My First Sturgeon Excursion

Yes as the title says this was my first sturgeon excursion but you can bet it will not be my last! This trip has been on my bucket list for a long time and this year I finally took the plunge and now I wonder what the heck took me so long. My fishing partner Joe Pletta and I took off on Wednesday morning and headed to his brothers place Steve Pletta in Fergus Falls, MN. We stayed at Steve’s place on Wednesday night, got up in the morning and headed to the grocery store to pick up our eats for the trip. After we left the grocery store we headed back to Steve’s to pack the groceries & Steve’s gear into the truck and then we were on our way to Baudette! By the time we got to Adrian’s Resort got all of our gear unloaded, and got the boat ready to hit water, we had a couple of hours till sunset. We did not waste any time hitting our fist spot close to the boat landing, Wheelers Point. We had not been there very long and I got my first bite, I set the hook and the fight was on. At first it felt like I was reeling in a log but as I got the fish closer to the boat it took its first run, after a few more runs we finally got this fish in the boat, a very stout 49” sturgeon! Not a bad way to start out our trip!

Friday we hit the water around 9AM, we went a little farther out this time to the start of four mile bay. We were not there very long and I got another bite, I set the hook and it felt like I was snagged, there was no give at all my rod came to a dead stop, I set the hook so hard that the rod butt slipped and nailed me in the chin! After about a 15 min battle and several runs latter we landed a 51” sturgeon! At that time it looked like the bite was on and we were in for a very awesome trip. We stayed on the water till sunset again but unfortunately we did not boat another sturgeon the rest of the day. Saturday morning came and I had a cough that was getting worse then the day before, I suspected that I might be coming down with bronchitis so I decided to take the morning off and rest up. Joe & Steve went out and fished till 2:30pm with no sturgeon coming to the boat. They headed back to the cabin where we decided to have an early super. Steve grilled ribeye steaks, along with the steaks we had baked potatoes, a southwest salad, and Texas toast, That was the best meal of the whole trip! After supper we got back on the water and again fished till sunset, I did manage to catch a small sturgeon and at that point I think Joe & Steve were ready to throw me over board as they had not caught any sturgeon.

On Friday night we met a few other IDO members at Wigwam Resort for an unofficial GTG where we meet Ryan Wheeler (Rdwheeler). Ryan is pictured here with his personal best sturgeon, they did not get an exact measurement but it went well over 60”!!! Way to go Ryan!!!

This last pic is Jeff Huberty with a 62.5″ congrats Jeff it was nice meeting you! For the most part it seemed like allot of boats struggled this weekend but there were others who did do well, there is always someone catching fish no matter how tuff the bite is. All in all it was a great trip with good friends and good times meeting some IDO members along the way. Even though Joe and Steve did not catch a sturgeon they are both looking forward to going again next year as am I. If you have never fished the Sturgeon Excursion before make it a point to go on this trip next year, I look forward to meeting each and every one of you!