Saturday, July 16, 2011

3 personal bests in one day... actually in about 1 hour...


No, I didn't catch my biggest brook, brown and rainbow.  I went out on the Wisconsin river with one of my friends and ended up catching my first sauger (that i was sure about, i've probably caught them and just thought it was a walleye at some point) and being my first, he was my biggest ever at a whopping 10 inches.  a few minutes after i caught the first walleye of the day, about a 15inch (pictured below) Several casts later I got another bite, set the hook and then after a short 35minute fight i caught my first sturgeon ever!!! not to mention this whole time i was using a 5ft ultralight and 6lbs test which makes a bluegill a worthy opponent....  It was really cool catching such a prehistoric creature.  They have an almost leathery feel to their skin, it's very rough and tough feeling.  He was an estimated 43inches long (the tape measure I had only went to 36) He was also foul hooked in the side, which explains the very, very long fight,  but it was still cool getting to see one of those fish in person and get a quick picture with one!   Only about 10 minutes after releasing him I caught another walleye about 16 inches, the cast after another walleye about 13 inches.   With all the luck i was having my friend that was with me wasn't doing too well, so he decided to switch to a jig like I was using. As he was tying on I got another bite, set the hook and instantly thought "oh no, not again" because my little rod bend over  and line ripped out from my reel, luckily this time I felt some head shakes so it seemed to be fair hooked.  about 2 minutes later I saw the beast, which ended up being a 28.25 inch walleye, beating my previous record of 27 inches.  After taking a few pictures I let him go to fight another day!  After that I caught a decent smallie and then we called it a night. Talk about a good day!


My friend did end up catching 2 sheepheads and 2 walleyes about 16 inches a piece! 

Not a bad sized walleye!

This 28.25 inch monster dwarfs the 15 inch that was caught earlier
Although he looks a bit skinny in the picture he actually had a 13inch girth a healthy summer walleye!
Although foul hooked, I'll still count it as my first sturgeon ever!
(I didn't see the fish until right before we got him in the net, had I known it was foul hooked
 I would have broke the line as to not stress the fish)





4 comments:

  1. Those are some nice looking fish. That walleye is a monster for sure. Nice Blog. Tight Lines.

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  2. Thanks trout! I still can't believe i landed that walleye! I was lucky to hook him right in the corner of his mouth, and lucky that he didn't take the lie into a snag!

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  3. A 28" eye would make anyone's day but the sturgeon on an ultralight? UNREAL!

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  4. What a PIG! Great looking walleye. What a treat.

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