At long last (story time).

Saturday, October 7, 2017
Size: 
64 x 22.5

I have considered Lake Sturgeon my favorite target for quite a while now, and for longer than I care to admit, it has been a goal of mine to break the 5 foot (60 inch) mark. For the longest time, my personal best sat at 57 inches. But, this weekend, shovelnoser47 and I made the trek back home from Bemidji State, to fish for dinos. Our first night produced a handful of smallish fish In goldenfishbergs boat, thanks again for taking us out again homie. Our second night just plain sucked, cold wind and heavy rain with only a couple drum willing to bite. Our third night was shaping out to be a bust as well, with the river being EXTREMELY high. But goldenfishberg and buddy Ed were joining us so at worst we'd have good company for the night.

 

Some hours passed and our only fish landed was a small sturgeon caught by Shovelnoser. Goldberg and Ed decided to call it a night and just as I was saying my farewells to them Sam yells at me "You're getting a bite dude!" And by the time I look up at my rod, it had stopped twitching. Sam encouraged me to set the hook anyway, so set the hook I did and made contact with what felt like a log on the other end. But then the log jumped, and then came right up next to us to jump again. The fish then proceeded to go on a giant screaming run back out into the main channel. After a while the fish began to tire and Goldberg stood at the ready, and when the fish finally came close enough Goldberg made a glorious human netman by tail grabbing the Sturgeon. The tail stopped at 64 inches. I finally got my 60+ under my belt! And it felt extra nice to catch it from shore.

 

A handful of pictures were taken and she was released as strong as can be. I'm sure she's down there munching on unfortunate Shad as I type this story. Huge shout out to Goldberg for the pics and ninja fish wrastlin' skillz, and to my main homie Shovelnoser47 for spotting the bite while I was distracted. And a big fat thank you to roughfish.com for being the most inspirational damn group of anglers. Sorry if this post is a bit wordy but this is the most fulfilling catch I've had in months and I wanted to share it with you all. You guys rock.

Comments

Casey Shanaberger's picture

Woo yeah my man! That sturgeon you got right there is no fish, that thing is a living submarine! It's one of the greatest feelings when that "log" starts peeling out line. Any idea on what it could of weighed? Makes me more excited to be in the area next weekend!

Don't worry about the wordy post, makes the fish and the story 100x better!

"I swear if you catch another drum"

Eli's picture

Fantastic catch, Ben. A dream fish for me.

Eli

 

 

Dr Flathead's picture

Gosh thats a nice one dude!  Great catch man.  I'm still waiting for my 60+....

andy's picture

That's a big bad sturgeon, way to go man!  I also enjoyed reading your account of the catch.

Hengelaar's picture

Fantastic catch, man! And from shore for added radness.

Don't be apologizing for the story. It makes it better.

Welcome to the 60+ club!

 

Fishn sure is neat

Goldenfishberg's picture

Another hefty congratuations to you Mr. Erb, It was a joy watching that big ass fish bend your 12 foot rod in half and them some. I'm glad I could be there to wrangle that big ol don shlobio for ya AND not muck up the pictures either. It was a great weekend fishing with you gents, welcome to the 60 club my man, we meet every full moon in October at midnight and the newest member has to bring the cookies and juice...it's a uhhh...tradition. 

 

Aslo - RIP Ben's flannel shirt, may the slime honor you in the great "Closet in the Sky" 

Ya just Can't catch um from the couch.

Hengelaar's picture

Cookies and chocolate milk.

Fishn sure is neat

Corey's picture

Nice catch. Congrats!

Goldenfishberg's picture

We did drink a whole bottlle of archer farms that night...it was the luck of the chocolate milk 

Ya just Can't catch um from the couch.

Fishaholicsanonymous89's picture

Woo! What a hog!
roughfish29's picture

Thanks folks! Still haven't really calmed down from this one. Next time any of you are out Sturgeon fishing I'd highly recommend downing a gallon of high quality chocolate milk, who knows what could happen. 

@casey: I didn't weigh it but I'd imagine it was a little north of 60 pounds.