Double Trips For Sturgeon

Rachel & Gina joined me this morning for a half day outing, hoping to catch anything. I was going to try & lock them up on a few beasts! They would need to be back at the docks by 11:30 as I had an afternoon trip scheduled with Val & Julie. Hopefully I would be able to get into the sturgeon quick!

After the cool morning run, I located some fish and set up for the wait. For a change, it didn’t take long before we had our first bite. Gina was into a small fish but at least it was the right kind! The next one was to be for Rachel and I hoped it would be a whole lot larger.

Rachel was celebrating her birthday, by treating herself to a fishing trip today. Up until now she hadn’t really caught anything big, but that was about to change real soon! I noticed another bite and immediately set into some weight. This was the one we were looking for!

For the next ten minutes, she fought her fish through everything. From a glove caught in the worm gear jamming the reel, to a rod tip wrap she struggled throughout. The fish even tangled itself in the line by rolling, causing it to feel like dead weight in the end. After many long runs and one spectacular jump, she was able to bring it close enough for me to net and a sigh of relief was had by everyone. This was way bigger than anything she could have imagined, but now she was going to have to hold it for the pics. This would be interesting!

I realized quickly that it was just too heavy for her to hold standing so I prepped the tarp for a lap shot. It would be much safer for both her as well as the fish! We took several different shots and released the beast back to the water to fight another day. Now I wanted Gina to experience one of her own!

We had waited a little longer for the next bite but when it came, I turned it into a double. While Gina was fighting hers, I noticed a bite on one of the other rods and set into a second fish for Rachel. I normally reel in the other lines but today I was hoping for more. This was to be the first double of the year!

These fish may not have been beasts like the previous one but they put up a great fight regardless. Watching two young girls battle a couple of sturgeon made for a great pic too! Eventually I was able to tail the first one and release it quickly before landing the second fish. Gina’s was somewhat larger and I took a couple of pics before releasing it back as well.

We made a couple of moves in the time we were out but only managed one more bite. Although it was on the smaller side, they still enjoyed reeling in something they had never seen before. In the end, we finished with 5 fish and one real beast!

I headed in to exchange guests and immediately went back to where we were fishing. Val had brought Julie and wanted to get her into something big today. She had never caught a sturgeon before and I too hoped to hook her up on a giant.

This was not a normal day for Val as we only had a light chop on the water instead of the huge rollers we were so accustomed to being in. He has probably the worst track record for wind but today we were getting lucky. I was actually able to use the electric motor to hold where we were fishing and it made my life much easier. We were even able to keep the rods in the holders instead of holding them like we did the last time we fished for sturgeon. This was definitely a win, win situation!

It didn’t take long before we received the first bite and Julie was fighting a small sturgeon. It may not have been the size we wanted but it was still a great fish. Not long after the pics and release, we managed to get another bite and she landed her second one too! Both these fish weren’t really what I was looking for but they were sturgeon nonetheless and we were glad for the bites.

I thought we were going to have to filter through some of the smaller ones, but was sure we would eventually connect with some quality. After about 5 more juveniles, we decided to pull the plug on sturgeon fishing and go for some walleye instead. The winds had finally picked up enough to make it difficult to see the bites but it looked great for what we were about to do!

We had a little over an hour remaining in the day and I wanted to get them a few fish to take home so I set up on the usual flat. First drift yielded a nice keeper eye and I really thought we were going to get into them good! Conditions were almost perfect for drifting and I was marking all kinds of fish. I couldn’t have asked for more!

Multiple drifts later and only one jumbo perch to show for our efforts, I was not impressed. Julie soon changed everything with a high end keeper and it too went in the well. Unfortunately that was the last fish we would be seeing as time had run out. We had given it a fair chance but the fish had other ideas and not eating was one.

Overall today was a great success with the sturgeon. I would have liked to see more big ones, but you never know when one bites the line. Catching a few walleye in the end was just icing on the cake for Val & Julie and I am sure one or both are on the menu tonight! Bon appetite!