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.

After almost two years I finally hooked up with Phil, to do a little fishing today. Between being so busy and the Covid, we never could sync our dates. He brought along his son Levi as he was on a study break and had some time to spare. We were going to attempt a mixed bag day, beginning with the beasts!

I headed to the usual area and was pleasantly surprised to see only one other boat around. I had skipped fishing them over the holiday weekend due to the insane amount of boats all clustered together. Not only does this make it difficult to get bit, but the fish tend to scatter and leave the area completely, with all that pressure. Today we had the place to ourselves!

I set everything up and searched for a few marks with the sonar. It didn’t take long before we had the lines in and were bit. I set into a good fish and immediately passed the rod to Levi. We were officially locked up! He fought the fish well and within minutes it rocketed into the air for us to see. Although not a giant, it was definitely quality and he was about to have a great battle.

Within ten minutes and after several powerful runs, I was able to net the fish and the fight was over. Holding it for the pics was a different story however as Levi bear hugged it in order to get a handle on his grip. They are slippery devils! It was returned afterwards and we reset the lines to attempt another one.

I had been marking fish while anchored in the area so there was no need to move just yet. Shortly after we had another hit and Phil reeled in a small sturgeon that was tossed back as fast as it arrived. Another small juvenile after, for Phil again and I was contemplating a move. I was glad that it was only a thought because soon after I set into even more weight. Levi began his battle with a larger fish this time! This one took to the air in under a minute and we could see quickly that it was thicker than the previous one. It also fought much better too with strong runs and another breach close to the boat, 5 minutes in. It took at least 10 minutes for him to bring the fish up for me to be able to net and the battle was done. Pics and a release followed and we reset the lines hoping for one even bigger!

The gobies were exceptionally annoying this morning and I had to move several times before receiving another legit bite. Unfortunately it was a small fish and Levi reeled it in quickly, after having battled the two big ones. I decided to continue my search with an unsuccessful attempt at locating bigger marks. I finally decided to pull the plug and change to another species. We were going for bass instead!

Although I didn’t mark too many fish on the bottom in deep water, Phil was able to connect with a decent smallie on one of the reefs. We covered it thoroughly and despite seeing a few more fish, we never got bit again. I relocated to another spot and similar results were had. Time for a long run with very little time remaining in the day!

I stopped on another deeper place and decided to drift it vertically. Phil once again hooked up first and managed to bring in a two pound smallie. Levi countered with a good keeper and apparently his first walleye ever. He continued to catch more walleye from this area along with his father and several were sent to the tank for them tonight. With each drift there were fish caught and the time lapsed by quickly. Before we knew it, we were done and they had put a solid limit of walleye in the boat.

Today was a great day of mixed fish with some quality sturgeon landed by Levi. The bonus was all the fish caught in the last hour of the day and Levi’s first Walter. He would be getting a crash course in cleaning walleye by his dad tonight. He would also be having a firsthand look at how they tasted, but I’m sure it won’t be his last. Overall, 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.

Vito spent the second & third days with me amongst a whole lot more boat traffic! We moved around plenty, jumping from one spot to the other and catching fish almost everywhere. The holiday weekend didn’t allow me to fish all the places I wanted, but we somehow managed to overcome.

Vito started out on smallies with a hard bodied jerkbait and had a half dozen chances at some big bass. He switched to a slower bait afterwards and cleaned up with a different presentation! We did this both mornings but the second one was a little more complicated with some idiots moving in on us. They would have probably anchored right where we were if I didn’t start yelling at them! You have to love nice, holiday weekend traffic! In the end, we left with only a few more fish as the bass were totally spooked off the spot!

A whole lot of the places I fished were slower than expected and I realized why, quickly. The water had dropped and the flow was at a minimum this weekend. Apparently it happens every year around this time in order to take some of the bigger boats out of the water. We spent a bunch of time fishing deep and probably found better fish offshore. Although the shallow bite wasn’t great, there were still some fish to catch!

We finished off both days targeting walleye and got into them pretty good on the first day. Too bad I had to encounter another moron trying to fish right where we were. I quickly took care of the problem and he backed off! What’s wrong with people that they don’t even know? I guess you really can’t fix stupid! We did manage to catch enough eyes for a good meal, after Vito’s trip was over. Great times with a great person! I hope he returns next season so that we can continue the tradition! Safe travels home Vic!

