Giant Times Two

Luke and his buddies were with me today hoping for a big fish. He had talked to me a couple of weeks back while clients were locked up on a monster and heard the play by play of the fight. I even sent him the pics afterwards, which made him want one even more! Hopefully today, they would get their wish. The winds were blowing about 10 knots out of the SE, so anchoring wouldn’t be a problem. We made our way out there in a full boat with Luke, Zachary, Derek & Mitchell and set up quickly. The bite however was a different story as it was anything but fast! We had gobies, perch and even a hateful eel before finally hooking into the real thing. I passed the rod to Zachary once the fish was on the line and cleared everything around for him to battle the fish. I don’t think he had realized just how hard these fish fought until he had the rod in his hands. I coached him on a bunch of things to do and what not to do, but the fish always has the last say in the matter. It took him around the boat and passed under the anchor rope causing me to do a little fancy manoeuvring to ensure that it didn’t break off. About ten minutes into the battle things took a turn for the worse when the rod just exploded. Again I had to act fast and managed to hold the two pieces together allowing him to continue the fight. I eventually taped the broken parts, with difficulty, so that he could actually land it. This too wasn’t easy, even with a giant net, but I managed! Looking at the beast laying in the net was impressive to say the least. It was just huge and had an enormous girth to go along with its length. Just when Zach thought his work was over, I informed him that it was just about to begin. Now he would have the difficulty of lifting it up for the pics. Good luck Zach! In his line of work he’s lifting 160 pound bags of cement all day, so this fish shouldn’t be a problem. Yeah right! It took some time but he finally managed somehow to lift it up with the help of a bear hug and we got the shots. Throughout this ordeal, Luke was videoing the entire thing and had some excellent footage to remember. I think Zach was relieved when I finally told him to toss the monster back too. Amazingly he got a clear throw and never even touched the rail upon entry! This fish was definitely worth the wait as none of them had ever seen anything so big come from any waters they had fished before. Now we had the task of trying for another and I got the lines back in quickly. Just like the first fish, the second one also took a long time. Despite many drive byes and nibblers eating our worms, it was a while before we were hooked up again. There were a few solid takers that were only on for a brief period that ended in disappointment. This time however, Mitchell felt the bite and reared back on a good fish. We had to go to holding the rods late in the morning when the winds went completely south and increased in speed. They had all felt fish bump into their lines and knew exactly what to do if they got bit. This fish fought like a champ and really took him for a ride. Although the fight only lasted 5 minutes, he got to feel the power of the sturgeon really well. It wasn’t a big one but definitely worth a few pics as it was his biggest fish to date. I really wanted Zach to tangle with one as he had orchestrated this entire trip and then it happened. With rod in hand he got bit and loaded it up perfectly! This was going to be the battle of his life as it was huge! While I was clearing everything and putting the rods up front, I heard a huge splash and although I didn’t see the fish, everyone else did. The consensus was large! Zach was now fighting a fish of equal size to the one Zach had battled this morning and feeling the pain too! The number of runs this fish took was just insane. Several times Luke had the line counter at 30 feet and the fish took him to well over 100. I think the fight lasted about 20 minutes before I could even get a shot at it with the net. Finally I was able to scoop it up but not without a couple of struggles before. This fish was super long and just a fat! I don’t even want to estimate how big it was but I needed a hand just to hoist it into the boat. Luke somehow managed to pick it up for the pics but it wasn’t easy. All I know is that he was physically exhausted after the entire ordeal and didn’t want any part of anything else afterwards.  It was a huge struggle just to put it back in the water and this one also cleared the rail. There was only one more person to get a fish and not long after we had the lines back, Mitchell hooked another and passed the rod to Derek to battle the fish. He had a good shot at one earlier and only had it on briefly but this time he was locked good. Unfortunately it was a juvenile and came in quickly. We tried a little longer but the weather wasn’t looking good and by 4:00 we were done and heading back in a light misty rain. It didn’t matter as these guys had the time of their lives with the fish they saw and caught today. Their expectations had been exceeded tenfold! I don’t think any of them had ever imagined, in their wildest dreams, that they would be doing battle with something out of Jurrasic Park. I think we can all say that today was a success! Something also tells me that this isn’t the last time I will be seeing the likes of these guys. I know I can’t wait to have them back!!