Fishing Slowly

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Neil was back again today along with Mike, for some sturgeon action. I was hoping that it would be as good as the last trip I had, only a couple of days ago. Would the fish cooperate was the question!

We set up in the usual area after marking several good ones and waited for our first bite. Too bad the gobies were enjoying our presentation more than the targeted fish! I had to constantly re bait the hooks and monitor the rods as they were relentless. In fact we made a couple of nearby moves just to try and get away from their piranha like nibbles. In the process we managed to land 5 juvenile sturgeon and one small walleye. Not really what we were looking for, but better than those annoying minnows!

We had spent a number of hours anchored up in search of a big fish, but weren’t really having much luck. I wasn’t even marking much now, each time I made a move! Talk of going for another species was on everyone’s mind and then it happened! I saw a good bite on one of the rods and set into some substantial weight. The rod was instantly passed to Mike and it was game on!

After having landed a few smaller sturgeon today, Mike was thinking that this too was a small fish by the way it was coming in. I however knew better, from setting the hook and told him to keep the pressure on and reel quicker! The rod wasn’t bent like it should have been, due to the fish coming at him and in a split second it breached right beside the boat. Instantly the line screamed from the reel and the fish rocketed to the bottom. It also went to the opposite side of the boat as quickly and I had to bury the rod in the water as I went around the motors. This little issue happened a couple more times and I had to take the rod from him every time to ensure that the line didn’t get tangled in the prop.

Mike was beginning to feel the pain after several long runs and nearly 15 minutes. Each time he had it within 30 feet, the fish ran out double or even triple that in line. It was quite funny watching the show! Eventually he managed to bring it close enough for me to net and the battle was over. He was relieved too as his back was feeling the burn!

Everything was prepped for the pics when I found out that Mike wouldn’t be able to hold the fish. He had back surgery the year before and didn’t want to chance anything. No problem, Neil would take over for the shoot! She was sent on her way right after and although we attempted to hook into another, it just wasn’t meant to be. We eventually pulled the plug and went for something else.

I decided to take them to an area for smallies and set the rods up with a couple of different baits. Neil was tossing blades and Mike was on a soft plastic, hoping to get bit. After covering the area and only seeing one fish actually attempt to hit, I tossed in a jig and was tight almost instantly. A quick change of baits for both had several more fish brought to net after, but the bite still wasn’t great. I realized that these fish just didn’t want to eat and by fishing slowly, was at least able to put some in the boat. Time to make another move!

Neil and Mike had hoped to bring a few walleye home so I headed to another area to give it a try. The winds were out of the east and not favourable for what I wanted to do so I used the electric motor just to move in the right direction. Despite marking schools of walleye, we had no luck here and didn’t stay long. Limited to time, I made one final attempt at catching something to eat and moved once again.

We had only about 30 minutes remaining as I stopped on a flat and almost instantly Neil hooked into a fish. He passed the rod to Mike and grabbed the other only to have a double. Both were walleye and they were also keepers! We covered the area and they were able to put two more in the box, along with catching a few unders before we were done.

Today was not the banner day I had hoped it would be as we worked hard for every bite we received. At least there was one quality sturgeon landed along with some fish for them to eat. Even the bass were a little slow, but they did manage to get a few of them too! In the end however, it all worked out and everyone had a great time on this cool fall day. Hopefully the sturgeon will be back on the bite tomorrow as I have plans to fish for them again! We’ll just have to wait and see!