Another Initiation Day
September 30, 2018
September 29th 2018
Tino was back with me today, for the fourth time this season. He had fished for largemouth, smallies, pike & walleye and was now going to tangle with some beasts! Not having ever caught one before, he was looking forward to fighting his first sturgeon.
Shortly after 7:00 we met up and I wasted no time getting to the place to fish. A short idle had me setting up in the usual area, in anticipation of our first fish. With the winds pretty big from the SW, I needed the aid of the electric motor to hold. I can’t believe the difference it makes! With everything in place, we waited with rods in hand for a bite.
I had informed Tino on what to expect and after quite a while, he finally got to set into his first sturgeon. I was checking lines when he began to bring his in and hooked up. The fish must have bit at the same time he started reeling as the rod doubled over with the weight. He was officially locked up!
Tino had caught salmon from out west in the ocean before and said this was the first time since then, that he had felt so much power. The fish did the usual long runs and dogged under the boat from side to side. He even caught a glimpse of what he was battling when the fish breached near the boat. You couldn’t have asked for a better fight for his first fish!
After about 5 minutes or so, I slid the net under his catch and prepped him for the pics. He soon realized just how big it was when he had to pick it up and hold the beast. I quickly shot several photos with both cameras and 30 seconds later it was returned unharmed. Now I wanted bigger!
With lines re set, we continued our wait and to my surprise the wind had layed down enough for us to put the rods in the holders. I showed Tino what to look for and not long after, I noticed that his side was getting hit. He never would have thought it was a bite and loaded the rod once again on another big fish. This one was substantially larger than the first and he was about to feel the pain!
After a couple of long runs, his line started to rise and I told him it was going to jump. Almost on cue this behemoth took to the air in a spectacular display that ended in a vicious alligator roll when it re entered the water. From there, it just sounded to the bottom, remaining there like dead weight. It had rolled in the line and tangled itself up, but fortunately not for long. Tino was able to raise the monster from the depths and it rolled one more time freeing itself for an even longer battle. This thing beat him up for over 10 minutes before I finally put it in the net. That was the easy part though as now he was going to have to pick it up!
After a few minutes resting in the water, Tino lifted his fish with difficulty and I shot fast. This one was definitely a whole lot heavier than his first and he knew it as soon as he got it from the net and held t for the pics. Seconds later it was released and headed straight to the bottom as we saw on the sonar.
The third fish wasn’t as quick as the first two and required more patience and several checks on the lines. Tino once again was bit lightly and I told him to grab the rod again. This time when he set, the fish didn’t move. A sure sign of serious weight! It soon started to rise and we were about to see why. Within seconds after the hookset it breached and went insane. In fact it jumped twice simultaneously and went into another roll that was the wildest thing I had ever seen. Then it just went right to the bottom and screamed line from the reel. I had a feeling I was going to have to chase this one and readied the anchor just in case! Surprisingly, Tino managed to turn his giant and gained control enough to do battle properly, closer to the boat. It still remained on the bottom but at least it wasn’t two hundred feet away!
This fish took almost 15 minutes to tire, but eventually it came to the boat for me to net. It was slightly shorter than the last but a whole lot heavier as well. It was going to be a challenge for him to hold!
Tino struggled to get it out of the net but once he had a good grip, he was able to hold it for about 30 seconds before it had to go. The weight was just too much to hold any longer, but I had shot fast.
Totally exhausted, he relaxed while I reset the lines and now the wait began again. Too bad we never had any more bites but at least he boated 3 beauties. We packed it up around 3:30 when the winds got too big and headed back. This day was done!
Tino had experienced another great day of fishing with one of the strongest freshwater fish around. He had caught his first sturgeon and landed a couple more afterwards that were even larger. This was just another species for him to add to the list of the ones he had already caught with me this season. I can only wonder what’s next! Bigger is all we can hope for now!!
