bass
I hit Swan Island harbor for another round of sturgeon fishing on Sunday. Shortly after I launched I marked fish pretty far back in the harbor. I stopped at one spot, then a second and then a third. At each spot I could feel fish running into my line but I could not get a bite. I think this may be partly due to the fact that my bait was frozen to start the day. Perhaps not much scent was coming off.
Well it was about an hour or an hour and a half of moving without catching anything when I came upon a spot that looked like it had even more fish than the previous spots. At the previous spots I had either been clinging to something in the harbor or fishing off anchor. However, the wind had started blowing pretty steadily so I decided to take advantage of that and drop my anchor and let the wind hold me in place. Turns out it was the right place to do that.
I started catching fish immediately and on every cast and the size of the fish was impressive. I caught very few shakers on the day (27 sturgeon: 2 oversized, 19 keeper sized and only 6 shakers). I would throw out my bait and within a minute or so I would have a fish chomping on it. There were so many fish that sometimes a hooked fish, would tangle with a second. I could feel the line scraping over the scutes and then the line would take off. When it slipped of the second fish there would be a lot of slack. I would reel like crazy and the line would eventually go tight with the biter still on.
However, not every hook up went as I would have hoped:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm57oO2NR1k
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Avoh5pP6_Y
Of course most of the time things went according to plan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZldKdzB_ioQ
The fishing was great at this spot for hours. However, eventually the bite slowed down and when I looked around the area I was not marking all that many fish anymore. I guess the fish moved out of that area. I went back to where I had struck out earlier and noticed that the concentration of fish in that area was now much higher than earlier.
On my first cast, boom, I hooked up with a big fish. It was an insane battle (gopro long since dead). I was fishing near some oil booms and he took me under the rope of one of the buoys holding it in place. I had to stick my rod under the water, under the rope and pull it back out on the other side - without flipping over. Glad to say that neither my kayak, nor my grip failed me. After a series of blistering runs and crazy direction changes. I finally was able to get this nice 5+ foot fish to the yak.
On the next cast I caught a big keeper and then the bite went dead there. That is how the afternoon went for me. I would move to a spot, catch 2 to 4 fish and then the bite would stop. Seemed like the fish were moving around quite a bit. The weather was also all over the map. Wind from the North, wind from the South, hard rain, drizzle, hail, but I really could not complain because there was always a pot of sturgeon at the end of the rainbow:
The bite was just so good all day as long as I kept moving. After the first long bite in the morning I did not anchor up any more. I just fished off anchor (holding my spot with my paddle) or held onto something. Saves a lot of time when moving around a lot. I really love catching sturgeon and they are really cool looking in an ancient way.
At the end of the day, I found another red hot bite. Just fish after fish from the same spot. I fished all the way until dark, using my last bait as the light was fading.
A great way to end an awesome day on the water. I went home tired, hungry and aching - but it was a good ache for sure.
Well it was about an hour or an hour and a half of moving without catching anything when I came upon a spot that looked like it had even more fish than the previous spots. At the previous spots I had either been clinging to something in the harbor or fishing off anchor. However, the wind had started blowing pretty steadily so I decided to take advantage of that and drop my anchor and let the wind hold me in place. Turns out it was the right place to do that.
I started catching fish immediately and on every cast and the size of the fish was impressive. I caught very few shakers on the day (27 sturgeon: 2 oversized, 19 keeper sized and only 6 shakers). I would throw out my bait and within a minute or so I would have a fish chomping on it. There were so many fish that sometimes a hooked fish, would tangle with a second. I could feel the line scraping over the scutes and then the line would take off. When it slipped of the second fish there would be a lot of slack. I would reel like crazy and the line would eventually go tight with the biter still on.
However, not every hook up went as I would have hoped:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm57oO2NR1k
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Avoh5pP6_Y
Of course most of the time things went according to plan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZldKdzB_ioQ
The fishing was great at this spot for hours. However, eventually the bite slowed down and when I looked around the area I was not marking all that many fish anymore. I guess the fish moved out of that area. I went back to where I had struck out earlier and noticed that the concentration of fish in that area was now much higher than earlier.
On my first cast, boom, I hooked up with a big fish. It was an insane battle (gopro long since dead). I was fishing near some oil booms and he took me under the rope of one of the buoys holding it in place. I had to stick my rod under the water, under the rope and pull it back out on the other side - without flipping over. Glad to say that neither my kayak, nor my grip failed me. After a series of blistering runs and crazy direction changes. I finally was able to get this nice 5+ foot fish to the yak.
On the next cast I caught a big keeper and then the bite went dead there. That is how the afternoon went for me. I would move to a spot, catch 2 to 4 fish and then the bite would stop. Seemed like the fish were moving around quite a bit. The weather was also all over the map. Wind from the North, wind from the South, hard rain, drizzle, hail, but I really could not complain because there was always a pot of sturgeon at the end of the rainbow:
The bite was just so good all day as long as I kept moving. After the first long bite in the morning I did not anchor up any more. I just fished off anchor (holding my spot with my paddle) or held onto something. Saves a lot of time when moving around a lot. I really love catching sturgeon and they are really cool looking in an ancient way.
At the end of the day, I found another red hot bite. Just fish after fish from the same spot. I fished all the way until dark, using my last bait as the light was fading.
A great way to end an awesome day on the water. I went home tired, hungry and aching - but it was a good ache for sure.
