Perfect Conditions

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Today Dan & Guillaume were in for a real treat! We were going for sturgeon and the conditions were perfect for catching some giants. The question was, would they cooperate?

As I idled over the area with many other boats around, I settled on a spot that showed signs of life. Well it didn’t take long before Guillaume was tight to the first of many fish. It beat him up pretty good but finally came to the boat for me to net. It wasn’t a real giant, yet, but definitely his biggest by far and a personal best. A few pics were taken and the fish was returned, unharmed.

We had to move around and relocate but I was definitely in the right area. I could see plenty of signs of quality fish on the bottom and I was sure it was only a matter of time before we were bit. The second bite went to Dan and the same thing happened. The fish powered down and peeled plenty of line from the reel signalling that it could be quality. After about ten minutes it too came to the boat for me to net and they were both on the board. Now we just needed that really big bite!

Guillaume’s next encounter was going to be his best with this sturgeon going insane. It ran out line multiple times and jumped, showing us the actual size of the beast. He struggled to bring it to the boat and loved every minute of the fight! When he actually held it for the pics, he realized just how big it was. This was definitely going to be his personal best, again and biggest fish ever!

We had been anchored up in the same area for a while now and catching fish like crazy. Not all of them were huge but they definitely acted like they were. This also drew attention to us and a couple of other boats decided to try their hand closer to where we were. All this did was frustrate them even more as we continued to land fish! When our action slowed, I decided to move around a bit to see if I could mark any more fish nearby and of course another boat relocated as well. It moved to where we had been and anchored right in the exact spot. People are unbelievable!

I continued my search and eventually found the marks I was looking for. As I set up above the area, I could see that it was close to where were before as we weren’t too far from the other boat that moved in. In less than ten minutes we were tight to another fish and this one was felt big. Dan was up and about to take a beating! This fish didn’t act its size in the beginning but it eventually did. When it realized that it was hooked, it went insane. I think it rolled in the line and tangled itself badly. Dan was reeling it in backwards and it felt like dead weight. When I saw what had happened, I tried to unroll a few of the wraps to give him back the fight. Eventually with my help the fish unrolled the rest and fought for another ten minutes before coming to net. I think Dan was relieved to finally be free of the fish but now he would have to gather more strength in order to hold it for the pics. Even a big dude can tire out with one of these monsters! Dan was exhausted and holding the fish didn’t help. I always love it when I wear someone out from a big sturgeon! After the pics Dan released the fish to fight another day!

I probably should have pulled the plug after the big battle but decided to try for another one. Guillaume managed to fight and land another good fish but not the likes of the previous monster. It did however give him an exceptional fight with a couple of spectacular jumps as well. We remained for a little bit longer but after one more juvenile, we decided to call it a day. I was not able to get to where I wanted with the other boats and just gave up trying! We would spend the remainder of our time targeting smaller fish, elsewhere!

With about 45 minutes remaining, I stopped in an area for walleye. Guillaume managed to get the first fish and it was a keeper. He wanted to bring a few home for dinner and we were able to put 4 nice ones in the livewell in the time we fished. There were several others released due to their size and even more bites missed.

Today was a great experience for Guillaume as he had never seen fish this big. Dan had been waiting almost two years to get back into these sturgeon and it was all due to conditions. In the end, it was  definitely worth the wait! They had bot landed many and also their personal bests! The walleye fishing was only icing on the cake!!