The Patience Game

Derek, Jay, David & Thomas were with me for a half day morning trip today and hoping to battle some big sturgeon. We headed out shortly after 7:00 and anchored up for the beasts. The wind was blowing pretty good and I just hoped we would be able to get the anchor to hold. Fortunately it did and I set up in anticipation of the first fish. it wasn’t easy seeing anything bite with the boat rocking back & forth in the waves. Eventually, after having the hooks picked clean several times, we opted for the rod in hand method instead. Although somewhat better, we still had plenty of piranha like gobies cleaning the hooks off and I had to move to another area just to escape them. By now the winds had diminished considerably and anchoring up wasn’t an issue. New area and hopefully better luck! The gobies weren’t too bad here and we were getting several small bites, but still no sturgeon. Finally a good one ate and it was on briefly until the line went limp. I don’t know what happened but the main line broke and the fish was gone. I retied the rig and got everything back in hoping for another bite, but we never got it. Plenty of times the rod tip bounced but I think it was just fish bumping into the line as they swam by. They were all talking about heading elsewhere for walleye & bass, but I wanted to try another area for a maximum of fifteen minutes before leaving. I got the lines set and hoped for the best! In less than 10 minutes I saw the bite and pounced on the rod ready to set into something large. A couple more bumps and I cranked on it hard to load the rod. We were locked! Thomas was the lucky one to receive the rod while the others reeled in the lines. I knew by the weight that this was going to be a good one but didn’t know just how big until it launched itself out of the water like a missile. We all got  good look at the fish and they were in awe at its overall mass. If you’re only gonna get one bite, this was the one to get! Thomas fought the fish for over 20 minutes and several times the runs had me ready to release the anchor and give chase. Eventually he was able to bring the beast back and I managed to slip the net under it. This was definitely large in every way imaginable! We prepared everything for the pics while keeping it in the water and finally hoisted it on board. It took two of us and even at that, it was tough! I knew Thomas would need help and David offered to aid him in lifting it for the pics. It was definitely a two man operation but well worth it as I got plenty of good pics. They torpedoed it back and away it went . No reason to reset the lines, I just packed the rods up and we headed to fish walleye. This was a fish of a lifetime for most and Thomas knew it. In fact, they all knew it too! We spent almost 90 minutes drop shotting deeper water for eyes and managed to get a few. Most were overs but they did get to take one home along with a big perch they caught. Plenty of bites were had by all but most were either missed or lost on the way to the boat. Shortly before 1:00 we headed back and called it a day. After hours of patiently waiting, they finally were rewarded. Their patience hadn’t been in vain and it was all worthwhile. Although it was Thomas that got to fight the beast, they all enjoyed the battle, almost as much. He definitely had the most experience fishing and was clearly the right man for the job! Everyone left with a sense of accomplishment as the long wait was well worth it in the end!!