Désolé, cet article est seulement disponible en Anglais Américain. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language.

Karen was back with her father Richard again and her son Liam as well. Liam had just turned 14 and was hoping to catch a big sturgeon. If the conditions allowed, we should have no problem!

The run to our area to fish saw a bigger chop than I had hoped for, but it was still doable. I set the rods after locating a few fish and waited for a bite. Unfortunately our first of many bites were from small fish and all they did was nibble on the baits. I had to constantly check the lines and the worms never really had a chance to stay on the hooks for very long. Although I was on some good fish, I had to make a move!

The second stop wasn’t much better, but Richard did manage to reel in a small sturgeon from here. It was a real juvenile with sharp scoots and I warned him to be careful for the pic. The second fish went to Liam but it too was small and only a bass. We even managed a third fish, but once again it was small and a walleye. Another move was definitely in order!

We were getting on in the morning and all we had to show for our efforts were a couple of small fish and tons of nibblers. I had re baited so many times that I was wondering if I had even brought enough worms! Fortunately the next bite was substantially heavier when I set the hook! Liam was officially into the fish he had come for and was about to feel their power. I instructed him how to fight the sturgeon as he never had anything this big on the line before. He was only use to catching panfish and occasional bass. He was about to do battle with the beast!

This fish fought mostly on the bottom with short, powerful runs but did come to the surface once to jump. I knew right there that it was a decent fish but not a true giant. He should have no problem reeling this one in! About 10 minutes later he had it close enough for me to net and the fight was done. I told him that it was only going to get harder as now he had to hold it for the pics. As difficult as it was, he still managed to prop it on his lap for a few shots before releasing it back to the water. Now I wanted more!

The second fish came quite a bit later in the day after Liam’s big bass. We were set up for sturgeon and he brought a nice smallie aboard. On heavier tackle it really didn’t fight that great but it was also his biggest smallie to date and worthy of several pics. I reset the line and soon after was rewarded with a true bite! It felt heavy when I reared back and I knew this one was going to be big. Liam took the rod and held on as it screamed line from the reel. I had no idea just how big it was yet and cleared the area for him to do battle. The fish breached while I was moving everything and I never really saw the size, but the splash down afterwards was pretty loud. The others did however and all said it was definitely larger than the previous one he had landed.

This fish took more than ten minutes to get to the boat and made several good runs while fighting. At one point it went under the boat from side to side, multiple times. I call that the sturgeon shuffle as you are always reaching around the motor not to get cut off. Liam did a great job with his fish and eventually brought it close enough for me to net. The battle was over but the pain was about to begin! Now he would have to hold it for the pictures. I layed the tarp over his legs this time making it easier for him to hold and shot several from various angles before the release. Now we were going back for more!

We had been set up for a while with very little breeze but that was about to change. It began to blow from the SW putting a nice roll on the water and I wasn’t sure if we were going to be able to hold much longer with the electric motor. We had already been fishing for over 5 hours and I didn’t know if the batteries were still strong enough with this wind. I had the cover up for shade and this too was putting more strain on them as well. We could only try!

Well we managed to hold for about 30 minutes longer, but the fish weren’t cooperating. I decided to pull the plug with about an hour remaining and packed everything up for a move. We were going to try for bass and walleye for the last hour if I could find an area to fish. The waves were a couple of feet now and would be bigger where I wanted to go, but I still wanted to try.

When I arrived I realized that it was doable and angled the boat for everyone to fish. Although I was marking both bass & walleye on the bottom, nothing wanted to eat. After 5 or 6 drifts, I decided to pull the plug and call it a day! We were out of time anyway and nothing was cooperating!

Overall today turned out to be a success with Liam catching a couple of big fish. He managed to learn how to fight something larger than a bass and now knows what to do. I would have liked to get Richard into something big again but unfortunately it wasn’t in the cards today. He has done battle with a giant with me before and landed a true dinosaur! Today it was Liam’s turn to catch them instead! Regardless, everyone left completely satisfied on this beautiful summer day!!

