I had a father & son join me today all the way from the State of Texas. It would be easy to remember their names as they were both the same! Chris & Chris were up for everything so that was exactly what they were going to get. We began in a smallie area that had become a community hole lately. It would be the first time that I was able to get in without multiple boats fishing it too! Chris Jr. was dragging a jig and his dad was tossing a stick bait to try and pluck some of the more aggressive ones. As soon as I showed them where to throw, it didn’t take long for Jr. to connect with a decent fish. Too bad it didn’t last as it jumped and was gone! A little heartbroken but not to worry as I was sure there were more here. Sr. managed to get one to commit suicide as he never even felt the take! All of a sudden it was there and leaping in the air to toss the hooks. Eventually he brought it to net and a chunky 3.5 pound fish was his catch. As he admired his prize, I shot several shots before it was returned to the water. A little trash talk was heard and it was only going to get worse! They both went right back in there and not long after, Sr. was locked up again. He battled a clone of the first one to the boat and I netted his second smallie of the morning. After seeing this, I rigged another rod for Jr. and got them back in the game. Unfortunately after about 30 minutes of nothing, I decided to pull the plug and relocate. I had another area nearby that should produce walleye and bass and wanted to give it a try. They both tossed jigs to a drop and unfortunately came up empty. There were plenty of missed strikes but nothing was boated so we just moved on. We were heading for the big girls now and I knew they were in for a treat! Once we were set up, it took a little while longer than I expected for the first one to appear. Chris Sr. was into a good fish and about to feel the pain! I instructed him on what to do and we watched as the fish took control. It was like trying to reel in a Greyhound Bus on the highway! He could barely gain 5 feet before the sturgeon would take back 10. I knew this was an endurance thing and informed him that it was only going to get worse. Once the fish settled down, it began to come in and Chris was finally starting to gain line. A few minutes later, it was in the net and they were shocked. It was definitely the largest thing they had ever landed and needed proof of the catch. As with all these dinosaurs, it was released to fight another day! The second hookup was much quicker and this time it was Chris Jr. that was going to feel the burn. He could barely move this thing for the first few minutes and just held on. Eventually he began to reel some line back and was able to get it closer to the boat. He felt what his dad had earlier and fought through the pain to land another huge fish. When he tried to pick it up for a few shots, I think he finally realized the actual weight. Somehow he managed to hold it for the pics and back it went. We regrouped and were back in and Sr. was tight lined almost immediately. This fish went ballistic and took to the air as soon as it was hooked. For whatever reason, it also went into an alligator death roll and tied itself up so bad that it just laid on the surface. All he could do was reel it back to the boat like it was dead! Not wanting to net this "Green Giant", I poked it with the net and it went insane once again. It was so tangled up that the gills weren’t even moving. I decided to net her and had to cut the line when I realized it was impossible to attempt anything else. No worse for wear, we tossed her back after pics and she left us in a giant boil when she hit the water. I’ve never experienced this before and hope I never will again! Our weather had changed considerably by the time we were to reset the lines and I decided that we would move elsewhere and try for some walleye. The waves weren’t so bad that they couldn’t get bit but I would have liked a little less wind. Blowing from the SW at 10 to 20 still caused 2 footers with occasional threes and I had set up correctly for the drift. Jr. had the first fish on in just a few minutes and landed a nice walleye of around 3 pounds. Our drifts were short ones and I had to move often in order to stay on the fish but they were getting bit plenty. Unfortunately most were missed strikes and ended up empty lined. Eventually they both started understanding how to react when bit and began hooking more than before. Jr. even managed to get one around 24 inches before the winds switched to NW and shut the fish down completely. We spent the next 5 drifts empty and discouraged and then it started to rain. Talk about getting crapped on! Although I was still marking them, we couldn’t get bit at all and I realized we were done. One more drift had Chris Sr. finally locked up and we were about to end on a high. He brought another 24 inch fish to net and we were done. It was definitely a strange day on the water with many different things happening. Multiple fish of various species and size along with many weather changes made it an interesting one. They had a great time experiencing it all and talks of a return trip are already in the process. As usual, "Mother Nature" threw us another day filled with amusing challenges, but we overcame!!

