1st Below Zero Fish this Year

Before getting into my little post on this weekend's fishing trip, I'd like to thank all that supported me in this year's Kayak Angler Choice Awards. I made it into round two for Angler and Video of the year which is pretty good for someone who only took up the sport last year! Most of those still in the running are long time 'celebrities' or professionals in the sport or have accomplished some fantastic feats this year garnering worldwide attention.  Maybe someday I'll be there, but for now the focus will be on growing and promoting the sport here in Eastern Canada!

Looks like the Denail Rod I would have given away is safe for now!   Stay tuned though, the 1 year anniversary of this blog is coming up and I'll either do another giveaway of some sort then, or perhaps when we hit the 20,000 page view count!

So on to this past weekend's fish. Myself and Matt hit the water at about 6:00 Saturday afternoon just after it got dark. The water in sturgoen alley was very high and extremely fast after heavy rain over the past little while. Combining this with my anchor trolley being completely frozen forcing my anchor to be positioned on the side of my kayak, I had a very hard time anchoring. It took over an hour of messing around but eventually I was able to to maintain a stationary by using both my 10 lb and 5 lb weights!

In the time it took for me to finally get my lines in the water, Matt had already caught a 47" sturgeon, so I was licking my lips for some big fish!    Over the next 90 min or so, I brought in 4 sturgeon with the largest at 43 inches.   In the heavy current, it was a lot of work more work than normal to get these fish into the kayak, especially the bigger one which I had jigged in it's side! 

Sturgeon were jumping around us fairly regularly, and I did strike a few other sturgeon as well as I lifed my rod every now and again to check them, so I knew they were there.   However they just were not taking the bait much.   Two of the four I caught were actually jigged while checking my line.   I had no idea they were there till I hooked them.      Sturgeon fishing is all about technique, and checking your lines every 4 or 5 min by lifting the rod from parallel to the water to perpinducular has improved my catch by at least 33%!

Matt left around 9 or 10 o'clock as he had enough of the freezing temps, and I stayed out in hopes of catching a few more till after midnight.   However, I couldn't find another fish.    The eyelets in my rods were freezing up, the reels were freezing up and caking over with ice, and my feet were at the point where they had enough as well.

It was a nice night on the water, and I think had the water levels and currents been normal, there could have been some fantastic fishing!   Hopefully this coming weekend will prove to be better!