Closing Day

Jim & his buddy were with me today for the last day of the sturgeon season. After yesterday’s misery I was sure we would get into them once again, as the conditions seemed much better.

I began marking some fish as soon as I arrived and set the lines quickly, in hopes of an early bite. I knew there would be more boats out today with it being the last one and wanted to get into the fish right away. Well it didn’t really go as planned but we did hook up fast. Too bad it was a Redhorse sucker though!

The sturgeon were being a little finicky this morning and I made many moves trying to get bit. At one spot we had multiple false hits as they kept running into our lines. I’m sure some of them were legit as I was finally able to get the hooks into one of them. Jim fought the fish for a total of 45 seconds before it pulled out and the line went slack. Figuring we would get more, I shook it off and went right back at it again!

We held on this place for probably longer than we should have. Several more hits were seen on the rods, but unfortunately nothing was hooked! Eventually I had to make another move and try something different. We would be holding the rods now as the winds were just rocking the boat way too much to see the bites. Hopefully this would change our luck too!

We were into the afternoon and still hadn’t caught a sturgeon yet. By holding the rods I hoped that our luck would change and it finally did. Not long after switching locations, again, Jim reared back on some substantial weight. He was officially locked up and into a heavy fish. We reeled in the other lines not to have any tangles and he fought his fish for almost ten minutes. Although it jumped once, I was clearing the rods and didn’t actually see the breach. It did sound heavy when it splashed down and I knew it was a quality fish. After several good runs it was finally close enough for me to net and the fight was over. The next thing was holding it for some pics and we shot many! A quick release after and we were right back in the game again.

Jim’s buddy was up next and as luck would have it, he soon hooked into another fish on his own. Not really knowing what a hit was going to feel like, he asked me and instantly was locked up. It may not have been a big one, but it was his first sturgeon! Regardless, we took several pics before the release!

I was on a run & gun pattern today with all the other boats around and as I expected, a couple of other boats had seen us land a fish and moved closer to us. Bent rods aren’t always a good thing!

We had repositioned in another area when traffic got heavier and Jim’s buddy set the hooks one more time. This fish was definitely larger than his previous one and gave him a much better fight! Many runs later, I tailed his catch and almost wished I had of netted it instead. It was borderline on the size I usually grab and somewhat difficult to hold. He was quite content with this one and definitely needed more pics of the catch.

With limited time remaining, I had really hoped for a true giant and made a couple of moves in search of the beast. We were holding for a few minutes when his buddy reared back on another good fish. Having already caught a couple, he decided to pass the rod to Jim to do battle with it. This was technically his turn anyway and he gladly accepted!

This fight had me releasing the hold from the electric motor as the fish went above the boat during the tug of war. It was acting strange but I knew it was just due to its size! This battle lasted more than ten minutes and when we finally saw the fish, we all knew why. It was a true giant and super long! I slid the net under the sturgeon and Jim was relieved. It had been a strenuous ten minutes and a little relief was welcomed before having to hold it for the pics. Several more good shots were taken and the fish was released to fight another day.

I tried locating more big fish but we just ran out of time and were done. It may not have been the day I expected but at least there were some good fish caught. The afternoon bite was definitely the best as everything came after 1:30 today! Both Jim & his buddy had felt the power of these creatures, landing their first ever sturgeon today. They even did it with rod in hand, making it even better to have gotten the bite. The season may be over for the sturgeon but I will be back out plenty more times before the deep freeze arrives, fishing for bass, walleye and maybe even a few more toothy critters. I can’t wait to see what November brings!