Enjoying Memories

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I had the pleasure of fishing with an old tournament friend today. Patrick joined Christiane & I for a great day, filled with all kinds of fish. He even managed to catch a giant!

We all hit the lake shortly after 7:30 and decided that we would try for the sturgeon first. It had been a good early morning bite the last couple of outings and I hoped today would be the same.

With lines in and no wind, the rod holders really came into use as seeing even the lightest bite was no problem. Although we were plagued with the goby nibbles at times, I was on fish and didn’t want to move too soon. After re baiting several times, I finally saw a good bite on one of the rods and set into some weight. Pat was in for the fight of his life!

The dead weight of his fish confirmed that this was the one we wanted and he did battle for over ten minutes. Trying to bring the fish from the bottom was not easy as it remained deep and took several good runs as well. It had to be big because it was next to impossible for him to gain much line and keep it on the reel. Every time he was able to get some back, the fish took everything and more. After a while though, he wore the fish out and was able to bring it up for me to net. It was enormous!

Although Pat had previously caught sturgeon, I found out that he hadn’t landed anything this size before. He would have great memories and some truly great pics to remember his catch! As always, the fish was returned unharmed to fight another day!

We reset the lines and it didn’t take long for Christiane to have a fight of her own. It didn’t seem to be as big as the previous one, but fought great just the same. In fact, it breached soon after being hooked showing us exactly what she was dealing with! Several good runs were made and the fight was as always, great! In a little over 5 minutes she had it beside the boat for me to net and soon after, held it for some pics. They were both officially on the board!

The next several hours saw us making a few more moves and landing many more fish. Sturgeon, channel cats, Redhorse suckers and walleye were also added to the mix. Most of the fish however were the targeted species! We even wore our buffs for a pic, to embrace the Covid Times!

We had stuck it out until about 1:00 and were now ready for a move. I was going to take them for bass and hoped the fish would cooperate. The overcast skies from the heavy clouds and misty rain had me believing that the fish would still be somewhat shallow and I knew just where to go.

Christiane nailed the first fish on a blade and Pat wasn’t far behind. He was throwing a soft plastic and managed to get five or six others before we finished the run. I could have gone back for another pass but decided to hit a new area instead, looking for much bigger fish! I had also livewelled some of the larger ones from this place and took a few pics, before releasing the fish back to where they had been caught.

Our next area was covered quite thoroughly and Pat managed to land the only smallie from the entire place. One or two other follows were seen but unfortunately didn’t take!

With time passing quickly I decided to make a long run and hit one final spot. I hoped the action would be better there! It was beginning to load up for the fall and should be holding more fish.

It didn’t take long for a confirmation as Pat missed a bass on his first cast. I immediately set Christiane up with the same bait and between the two of them they probably had 15 or more chances at bass. Some were landed but most were missed before we were done!

Today was an interesting one filled with stories of old tournament times and plenty of action. Pat managed to get is personal best sturgeon and several other smaller ones as well. Both Christiane and Pat landed a good number of different fish through all the weird weather we had seen. We had clouds, rain and eventually plenty of sunshine to end the day. At one point, I even had to raise the roof to keep us dry! Throughout it all there was never a dull moment as everyone had a great time. Many quality fish were boated making this, another great day on the water!