Darren was back again this morning, but with different people. This time he brought Vincent & Rose, relatives from the Philippines. The conditions were less than perfect as we headed to our first stop of the day. I knew that we would only have a small window of time to fish for sturgeon before it got too rough. Both Rose & Vincent had very little experience fishing and these winds weren’t going to make it any easier! They were blowing 10 to 20 knots from the SW and expected to increase more this morning. I set them all up and not long after, Darren was locked. He had wanted to pass the rod to Vincent, but they decided to watch him fight the fish instead. He had plenty of practice lately and had no problem bringing this one to the boat. I netted his fish and shot a few quick pics before returning her to the water unharmed. I really wanted to have the others hook up, but after 30 minutes or so, realized it was not going to happen. The winds had increased and we were now in two to three foot waves making it next to impossible to detect the bites. We had only gotten in about an hour of fishing time before we were forced to switch to a new area and a different species. I decided to try trolling and opted for a somewhat sheltered section of the lake. Although still rough, it was doable and we covered water looking for our first rip. I was marking all kinds of fish but couldn’t get anything to eat. Multiple lure changes and speed adjustments didn’t work either and I kept going. At one point, we had a small rip without a hookup and frustration started setting in fast. I could tell that both Rose & Vincent weren’t enjoying the conditions and tried everything to get them into fish. I thought of drifting drop shot rigs over some of the fish holding areas, but realized that they wouldn’t be able to detect the pickups. Rose & Vincent hadn’t planned on staying all day and were dropped back at the dock by 1:00. We had to run in 3 & 4 footers to get there, but we made it! Darren wanted to stay and after a short break on the shore, we headed back out only to find that the winds had increased. We were now having to drive through 4 footers with many fives, making it really difficult. I realized that getting the boat on plane wasn’t a good idea and plowed through the rough water to an area close by. I thought we’d attempt drop shotting here, if the winds didn’t blow us over it too fast! Although difficult, Darren hooked into a walleye and proved it wasn’t impossible. We did multiple short drifts over specific areas & caught more fish. Each time I had to run back up for another pass, the giant waves pounded us and plowing was the only way to get there. After over an hour of this, the lake calmed somewhat and we were in heaven. I would take these two & three footers gladly and we fished a whole lot more comfortably for the remainder of the afternoon. I know that if Rose & Vincent had of stayed till the end that they would have caught as well. Unfortunately they would have had to endure much worse conditions before it got better and they weren’t willing to wait. Mother nature may have thrown some nasty crap our way, but we stuck it out and endured the pain. Darren & I had multiple misses but caught plenty of quality walleye before calling it a day. It may have been difficult today but constant adjusting and relocating accounted for the final outcome. I only hope that the conditions change overnight, as I will be right back out again tomorrow. Today was really tough but at least the fishing was good, once we dialed in the program!!

Sam & his brother Hassan were with me today along with their father, for a little sturgeon action. We had a rather cool morning ride to our starting location, but pleasant weather for the remainder of the day. Water temps were holding just around 69 degrees, winds were light & sunshine was in the forecast. I set up in another area this time and it didn’t take long before Hassan was locked up! I know they hadn’t expected anything the likes of what was about to happen next! I tried to tell Hassan to conserve energy as it was going to take a lot out of him. I think he realized what I was referring to after several minutes of just hanging on and changed his grip completely. After what seemed like forever, the inevitable bubbles showed and the end was near. I always love the first reaction of people when things this large appear! All three of them were shocked when they saw just how big the fish was and I slid the net under the first one of the day. Pics were taken, a quick release was had and we resumed fishing once again. Shortly after the first release, Hassan hooked up again and readied for the burn from another giant. This fish was even larger and tired him out quicker due to lack of time between fights. He wanted to pass the rod to his brother but Sam refused his generous offer, wanting one on his own. By the time the fish came up Hassan was totally exhausted and happy I was able to get it in the net quickly. More pics were had with all three of them as it was tough for only one person to hold this thing. Sam finally got his wish a little later and battled another quality sturgeon. These fish were on fire and I didn’t want to move! Never leave fish to find fish is my motto and I was about to practice it. In the next few hours they tangled with many more and all three of them had multiple shots at personal bests. By the time we were ready to try for another species, it was it was early afternoon and they wanted to leave by 3:00. I had my work cut out for me at this point but managed to get them into a few smallies before pulling the plug. We had concentrated on almost entirely large fish leaving a very short period for the bass. Fortunately our efforts weren’t lost as several sturgeon were fought & landed for some really nice pics. Oh yeah, there were a couple of decent walleye taken as well that their father would be enjoying tonight for dinner. All in all a pretty good day for only 6 hours of fishing time!!

