The great BrianK was nice enough to take my son and I out sturgeon fishing last night. Unfortunately my son was ill and my nephew only too gladly took his seat (at the expense of a night’s sleep before working today, but somehow I don’t think he regrets that).
After getting to the landing, getting better directions and getting to another landing, then getting better still directions and getting back to the original landing where BrianK was waiting (as well as DTro’s PowerPro), we got out on the St. Croix and promptly started catching redhorse…
…and a young little sturgeon at 7:30pm – Ben’s first ever.
The bite was, in a word, slow. We had our next bite nearly 5 hours later at 12:20am. This time I got in on the fun and hauled in a 43″ beauty, my very first sturgeon. Very cool! The fight wasn’t quite spectacular since it was rolled up in the line and came in kind of sideways, though, and BrianK was determined we get a big sturgeon with a full-on fight.
That came less than an hour of BrianK’s stories later – as Brian was busy regaling and Ben’s eyes glazed over, I heard our favorite rod shake in its holder and grabbed it until I knew the fish was definitely on, whereupon I made the critical mistake of handing it to Ben, since it was “his turn”. About thirty seconds later and about 35 yards out from the boat, it came clear out of the water before diving and really exerting its dominance. Brian and I had loads of fun teasing Ben for not being in control of his fish, but this was a great fighter. At one point Ben made about 10 feet of progress and exclaimed, “Here we go!” Shortly thereafter, the sturgeon was making him dance from bow to stern, lol. Great stuff.
It ended up being a stately 53 inches and tagged to boot. What a way to end the night! We stuck it out another 2 hours but that was to be our last.
All kidding aside, Brian was a gracious host and a joy to be on the water with – good night in a nice boat, and memories we won’t be forgetting!
. 
Mr 