Désolé, cet article est seulement disponible en Anglais Américain. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language.

Mike & Cory were with me today for smallies. I was going to take a break from the giants in pursuit of only bass and maybe a walleye or two. Hopefully the change in wind direction would allow me to fish the deeper water, but the SE blow wouldn’t make it easy. All I could do was try!

Our first spot that should have seen both bass & walleye only produced one smallie and another lost walleye. I decided to try deeper water and we hit the nail right on the head! Each time one of them hooked up, the other followed immediately after. Doubles were the norm but several of the better fish fell off on the way up. Slack line was the cause as it was hard to catch up to the bass!

I had made a few passes over the productive area but the fish just seemed to quit biting. We decided to move and try our luck somewhere else. This time however we decided to give the shallows a try and headed to a reef to cast soft plastics.

In the next few hours there were several more smallies brought to net but it was from many spots. The shallow bite didn’t seem to be great. These fish just weren’t active as we saw plenty of them swimming around. Time for another adjustment out in the deep!

I ran back to the area where we had started and Cory was into fish almost immediately. Some of them were decent but not the giants I was looking for. We made a couple of drifts with similar results but the action was still slow. The winds had died completely now so I thought I’d give another shallow area nearby a shot. We didn’t have anything to lose!

The last 90 minutes saw probably the best action of the day for numbers. Both Cory & Mike landed many smallies on soft plastics and we ended on a high. At least the fish were eating somewhere!

Today was an interesting one as I covered all the depths and found fish in each one. Unfortunately the SE winds caused the drifts to be a little tricky, but we got it done regardless. In the end the rally they had was definitely a bonus with many more fish being caught. Although tough, it was still a great day for fishing!

Désolé, cet article est seulement disponible en Anglais Américain. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language.

Dave and his son Mathieu had booked a half day morning trip in hopes of catching a sturgeon. He also brought his mother Dale along as she just loved being on the water and spending time with her family. I hoped that the big fish would cooperate with the full moon!

We set up in the usual area and waited in anticipation for the first bite. I had marked a few fish and hoped for one of them to eat and it didn’t take long before we were hooked up. I set into a decent fish and knew immediately that it wasn’t the one we were looking for. I passed the rod to Mathieu and he fought a good sized drum. Not what we were looking for but still nice regardless!

We reset the lines after the release and unfortunately I missed the next bite. It felt heavy when I set into it and for a couple of seconds it was on the line. Then the hook pulled free and it wasn’t! This was the first fish I had missed all season so far and I wasn’t happy. My hook up ratio when they bite is almost 100% the way I fish, but this time it just wasn’t meant to be. I shrugged it off and reset the line hoping that we would be able to get another shot at a giant.

About 15 minutes had passed before one of the rods began the bounce and this time I set into some weight. I immediately passed the rod to Dave and he was locked up on the one we wanted. He fought it for about 5 minutes before the fish went crazy under the water and completely wrapped itself up in the line. So much so that I had to release the anchor and drift down to the fish in order to gain any line. He was now fighting dead weight! I was able to untangle his fish and passed him back the rod to do battle for a few more minutes before I finally netted the sturgeon. This was definitely the one we were after! Dave held it up for a few shots before releasing his very first river monster!

We resumed fishing and Mathieu boated another small fish soon after. It was a channel cat and not the sturgeon he wanted. It was still a good fish and deserves a few pics before being let go. His mother Dale was passed the next rod and she actually landed her very first sturgeon. Although not the size of the earlier one, it was a species that she had never caught before. More pics and another release!

We had made several moves throughout the morning due to the pesky nibblers and Mathieu lost what I believe to be his first sturgeon. I was hoping to get another one before we were done and anchored up on one really big mark. With any luck we might just catch this one too!

