Big Bite Afternoon
October 6, 2021
Alex, John & Phil headed out with me this morning looking for just about anything. We still had a NE wind, but it wasn’t as bad and I decided to try for bass & walleye. Anchoring up in big waves again for sturgeon wouldn’t be easy at the start of the day. We would hope for a lighter blow to be able to attempt it later on.
As usual lately, the drift was opposite the current and it made fishing more difficult. I covered the water with multiple passes and they managed to get bass, walleye and one good sized pike. The waves were our biggest problem so I made a move shortly after. It was to an offshore area but unfortunately it was a wash. Nada even a bite!
Late in the morning I ran to another spot to attempt a little deep water fishing and found out it wasn’t any better. Although a few bites were missed there were only a couple of fish landed in the short time we had remained. It was time for a complete change and I was switching gears!
I had wanted to start with sturgeon but the winds had changed my plans. Now we were going to attempt it anyway as the waves had diminished some, making it look doable! We set up in the usual area when I quickly marked a few fish and dropped the lines in to wait. It didn’t take long as I don’t think we were there for even 3 minutes when I set into a fish. Almost immediately after I passed the rod to Phil, a second rod was hit and I slammed another one as well. John received this one and now we had a double!
It was ironic to have spent all morning looking for a few bites and within minutes, tight to a couple of beasts. Phil had the smaller of the two and was able to bring it to the net quicker than the other one that John was into. After a few pics we released his fish and focussed on the bigger one. It was a great one with lots of power and several runs were made as it remained on the bottom. Eventually after about 10 minutes or so, I ended the battle when I slid the net under his catch. It was a long fish and definitely had some weight. John held it up for a bunch of pics and released it soon after. We were on the board! It’s always great when you start with a double header!
I was hoping to get a third fish to be able to have everyone land one and reset the rods with high expectations. After waiting for a bit longer, I finally set into the one we wanted and passed the rod to Alex for the fight. It felt heavy on the hookset but was acting a little light in the beginning. This all changed when he reeled it almost all the way to the boat and it exploded into the air in a spectacular leap. I don’t think it was ten feet from the motor when it breached! It instantly peeled line from the reel like a scene from Jaws. Eventually it stopped at over 150 feet and the fight was about to begin.
For about 15 minutes Alex battled the beast and it nearly took him out. Multiple long runs and another great jump were had before it all ended. He would now have to contend with holding it for the pics after complete exhaustion. It wasn’t easy but he found his inner strength before sending the beast back where it belonged. They had officially done the rotation, but I wanted more!
The remainder of the afternoon saw many moves and another full rotation on the rods with more big fish. They all had battled a second sturgeon and every one of the fights was epic! More jumps, runs and reels screaming with each and every fish. We eventually ran out of time and I packed everything up for the run back to the dock. This had turned out to be a great day!
What had started out slow and rough ended the way I had hoped. The conditions changed and the fishing got a whole lot better when it did. Many sturgeon were landed and the fights were all great. I know the weather will remain good in the coming days and hopefully so will the fishing. Today may have been the start of the better days ahead. I’m definitely crossing my fingers that it continues in this direction. More, more, more, bigger, bigger bigger!
