Rainy River Sturgeon

[Iambjm]

I have always been curious about sturgeon fishing, but just felt I wasn't equipped for it. This year a friend of mine invited me to come up and fish a couple of days with his sister (also a close friend) and a bunch of other guys. We went out on Saturday April 23rd in the afternoon (we were concerned it might rain later) well it started much earlier than we thought. We were out there for around 5 hours, got soaking wet and also were skunked. Sunday we decided on another strategy, go out around 5pm and stay out as late as we could. The other guy in our boat got a fish on and handed me the rod, I was so excited, this was my first sturgeon! Landed it and it was 47 1/2" man what a rush. Around 9pm the other guy got a hit so I started to reel in and I thought I snagged a log, but then it started moving off in the opposite direction. My buddy Rich told me to cool it and just keep it on the line till his buddy Burt got his in. I gotta say it was a massive challenge this thing felt like a whale and it just kept peeling out drag. I don't know how long the struggle was but by the time I got it near the boat I was worn out and didn't think I could go on, but with everyone's encouragement and assistance we finally got it in. I sat down on the front casting deck and was breathing like I had just ran a 5 mile race. Before I could even get my composure they were lifting this monster 60 1/2" on my lap. What a rush!!! I have such great friends!

[LindellProStaf]

Hey good for you.  What an awesome time!  Nothing like having fun with good people.....

[wasabibert]

Well done getting your first sturgeon.