Chronicles of a Blue Water Hunter

[Oldsarge]

Originally Posted by BatRay

Can you shoot yellowtail in California, Poly?

Absolutely, Batty, they're the number 2 (after wsb) big game fish in the area.
That's for those who are boat divers, of course. It takes a strong spearo to swim out to yellowtail territory.

[Mowgli]

Originally Posted by miles

Funny you should ask......

And this happens only on my Birthday, while I'm sitting here and you're slaughtering there..!!

[miles]

22 April 2008

I leave for Canada in 3 days!! Checked the weather and low and behold, it looks like a very nice fish-able day. Decided to invite a few friends along and make it a social trip. Two of my buddy's have been nagging for a while to go with, so what better way to spend a day on the water......

Five of us onboard and off we go!! My aim is to get all of them to pole some albacore.

Mission accomplished!!! Let the pic's do the talkin'

Final tally 7 YF in the 100-150lb class and 40 odd albacore in the 10-70lb class Not a great day considering the amount of fish caught, but an AWESOME day with the company aboard!!

[miles]

Now for something completely different!!

I'm now in a little town called North Battleford, near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. My wife has banned me from buying any fishing tackle, as she had an exam coming up and didn't want any fishing temptations.

So, off to Winnipeg in Manitoba we go for her exams. Lo-and-behold, they have a CABELA's. Now, coming from South Africa, i've read and browsed their online shop extensively and was eager to go buy some tackle. I spent a total of just over an hour in the store of which 40 minutes was dedicated to the rather poorly stocked fishing section. To make matters worse, during that 40 minutes, not a single salesman had asked me if i need any assistance!! So, being terribly dis-appointed with their service, i left there with-out even making a purchase. The guys at Wholesale Sports in Saskatoon were alot friendlier and i'd rather take my business there!!

So, we get back to Saskatoon on Sunday and wholesale sports is closed!! ARGHHH!!! Wifes NOW severely peeved off at me!! So, she makes me go buy some tackle at Walmart. I ended up buying 2 mitchell rod and reel combo's, for $25 each! Spooled them with 15lb braid and bought a few sinkers and pickeral rigs, as i'd been advised. My whole plan was to buy el-cheapo stuff here and order decent stuff on the net.

Today, the weather was beautiful. 26 degree's with no wind. Unfortunately, the wife's on call, so we can't venture too far. Lets go make a few throws in the river, she suggests. Sure, why not.......

Bought our bait and fishing licences and off we go. First spot, its already occupied! We chat to the anglers and they offer alternative spots. On my way there, i find a quite little backwater, and spend the next 30 minutes there was absolutely no luck. mmm.....maybe the fish do prefer the current in the river.....

Next spot i also found by chance. Was driving along and stopped to see where we were. Spot looked GREAT!! Decided to check if there was a place with easier access and when i got back, 5 minutes later, somebody else just started fishing there!! ARGH!!

Oh well, not 40m further was another nice looking place. Set-up our gear here. Not 5 minutes had passed and i see a fish jump completely out of the water!! Our neighboors are hooked up and the fish is displaying amazing aeriel manouvers!! WOW!!! Few minutes later, i'm taking some picture's and the wife shouts!! She's ON!! Our neighboors land their fish, a sturgeon of about 15lb's (6-7kg's), whilst my wife's fish has now travelled almost 100m downriver!!

She battle's this fish grinning from ear to ear!! These sturgeon are INCREDABLY strong fish!! After about 15 minutes, she has the fish at the edge and we try and land it, no landing net or gaff's, as we were releasing them anyways!! 20lb's(9-10kg's) of sturgeon!! Not bad for her first Canadian fish!!

5 minutes later her phone rings. Its the hospital....she's gotta go work......

Oh well, an hours fishing and one 20lb fish to show for our efforts!! Not too shabby!! The best part, we must've seen 5 or 6 other sturgeon jumping out of the water. Can't wait to spend a full day there.......

[miles]

Species list is growing!!

