My 17.5 ft Spectrum "Da Shark" is up and running!!! Today Ethan, Garrett and I decided to go big and go on the hunt for some Dino's in the Dirty D. Got off to a later start then we wanted to with making a couple of pit stops along the way down. Dropped the boat in @ Sherman Island around 0900. Armed with Sardines, Grass, Shad, and Roe we were on the prowl. Started the day off around Chain. Lots of boats in the area and a decent amount of fish on the graph. Set the pick in roughly 30 ft of water and started soaking baits. Listened to some radio chatter, heard a lot of guys were struggling with little to no action. Wasn't gonna bring us down though. Maybe 30 mins into Garrett gets a quick pump on roe, but it didn't ever come back. Heard one big boy breach while we were out there but that was about it. DFW survey takers came by. Said they saw some people with stripers near the Rio Vista bridge, but no sturgeon. Stuck it out here for close to 2 hours with no other action, so we moved on.
Motored down to Pittsburgh, found fish in 40-60ft of water but the current was too much for us here. Ran a little further up to some calmer water and dropped anchor in about 38ft. Baits out and we're fishing again.
Arches on the graph, glass calm conditions, all we need is for the fish to bite.
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It was only a matter of time.
This was Garrett's first ever real sturgeon trip, and needless to say, as you could imagine, he was bored out of his freaking mind. I can't blame him it's a slow fishing game, but Ethan and I kept telling him its worth it just be patient and stick it out. He and all of us got pretty easily distracted though and were continuously goofing off and giving each other shit all day though. Only difference was Ethan and I always had an eye on the rods. Garrett spacing out in his own little world gets two solid hard pumps on his roe and doesn't see them in time after Ethan and I are yelling at him "Your rods going off Garrett!" Missed his chance, fish never came back. Only about 1300 at this time still plenty of day light left. Maybe another 30 mins later Garrett gets the very slow classic pump that goes on for 5-10 seconds and where is Garrett? With his head still stuck up his ass not paying attention. Ethan finally said screw you pushing him out of the way to set the hook, but didn't make it to the rod in time. God damn kid is the only one getting bites and he is the only one not paying attention to the rods.
At this point Ethan and I would not stop giving him shit for missing two great hits. Garrett said he was due for a suicide hit next which is what he was gonna need in order for him to hook one. Another half hour goes by and sure enough his rod slowly loads up but it doubles over. He still isn't paying attention. As his pole is scooting across the back of the boat, almost on its way over the side with Ethan and I yelling again in the background "Grab your fucking rod and swing Garrett!!!" He finally gets there in time and sticks his fish. Fish on baby! We got a fight ahead of us now.
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Garrett has never fought or caught a sturgeon before, so I told him to be ready for it and don't be surprised when it will come right to the boat really easy at first, but once it see's the boat he will run and its game on from there. I don't think he really believed me when I told him that, but he was ready for it. Ethan grabbed the net just encase. Fish came boat side and right as it got within 5 ft of the boat we saw this BEAST of a dino breach right next to us and took off on his run.
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Ethan looked back at me and said "Well here we can put the net away were not gonna be needing that haha." That thing was huge and it took Garrett on a ride. Probably about 10 or so minutes into the fight I thought to check the time and it was 1438. All of our rods were in and we were all excited just to see this fish come boat side and get our first one of the day. Fight started off fine, taking this nice and easy, gaining some line, losing more, gaining a little more, losing a lot more. Next thing I know I look at the time and its 1530. Holy shit this fish has been going on for an hour. Doesn't help that Garrett has this oversized beast on a 6'6" ugly stick that's meant for catfishing. After that hour though the fish would get within 5ft of the boat and I would break out the camera ready for the fish to come up, but it really never did.
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Still able to make fool's of our self's while fighting fish.
1545 rolls around, still fighting that fish. 1600, fish is still on. 1615, alright Garrett your taking freaking forever to land this god damn fish. Ethan and I want to get back in the water and get one too!
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The freaking tide had turned and Garrett fought that fish all the way through the slack!
Finally I see some color!
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and back down it goes for another run.
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Seeing that fish come up though gave us all a much needed adrenaline boost. Ethan made an attempt to reach over and grab the tail.
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Attempt #1, failed. 5 mins later Attempt #2 failed. 10 mins later Attempt #3 I put the camera down and got in there with Ethan. Fish got close enough to me I put both my hands around his tail and held on for dear life as it tried to go on another run, but I was not letting go, we were all ready for that fight to be over. Got him along side of the boat. 71 inches to the fork and 28 inch girth.
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What a monster!!! Held it boat side to revive her and she swam off great in no time.
Time check, it's 1630. A 2 hour long fight!!! I give this guy shit a lot, but I got to give it to him. His first ever Sturgeon he has hooked into and he landed that monster on a 6'6" medium ugly stick. Guppy knows how to fish. I think I would have lost patience with it a long time ago. Looked up to see and realize the fish pulled us off of the pick and dragged us about 100 yards down river. Oops, pull up lets reset. Dropped back in with 30 mins of light left in our day. Garrett of course was done and laid down on the bow. Ethan and I dropped back in hoping for a keeper that doesn't take two hours to land. Stuck it out until 1700 with marks on the graph, but no more bites for us today.
Called it from there and made our way back home. What a day, I know I wasn't the man on the rod, but I got just as much excitement just from watching Garrett fight that fish and to have been there and to be part of that experience. Fish that big is something I've only dreamed of and I still can't comprehend that we got a fish to the side of the boat that is bigger then all of us. Garrett looked on a chart which estimates the fish to be right around 100lbs. Freaking incredible, and all of us can't wait to get back out to do it again.
Till The Guys
Mark
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