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.

What a difference a day makes! From yesterday’s spectacular weather, to today’s horrible SE winds. Vito & I headed out not knowing if we would even be able to fish for sturgeon. Regardless, I decided to go there and give it a try!

We arrived and I knew right away that it would be a hold the rod kinda bite! There would be no rod holders today as the boat was sideways and rocking all over the place in these south east winds. I set up and quickly anchored , awaiting the first bite. Too bad it was a nibbler that turned into a red horse sucker! Several moves later and quite a while too, I finally felt the subtle bounce of the rod tip and reared back into the real deal. Vito was about to catch his very first sturgeon!

This fish had some weight but not what I had hoped for. Vito brought it up quickly and I could tell right away that it was only a teen. As he did, it jumped right beside the boat and confirmed my thought on its size. It made a few short runs and fought a bit more, before he brought it back up. Within minutes I tailed his fish and handed it to him for the pics. I really wanted a big one!

We had spent the better part of the morning with not much to show for our efforts and pulling the plug on these fish was on my mind. All of a sudden it was forgotten when I felt another subtle take from a sturgeon and set into heavy weight. This was the one we were looking for!

Vito was handed the rod and he could immediately tell that it was much bigger than the previous one. Not being used to dealing with these sturgeon, he began to pump it up quickly like a salt water fish. As it neared the boat, it completely cleared the water and splashed both of us. It damn near landed in the boat too! After this, the battle began with plenty of line peeling from the reel on its first run. This went on for close to ten minutes and each time he managed to bring it back, the beast turned and took it all out again. Eventually all good things come to an end and I netted it for the pics. I took several and Vito released her back to where she had come from. At least our time spent here wasn’t a total waste with the big SE winds! Now it was time to move on!

Vito had come here for the smallies and we changed up to something smaller. I headed to an area that had been producing recently and on his first cast, he was locked up. It’s never good to catch a fish on your first cast! We soon found this out when he never had another one, through this entire area!

I moved to another place due to the big waves where we were and unfortunately had the same results. One fish was missed right at the boat but the visibility wasn’t great where we were and I pulled the plug quickly. This time I was going deeper and hopefully the fish would be more active there!

The winds were pretty big as I spot locked on this place and instructed Vito on were to cast. He picked up a couple of smaller bass on jigs but not the size I was used to seeing from here. I made a couple of casts and immediately hooked into a big bass. It never fails! We covered a bit of water and Vito managed to get a couple more small bass and I did it again. A short cast behind the boat and I ended up nailing a 24 inch walleye. Again, it never fails!

With the wind direction being our biggest problem, I relocated to another spot and Vito immediately had a fish on. He also continued nailing more bass several casts in a row after. This place had plenty of fish on it and by switching baits he pretty much caught them all. At least the action had picked up!

I had made another move to a shallower area that I thought Vito might get bigger fish from and right on cue, he nailed a nice one. We were even seeing some big bass cruising around and I knew there would be more to come. We probably spent about an hour here and Vito managed to catch a bunch of good ones with a couple in the 4 pound range. There were more fish not interested than he caught and long casts were necessary to hook up. Eventually things died and we moved on.

I had wanted to get a few walleye for dinner with Vito but when I ran to the area that was supposed to be easy, the winds had 3 footers on it. We made several passes and unfortunately only managed one small keeper before we were done. Hopefully tomorrow it will have settled down enough for us to get bit!

I knew that the take out wasn’t going to be fun with the wind blowing right on the ramp. I gave a call to a buddy to give me a hand and between the three of us we got it done quickly. Not without bringing plenty of water over the back of the boat though! The waves were monsters at the boat ramp and it was impossible not to!

Today was a difficult one with lots of moving around to catch the fish. Hopefully tomorrow will be a little bit less windy so that I can get to all the places I wasn’t able to go today. Vito is with me for three days and somewhere along the line we should have a great bite with many more fish coming aboard for him to enjoy. I just have to cut back on my casts and make sure I don’t get to them first!

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.

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!!

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.

Another foggy start to the day saw Angelo & his son David looking forward to catching some sturgeon. We were going to make the long run again in thick fog and hopefully it would work out. Thankfully I was following a plotter line on the GPS that would lead me right to where I wanted to be. In fact, as we neared the area the visibility was a lot better than yesterday, for now!

