Holy Moly! I don't even know how to describe what just happened. We just got back from what might just be the fishing trip of a lifetime! This first picture just sums up everything. What a giant, prehistoric, powerful and awesome fish. I just started fumbling through the pictures from our day and a half on the water, and I totalled over 120 pictures. Just crazy!!!
Friday night/Saturday morning Luke, Dingy, Pauly, Whorl and myself all piled into the truck bound for the Canadien border. All of us pretty much being virgins to this whole Sturgeon ordeal, we were unsure of what we were getting ourselves into. 
I have fished them once before, and Dingy tangled with one about 10 years ago, other than that, we were starting from scratch and learning as we went. Our excitement was at an all time high on the way up, and I had left home telling several people that I was off to catch the biggest fish of my life. Boy oh boy did we accomplish everything that we set out to do...and then some! I'm still reliving it all in my head as we speak.
We got on the water yesterday at about 9:00am, and we were battling by 9:15. The area that I had fished years ago had several boats in it, and we started nearby in a hole that allowed us some shoulder room from the boat traffic. Literally from the surface to the bottom, the graph was covered in fish, and we could see the sturgeon surfacing all around us. Needless to say, we never had to venture out of this hole, we just spent some time dialing in on exactly the best spots within the spot to catch these prehistoric beasts.
Our morning started out by having a few misses, catches and experimenting with the equipment, but after a couple of hours, we were on fire and livin the dream. Everything couldn't have worked out better for us. The fish started a little on the small side to get our feet wet, and as the day progressed they kept getting larger and larger and larger. The weather was in one word...Spectacular! Other than a little bit of wind blowing off of the frozen ice, the temp hit about 65 sunny degrees, and we all managed some horrible looking sunburns.
We don't have an exact count on our total from the first day, but Pauly said that he stopped counting at 16 fish just before 2pm. From about 4pm until dark, we were pretty much always battling at least one fish. 
I say at least one fish, because we had so many doubles that it was almost chaotic. It is easy to overlap these battles, because you could spend up to 20+ minutes battling each beast. We became experts at maneuvering our lines around the battling dinosaurs during each battle, and our system never failed. Once we figured out the current, where the fish were hanging, and how to battle the fish, it was a perfect system...Well, other than the fact that the fish did "whatever they wanted." That became the entire quote for the weekend. 
Every time any one of us was battling a fish that we couldn't stop from running, we would always picture the sturgeon on the bottom just screaming out "I do what I want...I'm huge...I do what I want!" 
When fighting the majority of our fish, it was a matter of hanging on and pulling as hard as you could to force the fish up, and by the end of the battle, you were literally whooped and needed a break. I've only seen similar stuff on ocean fishing tv shows. Never in my life have I experienced such a hard fought battle.
We figured that we landed over 40 sturgeon on Saturday, and after making a few minor adjustments from morning to afternoon, we were right where the giants were hanging, and the average fish was in the mid 40 inch range. The largest fish for the day was a 53.5 incher by Whorl, followed by my 52.5 incher. 
From there, we pretty much hit every number in the 40's, and several of them more than once. We closed the day out with several doubles as the sun was setting, and slowly motored back to shore, shaking our heads and laughing at what had just happened.
This morning we hit the water for a quick stint to cure the itch before the long drive home. Boy was it worth it. We thought we couldn't beat our results from Saturday, but we were wrong. We positioned ourselves exactly where we knew they were, and the big girls were there to play. We spent the next 3 hours battling fish the entire time. 
We had many doubles, and the size was pretty much 46 inches and up. While it was hard to pick just one highlight, it definitely goes to Pauly with his 59 inch 50+pounder. He set the hook on the giant, and shortly after the line started rising to the surface. About 30 yards away, and the beast came airborn. We had hoped all weekend to see that sight, and it was amazing. To see a huge fish tailwalk the surface like that takes the cake. During his 20+ minute battle, Dingy also landed his personal best at 49 inches, which was quite the sight. I also landed my PB (personal best) and yes, longest fish of my life shortly after at 56 inches. Man, with the power of those fish, it was hard just to hold on to them, picture time was interesting, but a great problem to have. 
We battled so many fish that we were drawing a crowd, and after our 3 hours on the water, we landed over 20 more huge fish. For Saturday and Sunday morning, we probably 30 over 40 inches, and a 51, 52.5, 53.5 54, 56, and 59 inchers. We used about 25 dozen crawlers, took 120 pictures, laughed our butts off, caught over 60 sturgeon, got sun burnt, sore arms, sore backs...Yep, That's what its all about...That's Livin The Dream!
To see more pictures from out trip, go to the photo albums and check out the sturgeon section.
Tuesday night I found myself on an adventure that was very new to me. Certainly I was on the water fishing, but this time I did it in a way that I am not accustomed to. I tagged along with our "Man About The Woods" Bill Sherck as we used his drift boat to fish Smallmouth Bass on the Mississippi River. I have heard so much about this stretch of water over the years, and jumped at the chance to hop on board. We had a few different weapons in the boat, and the plan was to catch a few conventional style, then switch to the fly gear. It was a whole new experience for me, and I can honestly say that it was the first time that I actually felt like I was being guided. 
It was great! He had the same half hour's worth of chatter that I give to all my guests as they come on the boat. Not that I haven't caught numerous smallies in the past, but it was a whole new feel, and the drift boat seemed to set it all in place. How we would work the spots, and most of all, the use of a fly-rod is very new to me. The fish weren't jumping in the boat on this afternoon, however it didn't take too long for me to land a couple of dandies. My first fish went about 19 inches and the next two followed very similarly. When you add the current into the equation, you are really in for a treat. After my third fish, I decided it was time to find out what this fly fishing stuff is all about. After a quick tutorial from Bill, I was slinging back and forth trying to get dialed in. With the strong winds, it made things interesting, but I got it figured out and it was go time! I pictured myself stripping a huge popper on the surface as if I was Tarpon fishing in the keys, and waited for the explosions. Well, they came, and I missed all 4 explosions on my popper. 
Oh well, Can't catch em all the time, but it sure would have been nice to say I conquered that Smallie on the Fly. We had a great time on the water, and although the fish weren't flying in the boat, we had some great laughs, and a few of what I call "kids Messes." For those of you who don't know Bill aka: Man about the Woods, he is a regular guest on our shows, and the host of Due North Outdoors, which if you aren't too busy after reading this, you can check out the new site that I just created for that show. Looks strikingly similar to this site, except it's Bill Sherck and Laura Schara.
