! We moved around a bunch in the area and found active fish all over, making for a great afternoon. We had also been lucky with the weather as the rain only started after noon and never really got heavy. It was more of a mist than anything and even the skies weren’t very dark. I was also happy that despite the wind out of the east, it wasn’t what they had forecasted for today. They were lighter than expected allowing me to have better boat positioning for everyone to cast. After a few more good smallies, we decided to head back around 4:30 and take out. The day had been an excellent one and everyone was satisfied with the results. Plenty of fish were caught and a couple of real giants as well. I’m sure I’ll be seeing at least some of these guys again, before the season draws to an end. Sam & Stephan both know that the best is yet to come! They’ve both experienced the fall smallie fishing before and don’t want to miss out this year. Overall a very successful day on the water!!