The book is closed on the 2011 Sturgeon Excursion, but the memories will last a life time!
I enjoyed the companionship of Mr. Tim Miller and Ido Reporter Jesse Krook this year. Tim was a sturgeon virgin prior to this trip, but I think there’s sturgeon slime in his blood now. We arrived at The Wigwam Resort at 1 AM, we unloaded the gear and made it directly to our bedrooms as we wanted to be ready to wet our lines as soon as possible in the morning.
When morning came we had a quick breakfast in the resort, met up with some old friends and made some new ones.
Next stop was Adrian’s Resort where Brian Nay met us with a hardy “Good Morning” and gave us some tips on where he’s heard the fish were being caught. I stopped to chat with one of the twins (don’t ask me which one…I can’t tell them apart!) Then it was out the door to put the plug in the boat and find a dinosaur!
Tim “Big Horse No Feather” hooked into the second fish of the day. I was watching Tim’s rod and since it didn’t have much bend to it, I figured it was going to be an under 40″ fish.
THEN IT PORPOISED!
Our jaws dropped to the floor of the boat!
I think this could be described better by Big Horse No Feather:
It did not feel like a huge fish for a while. It surfaced and all three of us said
holy crap!
Jesse’s description later was “ever seen an oak tree with whiskers”?! It was game on after it surfaced.
I can’t even describe the fight these fish put up! If you have never experienced it all I can say is get your butt up there as you are in for the time of your life! I fought the fish probably in the neighbor hood of 20 minutes and it got off.
I have to say I was bummed to say the least. But it was totally awesome that I got to see the fish and fight it! I will also say it was kicking my butt!
The fight in these fish is amazing!
Yes, with the rod bending into the water at times and the sturgeon leading Big Horse No Feather into the anchor once, Tim finally sat down and fought to the end of the battle.
When the hook came out, we were all stunned.
Jean-Paul at Wigwam said he was out on Thursday in the morning and didn’t have a fish until 3 pm. We seemed to be following his rhythm because our first fish didn’t come until 2:30 pm.
I popped a 40 incher to get these guys warmed up.
Big fish in the boat for the day was a chunky 48 from Jesse.
Over all the fishing was slower than most years although there were many large fish caught. Seemed like from Baudette to 1/2 way out to the gap produced the most fish from the reports we heard.
Ma Nature gave us Friday with blue skys and wind pushing down river which was perfect if we had to have wind. Saturday met us with rain and dropping temps. Sunday was snow and ice which gave us the “go home” signal.
This report wouldn’t be complete without a major THANK YOU to the Staff at Wigwam Resort.
TERRI (Who gave Tim his new Native American name)
DEB
BRYCE (Maker of the best 7-Up, dash of Coke I’ve ever had)
TANYA
LYNDSY
MINDY (another of Gina (the turkey cooker’s) daughters)
LISA
DEBBIE (AWESOME COOK)
COLLIN
STEPHANIE
TANYA (LISTED TWICE TO REMEMBER HER NAME)
If I missed anyone I’m dead meat!!
And of course Jean-Paul.
You folks all made up for the slower bite and added another page of memories to the book of Sturgeon Excursions!!
Until Next Year!