We wasted no time getting set up once we arrived and after only one move, we were rewarded with our first bite. Angelo was about to do battle with a fish that he had never caught before and it was going to be intense.

Right from the start I knew this was a good one, as I had set into some serious weight. Angelo had a hard time fighting the fish as it remained on the bottom for most of the time and made powerful runs often. It wasn’t the usual battle that I normally see but he eventually managed to bring the fish to the surface for me to net. Holding it for the pics was going to be a whole different story though as he had never held a fish this large.

Right after the release, we resumed fishing and I wanted to get David one of his own. As luck would have it, he was handed the rod not long after with a slightly smaller one. Not having fished much before, I needed to coach him plenty at the start. He kept a good bend in the rod as the line started to rise and I told him to give slack if the fish jumped.  Right on cue it breached  and it was actually bigger than I had thought. His battle lasted close to 15 minutes with multiple long runs and even another spectacular jump close to the boat later in the fight. David was focussed on landing this fish and fought it right till the end, when I slid the net under his biggest fish ever! He would have no trouble holding this beast once I showed him how it was done and several pics were had. It was quickly returned and we were back in the game!

The area we were anchored had plenty of fish around as we were seeing all kinds of marks on the sonar. In fact, it produced several other fish including a few more monsters before we moved again. The action had slowed and the fog had cleared enough that I was able to see several other boats in the area. A couple of them had even moved closer to where we were catching making it more difficult for me to scout the bottom for big fish. As I searched for the larger marks another boat slid into exactly where he had seen us catch the last couple of fish and I knew we weren’t going to get back there any time soon! I did manage to find some good fish close to where he was and stopped in the spot to fish. We were still far enough from him not to get in his way but I have never understood why people are like that. These fish are constantly on the move and there’s not just one spot to fish!

We had been set up for a little while with no bites and I was contemplating another move when I saw one of the rods move. I had anchored above a really big mark on the sonar and hoped that it was what I saw. When I reared back on the rod, it didn’t move. This fish was huge! David was passed the rod and the battle began. I actually think that this may have been the best fight I’ve ever seen by a sturgeon. It was so powerful that the runs were over 120 feet several times in the first 15 minutes. Each time he managed to bring it back, it would go out in a different direction again. At one point, he managed to have it about 15 feet from the boat and it decided to go airborne. It was a giant! The fish had actually launched itself out of the water at the 20 minute mark of the fight. Talk about strength! Right after the leap, it once again took the reel out to over 120 feet again. This fish just didn’t want to give up! Another ten minutes had passed before I could get a shot with the net. I had the fish in it, but it was so long that it barely fit in the bowl straight. I needed the sturgeon to collapse and it wasn’t happening! I had to abort the attempt and wait for another chance to net the beast. Eventually he brought it back and this time it was a success. David had battled this fish for 30 minutes. It was definitely the longest battle I had ever seen!

The pics were going to have to be taken with two people holding the fish as it was really long. Angelo gave his son a hand and was nice enough to hold the front end as it was the heaviest. Despite getting several good shots the photos didn’t do this fish justice as they were unable to keep it off of their bodies for the pictures. Regardless, it still looked big!

We decided to give the sturgeon fishing another try, after releasing the huge beast and unfortunately after over an hour of waiting without any other bites, we were done. I wasn’t going to waste any more time searching the area as there were now 5 other boats trying as well. Time to relocate!

We didn’t have much time remaining in the day so I decided to go for walleye. Our first spot only produced one small fish that was released quickly. With 30 minutes remaining, I opted for a move and tried another area nearby. On the first pass both David and Angelo brought keepers into the boat. I hoped they would catch a few more for their dinner but they were only able to get a smaller one and a perch as well. Both of them missed several bites so I thought I would give them a hand. I remained out a little longer than usual but managed to put two more fish in the tank for them to bring home.

Today was a great one for fishing and I’m sure they’ll never forget it. Both Angelo & his son David battled fish they had never seen, or at least as big. David may not have fished much before, but I think he may from now on! All I know is that the big fish have arrived and I will be back to take advantage of the great days ahead. Tomorrow can’t come soon enough!