Back to the river this morning.
A ~24" pike slammed an inline spinner about a foot off shore shortly after arrival to kill the skunk.
Action was slow, lots of little hits and a couple better ones but no hookups. I moved around a bit and finally got a decent strike. I took up the slack, set the hook and said "sturgeon!"
Then I said "this ain't no 30-some incher" as the rod bent in half. My heart started racing.
As is common, it came in heavy but easy until it realized it was hooked. Then it was a couple short runs, including one toward the beaver lodge, and for the first time I said "there's no way I'm going to land this"
Steered it out of the brush(who am I kidding, it went where it choose to go) and then it got serious. The fight was already over 5 minutes in when it took the first serious run. I just watched helplessly as the line peeled off the spool as the dinosaur went straight across the river.
Finally turned the head and put a little line on the spool before it turned again and just peeled drag, heading straight for the massive bridge support, nearly 100 yards away. I saw my line go around and disappear behind the support and knew I'd never land this fish.
But I'm too dumb to quit. I ran upstream to get a better angle and I slowly started gaining line until it came back around the support. Yes!
Then the sinker snagged on bottom. Fuck!!!!
I gave it a few minutes to see if the snag would come loose before making the choice to force it. The weight broke away clean, just as designed.
I felt the dinosaur start pulling, but it was tiring out.
We were now 20-25 minutes into the battle and I still haven't seen my opponent.
A few minutes later I landed an approximately 4 foot long sturgeon(estimated). We were both exhausted and I had no desire to cause further stress, so I made no attempt to get a photo out of the water. It swam away and I stared up at the sky and released a primal scream of pure animal triumph. What an incredible feeling.
This is the only picture I have of the fish that gave me the greatest experience I've ever had while fishing.
Be strong and make lots of little sturgeon babies, you wonderful creature. Thank you.
View attachment 169741