The Perfect Ending

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This was Rick & Danny’s final day of fishing for their trip and I wanted to keep the ball rolling. Unfortunately the waters we had wanted to go to had another tournament and there would be boats everywhere. I decided to remain on the same water and grind it out!

With winds expected to increase from the south this morning, I thought we’d give sturgeon fishing another try before it got too big. We set the lines and held in place with the electric motor, but still had to hold the rods due to the bouncing waves.

After a couple of moves due to only nibbles, I finally felt the first bite. As soon as I reared back on the rod, I knew it was a good fish just by the dead weight. The rod never moved when I came up, signifying a beast!

Danny was up, after Rick had landed the last fish a couple of days back and gladly took the rod. It was like he was snagged on the bottom! When the fish took a few runs, all he could do was hang on and let it go. There was no turning the fish or controlling it and I knew he was in for a long fight!

Although this fish never jumped, the battle took place entirely on the bottom, with strong runs. Fifteen minutes after the initial hook up Danny was actually bringing the monster up, or so he thought. Each time he was able to gain line, the sturgeon took it all back and more. It was a really strong fish and didn’t want to give up!

We were pushing the 20 minute mark before he actually raised it to the surface and even at that, the fish still made a few more runs. Eventually I slid the net under the fish and ended the battle. Surprisingly it was a male and not the female I had thought by the fight. If it had of been, it would have been a real monster. Instead it was a male and one of the longest ones I had ever seen. It was still a big fish and really heavy as Danny found out during the pics! I never really got any great shots as he wasn’t able to hold it for very long. He was happy to release it as quickly as possible and end the pain! As it turned out, this was his largest sturgeon to date and the only one we were to get for the day. I guess if you only get one, that was the right one!

We stayed a little longer but the winds really picked up creating much bigger waves, forcing us to pull the plug on this area. They were only fishing a half day and I thought we would take advantage of the conditions and try for walleye instead. They gladly agreed and we packed up and made the long run to where I knew they would be.

Within minutes after arriving, Danny & I were hooked up on a couple of good keepers. The place was loaded by the looks of the screen and I knew there would be many more! Drift after drift, fish were being hooked and after a couple of hours, they both had their limits to take home. I held out a little longer and managed to put a few more in the boat for me as well. Our day was officially done!

The three days spent fishing had produced some great fish each day. Today however was like the icing on the cake with the largest sturgeon and perfect timing for a couple of limits of fish. I was glad Mother Nature had somewhat cooperated and not killed us with either a monsoon or hurricane winds! Overall, she was quite pleasant at times, providing us with some great fishing and absolutely beautiful weather. It actually felt more like mid-August than the end of September! Another great trip in the books, once again!