We were back at it again this morning and Jim and Marie were ready for whatever came our way. We started a little different than yesterday by drop shotting an area looking for bass & walleye. Although we did have a few quick pickups, the fish were rather small and not what I had expected. They caught a couple of small bass & one rather large perch from this spot before we moved along. With an overcast sky upon us I realized that these fish were scattered and not locked on one particular area. We would have to cover water again today! The one thing that was in their favor however, was the nice weather. Jim & Marie have a long track record of hateful conditions that tend to follow them each & every season. Hurricane like winds are the norm but we had only a light chop both days out. Now if we could only find some schooling fish! I hit a bunch of places this morning and they probably caught fish in each & every one, but no real concentration. A combination of both walleye & bass were taken on a variety of bottom baits as we moved along. We had to really slow presentations down to a crawl in order to get the fish to eat. Sometime in the early afternoon we hit the sturgeon area once more and the only fish landed came on Jim’s line again. It didn’t matter though as Marie still had the biggest one caught from yesterday to brag about! I decided to hit multiple areas in search of a couple of bites from each and increased their numbers by doing so. Marie even landed a really nice eye from our first stop this morning, when we returned to check it again. With all this going on I decided to check another area that I hadn’t fished in over a month to see if there were any fish remaining. To my surprise, they both hooked up almost immediately and we had the first double of the day. It was a shame that this occurred so late in the afternoon as this was going to be our last stop! It seemed that I had finally found a concentration and many more hookups were had in the last hour. If every fish had of stayed pinned they could have landed over a dozen quality bass from this one spot. Unfortunately smallies don’t live by our rules and 25% of them came unpinned! When the bites died completely, we pulled the plug and called it a day. Thankfully, not before rallying back from a rather slow start! Although it may not have been what I had hoped for, they still managed to catch plenty of fish in the two days here and the weather held out for a change too. Jim may have landed the biggest bass of the weekend but Marie had him on both walleye & sturgeon. I’m sure her face book cover page will have a new picture showing the proof. You know what they say, "happy wife, happy life"!!

Jim & Marie were back with me for their annual fishing trip and in for a surprise. I hadn’t told them what it was, but I knew they would enjoy it as much as everyone else. I picked them up at their motel at 7:30 and we were fishing not long after. I hadn’t been on the water since last Monday and wasn’t sure what to expect today. The past week had horrible conditions with hurricane like winds and plenty of sideways rain. Water temps had fallen to 57 degrees and muddied up quite a bit. Hopefully this would help the bite as fall was definitely upon us! I decided to start with the big fish spot in hopes of both of them landing giants early in the day. Once we were set up, it didn’t take long before Jim was into his first sturgeon and it was quite a battle. This thing made several runs and then just dogged it on the bottom. The fight lasted a while before those bubbles finally appeared and a sighting soon followed. Neither of them had expected to see a fish this big on the end of Jims line and were amazed that they even lived in our waters. I hoisted it aboard and it even looked bigger in the boat! Jim held it up for a few shots before torpedoing it back to the depths. We returned to the fishing in hopes of Marie getting one but after an hour or so of just misses, we pulled the plug. I had plenty of water to cover and wanted to hit as many areas as I could for bass. What I hadn’t anticipated though, was all the other bass boats buzzing all over the lake. Apparently there was another tournament going on and I had company. This was going to be interesting as they were everywhere. In fact one area that I was hoping to fish, had boats on it all day long. Each time one left, another pulled in making it impossible for me to stop there. I wasn’t going to expose Jim & Marie to those tournament guys and went elsewhere. I headed further away and gave some shallow areas a try only to find out, they weren’t there. Marie caught the only decent fish of four pounds by covering water with a blade bait. Jim had been tossing a stick bait and managed to get a couple of northerns. Along the way they also managed a few smaller bass before we just left the shallows completely. I really wasn’t seeing any activity here and thought a deeper and slower presentation might be more productive. We relocated on an edge and I decided to mix it up a bit. Jim would be working a jig and Marie a drop shot in hopes of a few pickups. Well, Jim was tight lined almost on his first cast and things were looking up! He managed to land a nice four pound smallie and I thought we were in store for plenty more. Unfortunately this was to be the only bass from here but several walleye were caught afterwards. I tried another area nearby and once again Jim was locked up quickly. Both bass & walleye were landed here as well but all by dead sticking the jigs. For some reason, these fish didn’t want to move much and needed a really slow delivery. After several more fish and even more missed strikes, we moved again. We were going to try for the sturgeon once more as Marie still needed to fight one of her own. I set up in hopes of her tangling with something but Jim was the first one to lock up. He offered her the rod but she wanted him to fight it and flat out refused his kind gesture. Jim was on his own and had to fight another beast for a while before I would be able to bring it to net. Marie was watching how much strength this fish had and having second thoughts of fighting one. I finally netted his fish and it was slightly larger than the one he previously caught. A few more pics and another torpedo release and back to fishing we went. This time Marie contacted with one and it was game on! Not only did she finally hook up, but it was a giant! I could tell by the way it was acting that this was going to be a long battle and warned her to conserve her strength. At one point I could see the line rising and knew what was about to happen. I told them to wait for it and right on cue the monster leaped straight out of the water, boat side! It was huge and we all got a fantastic view of her Olympic, leaping dinosaur! Fortunately it had used up energy by jumping and Marie was gaining line back quickly. I had hoped for a quick fight and was glad the bubbles were starting. Soon after I slid the net under and brought this monster aboard. There was absolutely no way she would be able to hold it up for pics alone. Jim had to give her a hand and even at that, she struggled. It was released to fight again and Marie was exhausted from the fight. What a way to end the day! There was absolutely no way we were going to reset the lines and ended on a high. Although the bite may have been a painstaking one today, they still came out winners. They had managed to land plenty of decent fish with a couple of big smallies and topped it off with some real giant sturgeon. Who could ask for anything more!!