Freezing Conditions

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It was definitely the chilliest morning so far this year with air temps in the negative digits! Add to that the big NE winds and you’ve got a much colder day. Mathieu and his buddies were in for a real treat as we ran to our first spot to fish. The waves were pretty big at times and the splashing froze immediately wherever it hit. Hopefully we would be able to fish!

I realized that although it wouldn’t be easy, we were going to make it happen. I had marked all kinds of big hooks and we would attempt to sturgeon fish. After I unfroze the electric motor of course! The run through all the big waves had splashed water in various places making it difficult to deploy, but I eventually managed to get it into the water to hold.

With 4 lines in, we had a chance and after almost an hour of trying to figure out what direction the boat would remain, I set into a fish. I was almost shocked when I felt the hit and handed the rod to Mathieu to fight. It may not have been too big, but it was our first one and showed that it could be done!

A little while later after resetting the lines, I noticed one of the rods tighten in the rod holder and grabbed it. It was definitely a bite and I set into the second fish of the day! Mathieu number two was up next and he did battle with another fish slightly larger than our first. With two on the board, I knew we would be getting more and got the lines back in for the next bite!

The wind and waves were rocking us and swinging the boat constantly so I had everyone hold the rods to feel the bites. Not being use to this type of fishing they had plenty of false hits as the sinkers bounced and the lines tightened. Jean Francois did manage to set into a fish however and hooked into something strange. As it turned out, he had a channel cat and it was big. Big for here that is!

We made a few moves through the morning as the temps rose and eventually the boat ice started to melt. It was finally warming up some but the winds were still pretty bad. Several other sturgeon were landed along with a Redhorse Sucker throughout the day. We also had the wind lay down some,late in the afternoon making the fishing a whole lot more enjoyable. It was still cold out but not as cold as it was earlier!

With the day passing by quickly, we were nearing the end when I made one final attempt at more fish. These guys had decided that it would be fine if we called it 15 minutes earlier and headed back, but I wanted another chance for them. We compromised and gave it 5 minutes when I marked a good one. Well it didn’t even take the entire time and Mathieu reeled into the last fish of the day. It felt small but when it breached, we realized that it was giant! Sure glad I convinced them to stay a little longer!

I’m not sure if it was the cold water or just the fish, but he was able to bring it to the net in only 5 minutes. It had made a few good runs and remained on the bottom for most of the battle but gave up rather quickly. Oh well, he still had a great time fighting the biggest sturgeon of the day!

Holding it for the pics was a little difficult and his buddies gave him a hand or two. The fish was quite impressive in length but lacked the girth to be a true monster. It may have been the longest one landed in my boat this year! After several pics, he released the beast and we called it a day. That’s how I like to end the trip!

We endured some harsh conditions today but overcame it all to accomplish what we had set out to do. Sturgeon was on the list and we ended it on a high! It’s ironic that I was the only boat out until very late in the afternoon. For a change, I had the lake to myself and was able to move multiple times to stay on the better fish. Tomorrow may be a different story however with it being the last official day in the sturgeon season. Only time will tell!