Go Big or Go Broke

I hit the water this morning with Stephane & his girlfriend under picture perfect conditions. The last time out we had a boat load, but today we had enough room to carry all kinds of gear. I was loaded for bear and started with the musky rods in an area that had given them up before. We trolled several passes and unfortunately came up with just a couple of pike for our efforts. I thought we’d change locations and do a few more runs seeing as how we were already set up but the results were the same. Plan B was to try for the dinosaurs that had been coming aboard lately and we set up residence in the depths & waited. It felt like watching paint dry as we sat there in anticipation of our first bite. Fortunately the top was up and under these scorching hot conditions, it was a welcomed treat! After what seemed like eternity and only a few missed bites, I decided to pull the plug here and try for smallies instead. Off we went into the shallows and it was here that we started finally catching. Both of them fought bass but the largest seemed to be only in the three pound range, with the exception of the two small sturgeon that inhaled the deadline. I had dropped another rod in & baited it in hopes of a possible bite and was rewarded with two landed and one lost. Although the biggest only went about 15 pounds, Stephane realized that this was what he wanted and asked to go back where the real big ones lived. He was willing to play the waiting game again and it was on! For some reason, the fish were just mouthing the baits today and every time we lifted up on them, they were gone. We had about three shots at them before we were finally into a solid hookup. Stephane got his wish and was battling the beast that he had wanted. This time the fish stayed deep and never came up making the fight last even longer than usual. After a while I was beginning to wonder if he might have locked up with another monster but eventually saw that it was just an average one. Today I had gotten smarter and brought a net to land these things, making my life much easier. When I finally got a chance, I took it and Stephane had his first official sturgeon over 30 pounds. We wasted no time taking several pics and he released the fish unharmed, back to the lake afterwards. These things are so strong that it seems like they could fight forever and swim off like they were never even hooked. I was really glad that we were at least rewarded one for all our efforts. We had spent the bulk of the day searching for only big fish and devoted most of our time without any luck until very late in the afternoon. Time to end on a high note and we readied for the run back. I was glad he had decided to go back and try again because just one makes it all worthwhile. The ride was a little bumpy despite the windless day and took even longer than usual. I think everyone who owned a boat was out and it actually felt like being in a washing machine! We took our time and just went with the flow and reminisced about the one that didn’t get away. Great day for fishing!!