Tyler W and I decided to meet up and make an effort for some shovelnose sturgeon the other night. On the way to the river, Tyler mentions some gar he had seen in the area. Since it was an easy access, we figured we'd stop and make a few casts. Got to the spot and carp were all over (a couple real bigguns too...). Then we see a gar! My first cast lands high in a tree...I've been chucking too much lead lately and have forgot how to control a lighter lure. Tyler laughs...then casts, and yep, he's in the tree too! At least I got my lure back!
Our planned, couple minute stop, ended up being over two hours of fun/frustration, success/dejection. Immediately, we both had a number of hook ups, but couldn't get a solid hook into any. Ever seen a grown man jump up and down in frustration? You would have yesterday! But these fish were so cool!! You'd see them come up to a crank bait and bump it with their nose, as if smelling it. Did the same with jigs and inline spinners. If you kept it moving they might take a smack at it, but often they missed.
Finally, while I was watching a group of gar, another one shot out of the dark water and smashed my spinner and it got hooked! My drag was way too loose and it pulled out some line. I quickly grabbed the line, lift the rod and yanked that guy on to the shore...success!! Or not...that slippery guy wiggled out of my hands, on to shore, between my legs and about a foot from the water...I pounced and grabbed him, and if I had been a second later, he would have been gone! What a cool little fish!! We continued fishing for a while and managed one more gar, a carp and a nice pike.
We then set up on a spot in hopes of some shovelnose...sand bars were well underwater, so we settled for a high bank about 5 feet straight above the river. Flow was fast and we both tried various weights. Tyler seemed to get his 4 and 6 oz pyramids to holed, but my 4 oz no-rolls just rolled. I ended up putting on a 4 oz and a 3 oz together, but still, down river I went. After a couple hours...finally a good bite!! But with 7 oz of lead and tons of brush in the water, I couldn't tell if I had a fish! As the end of my line approached shore, I finally felt the pull of the fish, shined the headlamp down and looked..."what is that?" I thought. Bowfin? No, the eyes are shining. Walleye? No, to thin...wait, SHOVELNOSE!! Tyler grabbed the net and reached down to net it...
...One thing to think about when fishing with fellow competitors is what they may do to sabotage. Yep, the shovelnose went in the net, but as he just about got it up to the bank, it
somehow went back out, in to the river He quickly dropped to the ground and began stabbing the net into the water...he made a good effort to make it look like he was trying re-netting it, but I know he was trying to knock it off the line...
After we took a moment to regain composure, the fish was still on the line, but now had wrapped up in the brush below us and was tangled. It ran through my mind that I'd probably have to get down in to the waist-deep water to free it, but I gave another effort to pull it free and it came. Tyler netted again, with me watching his every move. Finally, on shore. Success!
What a great night of fishing, chatting and fun! And I can't wait to go after those gar again...what a blast!! Next time I'm bring the rope lures!
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