Since the sun sets at about 10pm, you have PLENTY of time to go fishing after work. We went back down to the river, but the current was VERY strong. Even 5oz sinkers wouldn't hold in the current. Still managed to get a few fish though.

Called 'SUCKERFISH'. The river seems to be infested with these buggers. Patheticly weak. Feels just like you're reeling in some weeds.

VERY relaxing fishing though!! Deck chairs, a fire and some food, all whilst you're waiting for a fish!! Thats the way you're supposed to have dinner!

[miles]

Saskatchewan is called the province of 100 000 lakes!! Why? Because it has over 100 000 lakes

With the river's current now being very strong and the water having risen more than 2m, with lots of debris being washed down river, makes for impossible fishing. Sooo, we just need to find a lake and fish in still waters. Small problem though, WHICH lake?

Off exploring we go. We drive pass a couple of smaller bodies of water and the wife decree's that the next turn-off is the one we will take! So, thats EXACTLY what i do. We drive a bit further and cross a small bridge that looks ALOT like a spot i used to fish in Swartvlei, Knysna, SA. A small creek, with a bridge over it. All the fish that moves into and out of the creek simply MUST pass through it!! Looked PERFECT!!

We stop and see two locals fishing there. Chatted to them and the last 4 hours yielded just 1 fish of about 2kg's. mmmmm, not a good sign!! BUT, the place simply looked FISHY!! Decided to fish there anyways. After half an hour of fruitless throwing lures, the wife's getting bored. I start hearing about what a useless angler i am, how i can't pick a decent spot, etc,etc

Halfway through her complaining, i hear......"VAS!!" Rod bent, and the fish jumps completely clear of the water! Wifes grinning from ear to ear. A few minutes later, the speedy fiend is landed and some photo's taken and then released to grow a bit more. Her first PIKE, a small one of about 2kg's. Now i don't feel so bad.......

Another 30 minutes pass and no life. NOTHING!! I tried so many different lures and retrieval speeds, but NOTHING. Watching the locals, i see that they retrieve there lures rather fast. Lets try the EXACT opposite. I slow down COMPLETELY, with my spoon bumping the bottom every so now and then. "BANG"......'VAAAASS!!"

Got them figured out now!! Ended up with us catching well over 15 Pike in the next 2 hours. Unfortunately, one was hooked very deep and was bleeding profuesly, so we despatched it and gave it to our neighbours, who were very thankfull!!

Biggest fish, a nice pike of 7kg's, caught by my wife of course

[miles]

With the Pike fishing episode previously, i went to the local Walmart and bought some steel traces and spoons as well as a couple of bass type lures. After work, off to the lake we go!! With only 3 hours or so availabel for fishing, we were hoping to just catch a few fish.

Got to the marina, which is a new spot for us. See about 10 people fishing here. Stopped by an elderly gentleman and enquired about the fishing. Very quite. They hooked but lost only one fish. A couple of the younger local lads has landed 3 fish between the 3 of them. Oh well, lets rig up and cast.

First cast, my wife's VAS!! Fishing on our right is two elderly ladies, maybe in their 80's!! They quickly inform all the others, that the WOMEN will show them how to fish!! Needless to say, my wife catch's 3 fish on 3 consecutive casts!! The elderly ladies are now only rubbing it in!!

I was seriously VERY impressed with them! The one lady has only partial use of her one hand and has very poor eye-sight. She lost a fish and couldn't rig her rod up. I went to assist her and she said she rarely lose's tackle and that her son usually rigs her tackle up, but he's got better things to do than go fishing with her!

Oh well, between my wife and myself, we landed over 35 Pike. Nothing big, with the largest perhaps 4kg's. The local younsters had managed 8 in the same time!! After the first 15 or so fish, we showed the elderly ladies and the elderly gentleman how to retrieve their lures. They were retrieving too fast. Slowing down the retrieve is less tiring for them and it catch's more fish. Needless to say, everytime one of them got a fish, the local youngsters had their noses rubbed in it!!

The people here are incredabily friendly and almost everyone fish's! Even though they don't get very big Pike here, i'll go back simply because of the stories that were told by these elderly people, about their country, beliefs, life and anything else connected to fishing!!

