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Garnet, Matt, John & Curtis were with me again today for their annual meet up. I gave them the option to cancel at the water due to the big winds and ever bigger winds to come, but they wanted to go regardless. Sure glad they made that decision!

Although I had planned to start with sturgeon, the big waves would have made it difficult to hold and even tougher to see the bites. Instead I decided that we were going to drift & dropshot over large flats, looking for bass & walleye.  I set up the rods and let the winds move us to see which direction I was going to use and after a few minutes, had them drop down.

The first few drifts over one of the flats didn’t produce but on the third place, they began to hook up. Matt managed to get a couple of decent ones into the bot and the walleye went right into the livewell for him to take home. I had everyone on different baits and after Matt landed the third fish, I decided to switch them all to the same thing. Curtis wasted no time bringing in the next walleye and the others soon followed. With each drift there were multiple hookups had and more fish were livewelled! I’m not sure how many passes we made but it was a lot! Eventually the bites got fewer and by 1:30 I decided to pull the plug and head elsewhere. The winds hadn’t really gotten any worse and we were going to try for a sturgeon bite, if we could hold!

Once I arrived at the area to fish, I set everything up and began the search. The waves were a good 2 to 3 foot most of the time and I even had to have a couple of the guys stand up front to keep the bow down. Lines in and the wait felt like forever. I checked the baits a few times and every once in a while they were still there. Most of the time however, the nibblers had stolen the worms without even being noticed on the rods. The winds were bouncing the boat quite a bit even with two people weighing the bow down.  It was said that Garnet was to take the first fish and Curtis would have the second one. Now all I had to do was find a couple of volunteers! Garnet was passed the rod after I reeled into a small fish and he landed a perch. Not what were after but at least I knew that the fish would bite here.

We had relocated a few times with all the pesky nibblers and were talking about going back to where we had fished earlier in the day for the walleye. I thought I would make one more attempt at finding a big fish and searched around until I did finally locate a good one. A last attempt at one bite would be made and we would remain anchored for no more than 10 minutes. About three minutes in, I saw the rod bounce and was shocked. I quickly grabbed it and felt the bite again. I immediately reared back and bent the rod on the hookset. I could tell by the weight that this was a giant and handed it over to Curtis to do battle this beast.

Well the fight lasted over 15 minutes with multiple long runs and one huge attempt at a breach. The fish was coming up fast right beside the boat and at the last second, turned underneath the boat. I think it would have either landed in or even hit the boat if it had of continued. From there, it made a straight line sizzling run right to the bottom. Curtis pumped the fish up several times and each time it went right back. Eventually however, he managed to get it up to the surface where I was able to net it and the battle was over. I took several pics with him and even a group photo showing its overall size before they released it back to the water. After this, we were officially done for the day!

I was definitely glad that they decided to fish today, despite the big waves and gusting winds. It may not have been an easy day but it was definitely rewarding. In the end they took 10 fish home and finished off with a bang. The beast of a sturgeon was just icing on the cake! A well-deserved reward for the time we put in today in these adverse conditions!!

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After getting the truck repaired, again this week, I finally got back on the water today. I was fishing with Chris & Jake but only for the morning. They wanted to try for sturgeon and we had the perfect weather for it too! No wind and a slightly overcast sky with cool air temps. The question was would they bite?

After idling over the area for a few minutes, I stopped where I had seen a few good marks and casted out the rods for the wait. Unfortunately a couple of moves were needed to get away from the nibblers, as always, before we finally got bit. In just a few minutes we went from nothing to a double header! They may not have been the monsters I was looking for but they were sturgeon.

After resetting the lines, we managed another small fish before Jake got to do battle with something larger. I knew when I set into the fish that it was decent but was sure it wasn’t huge. Jake fought it for a few minutes and felt the power. It made a jump 5 feet beside the boat and shot right back to the bottom immediately after. He struggled for a bit but eventually managed to bring it to the surface for me to net. This would prove to be his biggest fish so far to date and it wasn’t even the beast I had hoped he would battle. Now I wanted more!

Chris was up next and when I set into another fish, I knew it was one that he would have to fight. It felt like a decent fish and a couple of jumps later, we knew why! It peeled plenty of line from the reel multiple times and Jake even got the leaps on video! Close to 8 minutes later, I netted his catch. He held it up for several good pics and released it to the water soon after. They now had done battle with something larger than the nursery fish we had started with! But I still wanted more!

I reset the lines and we spent the remainder of the time hoping for a big bite. Unfortunately it just wasn’t to happen as all we could get into were a couple more small fish again. Time had passed quickly and before we knew it, we were done. I packed everything up and headed back to take out.

