A Dream Come True

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Karen had contacted me last week asking if I could bring her & her dad out fishing. He had loved to fish all his life and wasn’t able to get out on his own anymore. I gladly told her that we would make it work! Hopefully the fish gods would feel the same way!

We met up at 11:30 and headed out to try our luck at a little sturgeon fishing. I had brought the gear along just in case and after asking Richard if he would like to try & catch one, was glad I did. He had never landed one and I wanted to tick it off his bucket list!

After idling over the area for a few minutes, I settled on a spot that showed some signs of life. I quickly rigged & baited the rods and casted them out, hoping for that first bite. With three lines in the water, surely we would get bit!

I’m a big believer in the 10 minute rule when I don’t see anything on the sonar and after waiting for what seemed like forever, I pulled the lines and searched again. I really wanted to get Richard a big sturgeon and was going to do everything in my power to make it happen!

The conditions were great for using the rod holders to detect any bites, but the weather wasn’t the best. Although we had flat calm waters, we were under bluebird skies with intense sunshine. Midday is never the best time to try for these beasts but we were giving it our all, in hopes of locking up!

We had been anchored for well over an hour and made several moves before I finally set into something heavy. I quickly passed the rod off to Richard and it was game on! He was officially locked up and it was a big one. Seconds after giving him the rod, the fish breached and I saw exactly what he was dealing with. It was one of those monsters and I knew he was in for a long battle!

Richard’s mobility wasn’t the greatest and this fish really tested him to the fullest. He was fighting the sturgeon from a sitting position and had to shift areas several times during the battle. We also got to witness a couple more spectacular leaps from this fish with one of them being only a few feet from the boat! After close to 15 minutes of battling the fish, it finally came near the surface but the fight wasn’t quite done. It immediately went into an alligator roll like they do so often and completely wrapped itself in the line. I released the spot lock and slid down, netting his prize!

I think they were in awe as I hoisted the net into the boat with an enormous sturgeon still inside. I had prepped the tarp for the pics before and even layed it over Richards lap for the pics. There was no way he would be able to hold this thing for even a second without it! We shot many photos before I tossed it back where she belonged. Richard had officially landed his fist sturgeon and it was a beast!

The rest of the afternoon was spent in the same area, and although we caught a few more fish, nothing compared to that first one! They did boat a Redhorse sucker, a channel cat and another small sturgeon before we were officially done.

This day couldn’t have gone any better than it did! Richard had landed a fish of his lifetime and was all smiles afterwards. In fact he was still smiling even after we were out of the water! I was also very happy that he had gotten to do battle with the strongest freshwater fish that swims in our waters. This was just another great day for fishing! Who could ask for anything more!