[miles]

Got our butts kicked today!!

Went down to the river after work. The current was slow enough to allow for easy fishing. Set everything up and then sat back and enjoyed the scenery. half an hour passes, and a couple of casts later. NOTHING. Oh well, just so peacefull here, might as well just spend the next hour or two admiring the view.

Couple of minutes later, the rod tip bounces a few times. Wife pounces on it!! She quickly reels it in, to about 10m from the side. I don't even bother getting up as its obviously a small fish. Almost at the side, it turns and peels off 60-70m of line!! WHAT THE ???

OK, now this fish has got my attention. It swims upriver, and after about 10 minutes, the fish is with-in 10m from the side again. Just then, the second rod goes off!! I grab it and immediately a 7kg sturgeon jumps out of the water!! 10minutes later, i net my 7kg sturgeon, take a few pic's and quickly release the fish. The wife's fish is still swimming in the middle of the river.

Half an hour has now passed and the fish is very close to the side. It suddenly leaps out of the water, giving a spectacular aerial display!! Looks to be well over 20kg's!! Next minute it bolts downstream, stripping off 130m of line!! NO MORE line left on the reel!! HOLD THE LINE.............POP!! Trace snaps!! ARGHHHH!!!!!

Rig up again, bait up and cast out. Two minutes later......ZZZZZZZ.......another fish on!! Wife battles the fish and after a couple of spectacular jumps, another 7kg sturgeon gets netted!!

Added another few suckerfish and some weird specie to the list, then the mosquito's came out and chased us home......

Needless to say, going to buy bigger reels which'll hold at least 300m of 20lb braid!! Want to land those LARGE sturgeon........

[miles]

Spent some time chatting to a few very enthusiatic anglers here. They claimed that sturgeon is actually VERY RARE in the local river and between the 3 anglers, they've caught 5 sturgeon in over 15 years fishing here. Needless to say, they didn't believe that we've caught 3 sturgeon and lost a couple in less than two week fishing here!!

Anycase, after getting beaten up by a large sturgeon, we opted for heavier tackle. Bought some new rods and reels as well as some terminal tackle, as the rigs the locals use is simply woefully in-adequate.

The wife's already dubious about targetting sturgeon, because the other anglers said it was begginers luck for us to catch them. Not to be dettered, we packed everything in and decided to have lunch by the river. Since we were planing on going down for only 2 hours or so, we only had one small container of earthworms. Didn't even bother to bring the minnows or the leech's.

Set up our deck chairs, rigged up, baited and cast out. Then started to get the braai going. ZZZZZZZZZZZ.....reel screams!! Wife grabs the rod and starts fighting. A couple of minutes later, the first sturgeon is landed!! That is pretty much what happened for the next 2 and a half hours!! Landed 6 sturgeon and lost 2. Both lost fish jumped out of the water and spat the hook out!! Biggest fish was 32lb's (15kg's).

[miles]

couple more pic's

[Marwan]

SH#t miles , now youre landing just 15 kg fish!!!! , the world must coming to an end
great catches man, just kidding...so how does it feel to land regular fish like the rest of us

[Mr. X]

Originally Posted by miles

...Spent some time chatting to a few very enthusiatic anglers here. They claimed that sturgeon is actually VERY RARE in the local river and between the 3 anglers, they've caught 5 sturgeon in over 15 years fishing here. Needless to say, they didn't believe that we've caught 3 sturgeon and lost a couple in less than two week fishing here!!...

. Like the story about the old ladies too How come the locals weren't doing so well, was it just that their gear was too light for the bigger fish?

[miles]

Hiya

Marwan, rumour has it that those sturgeon grow to over 200lb's (90kg+). Never thought i'd be catching or have the possibility to catch such sized fish in freshwater!! Watch this space!! Size of the fish really doesn't matter!! Myself and the wife are quite happy, whether we're catching 90kg tuna or 10cm mullet, doesn't matter. As long as we're at the water, outdoors, ENJOYING it!!