Today may have been a short one but at least they both did battle with the largest fish of their lives. Although not the true monsters I was hoping for, they were still big enough to give them an idea of what to expect the next time they are back. Now I have left them wanting more and I’m sure that before the season is over, we will be hooking up again. Fall is the best time for these dinosaurs and it’s just around the corner. I only hope when they return that the beasts come out to play!!

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Mike, Steven & Bobby joined me today for sturgeon. They were hoping for some action and possibly a few big ones too! I knew exactly where to go and headed out to the area that had been producing. Too bad we had to run while the rain was falling, but at least it wasn’t supposed to last!

We anchored up in a light south wind after scouting the area for fish. I had marked a few good ones and wanted to see if we could get an early bite. In less than ten minutes I saw a rod bounce and set into something small. Bobby took the rod and reeled in the first sturgeon of the day. Although not big, it was still nice to get the skunk out of the boat, early!

We were getting into fish all morning but I wasn’t satisfied with their size. I made many moves to try and set up on the bigger ones but each time I relocated on large marks, they didn’t eat. Plenty of small fish did however and numbers of sturgeon were landed. They even managed to catch a couple of exotic fish with one red horse sucker and a drum!

The conditions were almost perfect today with the south wind and I was able to hold with the electric motor for the entire time. Sometime after 2:30 and the last small sturgeon, we decided to make a big move. I packed everything up and was going to see if we could spend the remaining time trying for walleye. The skies were looking a little threatening and the radar as well but we would give it a try!

On the run back, I finally got a good look at what was coming and it wasn’t pretty. We were already getting rained on and I could see the shoreline starting to disappear. I gave them the option to fish & get wet or head in and get less wet and they opted for the latter! We headed in!

The day was successful but mostly for numbers and not size. Everyone was still happy to have caught as many fish as they had and to have spent it on the water. The weather was just a bonus as we weren’t frying in the heat! The rain may have been falling heavily now, but at least we were on shore and ready to take out! Or so I thought!

After having major work done on my truck just a couple of days ago, I was surprised to have the problems I did today. I had front end repairs done as well as a fuel pump replacement. When I tried to gas up this morning, the fuel wouldn’t go in the tank. Instead it just pumped out onto the ground. I guess they forgot to connect the pipe back from when they dropped the tank. The biggest problem however was when I tried to back the trailer down the ramp to load the boat. When I put it in AWD and went in reverse, it just jammed up. A loud grinding noise was heard under the engine and I was locked. Apparently a cap front the front axle had fallen off and was stuck where the wheel turns. It was held on with 6 bolts and only 1 was found on the ground under the truck. I guess they forgot to tighten the bolts! The other 5 must have vibrated out between Friday night and now! Lucky it didn’t happen while I was on the highway or the results might have been different!

I was forced to make a few calls afterwards. One was to a friend to get my boat and the other to CAA for a flatbed tow. I still had to disconnect the trailer from the truck without having it roll downhill into the water and pin it up to the other vehicle. I blocked the tires and tied a tow rope to the front of the trailer and we pulled it away from the truck on the tongue jack. Once it was on a level surface we pinned up to the other truck. We quickly had the boat on the trailer afterwards and the first of the problems was resolved.

After about 30 minutes from the time we called, the flatbed truck arrived and we had it loaded on the truck to be taken to my house. I was actually able to drive it onto the bed when the piece that was jammed fell off, freeing the wheel. At least we had that going for us!

Both truck & boat were taken to my house and Tuesday morning when the repair shop opens they will be getting a call. In the meantime I will have to cancel the customers that I have for Monday as I have no way to get the boat to the water. Hopefully things will work out quickly, Tuesday morning. I don’t need to be down longer than one day with customers and fishing to be done. Welcome to the world of a fishing guide!!

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Nick was with me today looking to get his first ever sturgeon. We would try for them early and switch over to another species afterwards. Hopefully it would all go as planned!

The bottom looked dismal as I idled around searching for a spot to start. Eventually I just settled on a couple of smaller marks and gave it a try. This went on for a few areas before finally finding one place that I didn’t get harassed by nibblers. It was here I finally set into something decent and handed Nick the rod to fight the fish. I knew it wasn’t the one I was looking for but hoped it was at least the right species! Soon after he had the small sturgeon beside the boat and I tailed his catch. A few pics later it was returned unharmed and we went right back to searching for a giant!

I made a few more moves to try and find the fish but all we could come up with was one more bite. As it turned out, it was the biggest bass of the day! Too bad it had to be caught on the heavier tackle! Soon after we pulled the lines and switched to a different species!

I decided to begin with smallmouth and had him dropshot a ledge in deeper water. I too had a line in the water to get the right presentation and speed to remain vertical. We made a long drift over the same area that had been producing well for me lately and unfortunately only managed a couple of smaller bass. We did both however miss a couple of fish that I know were much larger when they just came off!