It didn’t take long before the fish bit and I reared back on some substantial weight. There was no way Mathieu would be able to bring this thing in so I passed the rod to his father once again. It just felt like dead weight at first and then it started to run. It peeled plenty of line from the reel and Dave managed to get most of it back until I saw it starting to rise. I let them all know to watch as it breached and showed us that it was quite a bit bigger than the previous one he just caught. Let the fight begin!

Dave had been battling this fish for over ten minutes before it started to show signs of tiring. We could see it on the sonar under the boat and I knew it was nearing the end. Soon after, he brought it up and I slid the net under his fish, ending the fight. Dave’s arm was really tired after fighting the second fish and I think a third one would have just taken him out. It was difficult for him to hold the fish for the pics but somehow he managed long enough for me to snap a few quick shots. It was quickly released unharmed back to the depths from where it had come from.

We made another attempt at getting into more fish but with no luck. The sun was high now & the heat was intense and it was time to go. More boat traffic was on the water too and it was starting to become harder to see the bites. It didn’t matter though as we had accomplished what I wanted and everyone had gotten into fish.

Today may have been a short one but Dave finally landed what was his biggest fish ever, twice! He had wanted to fight a sturgeon and had done battle with two great contenders. Overall, I call that a success!!

Désolé, cet article est seulement disponible en Anglais Américain. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language.

Mike, Tony & Juliano began their day anchored up for sturgeon and managed to catch a few. They also landed drum, eel, bass, and perch all from the same spot. About the only thing we didn’t get was a channel cat!

After almost the entire morning we decided to switch to casting soft plastics in hopes of getting into more bass. I headed to an area that I was sure would produce and instructed them on how to present their baits. It didn’t take long before Juliano hooked into the first bass on this spot. It wouldn’t be the last though as I was sure there were plenty more!

After over an hour of fishing the area, I decided to make a move to another spot nearby. Thy had all landed smallies from here and I wanted to see if we could get into more elsewhere. With no wind and high heat & humidity, they fished through the pain. It had to be in the 90’s for sure!

As it turned out, this was to be our last spot of the day. Once again everyone landed bass from this area but it was Juliano that managed the most. Sometime after 2:30 they decided to call it a day! I think we all needed the break from this insane heat wave, again!

The run back felt pretty nice because it was the first breeze we had since the morning run. The waves however weren’t as nice as every boat was out today. Eventually we made it back to the dock and I was able to take the boat out without much trouble. The weekend warriors were out but I managed to work around all the stupidity!

Overall today was a great day with some nice fish being caught! We may not have landed the dinosaur we had hoped for but the two drum were the largest ones of the season so far. They even fought like sturgeon for a while with their long runs. The bass fishing was also on fire with loads of them being caught as well as lost! Just another great day for fishing!

Désolé, cet article est seulement disponible en Anglais Américain. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language.

Mario brought his kids fishing this morning after rescheduling another fishing trip elsewhere. Julian, Gianluca and Arianna would be treated to a mix bag day starting with sturgeon. Hopefully it would all work out!

Well after spending over 2 hours anchored for the beasts, all we had to show for our efforts was one small sturgeon. Arianna had landed a juvenile, but that was all we caught. Time for a complete change in fishing and another species!

I prepped the rods for them to drop shot and hit an area further away. Both Arianna and Julian were hooked up almost immediately on their first drop. They both managed to get into a few fish from this place before it just went dead. The others had chances as well but were unable to keep them pinned.

I moved around a bit and hit a few more areas with similar results. Arianna seemed like the person with the most luck as she managed to catch a few more. Our last spot produced a couple of really good fish and it was here that we ended the day. Julian landed the biggest bass of the day from here too! He had been having a hard time keeping the fish pinned but finally managed to get one in the boat.

I would have liked to land at least one big sturgeon this morning but unfortunately we had to settle with a juvenile instead. At least the bass fishing was more consistent with many more fish biting. Mario and his kids still had a great time and hopefully they will all be back out again this season. Who knows, maybe next time the dinosaurs will actually bite!