I wanted to try several spots and moved to another area where we finally got bit. I was marking some good fish and we actually doubled up on the first place we switched to. Things were looking up as I made a couple more passes over the hump and we also saw more bites. Too bad they were either small or missed all together!

I wanted to hit as many places as possible with what I thought was plenty more time left in the trip. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case as Nick told me that he only wanted to fish for about another hour. I decided to go back and see if we might be able to get another sturgeon. We spent about 30 minutes trying without any luck so I moved to another place looking for smaller fish instead.

Our last spot turned out to be full of fish but they were apparently all perch. We had tons of little bites while trying for walleye and although I did mark several, we only caught the little guys. Time passed quickly and we were done!

Although we didn’t get into as many fish as I had hoped for, Nick did manage to catch his first ever sturgeon today. He also landed a few smallies and I’m sure given more time that he would have caught plenty more! This turned out to be a very short day of fishing. I guess he’ll just have to come back again to try for another River Monster!!

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Wilma, Ronnie and their son Daniel joined me today for another mixed bag outing. With the winds light I decided to try for a big bite early and headed to fish for sturgeon. I had hoped to get at least one before switching over to another species.

The bottom looked almost void of fish and I spent more time idling around before I finally settled on a few marks. Lines went in and as usual lately, we were nibbled to death by small fish. In fact, I even managed to catch one of the culprits!

I had been forced to relocate a few times and beginning to lose faith in the possibility of a bite when one of the rods began to bounce. I grabbed it quickly and was into some decent weight on the hook set.  Daniel was passed the rod and I instructed him on how to fight the fish. It was definitely the biggest thing he ever had on the end of the line and I wanted to see him to land it.

After clearing the area I guided him a little more and saw the line begin to rise. They were about to see what he was hooked up to as it breached behind the boat. Although not a true giant, it was still a very good one! Line peeled from the reel as the sturgeon took almost 75 feet out in just one run. Daniel was enjoying fighting a big fish and also tiring at the same time. He did manage to reel almost all the line back to the boat just before the fish went into a crazy spiralling and tangled itself. Now he was bringing it in, backwards! I tried to untangle the line when he had it to the boat but it was all tied up. Instead I just netted his fish and unwrapped it in the net. This thing was still full of energy so I set it free to finish the fight.

Daniel was tired from the battle and his father decided to take the rod from him. All was good with the sturgeon wearing itself out enough to almost be netted one more time. Unfortunately this is where it went wrong! Ronnie allowed the fish to go around the motor and tangled the line in the ladder afterwards. By the time I saw what had happened, it was too late. The fish had snapped the heavy braid, leaving us with nothing. First time in all the years of fishing sturgeon fishing that this had ever happened! I didn’t want to continue after this and packed everything up and went for bass instead!

We spent several hours drifting deep water and everyone had lots of chances. Unfortunately due to many different reasons, only a handful of them were caught. Although the bass were a good size, they only managed to bring about 25% of them to net. We remained on this technique for a while longer and eventually went back to try for sturgeon one more time. The winds were still down and it was early afternoon but they wanted to give it another go!

I idled over the area and found a small concentration to set up on. It didn’t take long before one of the rods bounced and I was tight to a fish. I knew it wasn’t huge so I passed it to Wilma and instructed her on what to do. It fought like a big one, screaming line from the reel and even breached once for all to see! After 5 minutes or so she brought it close enough for me to net. Now she would have to hold it for the pics!

We shot several pics and Wilma released her fish to where it belonged. I still don’t know why anyone would kill one of these things! I tried for a while longer to see if we could get into more but without success. Time to pull the plug and go for another species, elsewhere!

There was limited time remaining in the day and I decided to hit an area that I hadn’t fished in a while. The winds were good enough for a drift and I was sure there would be fish there! Almost immediately, Wilma was into a good one but too much slack was in the line and she lost it as it took to the air. Ronnie locked up at the same time and he managed to bring in a jumbo perch. I was seeing all kinds of fish marking and made several passes over the area to see if they could get bit. They did, but almost all were either missed or lost! I dropped in quickly and also landed a jumbo perch! Kinda wish I had of kept the first one too!

In the last 15 minutes we drifted over a section that produced two more bass for Wilma and Daniel before we were done. I had arrived at this area a little too late as I wish I could have refined it a little longer. In the end we finished with a bang and I packed everything up for the run back.

Today was an interesting one with plenty of opportunities for everyone. They did manage to bring several of them into the boat though and that’s all that counts. In the end they left satisfied and landed some of the biggest bass they had ever caught, along with a couple of fish they had never seen. I call that another successful day of fishing!