Lower Niagara River 04/18/14

[FSHN FRK]

Hey gang,
Decided at the last minute to head down to the river with a buddy.
First drift I got this nice male.

The rest of the day.......not a sniff.
Decided to pack it in after one last drift. Started in front of the jet boat dock.
Felt a small hit and lifted the rod tip. Instant bend! I thought for a second I snagged, but it came off bottom a bit. It felt almost like I was lifting a branch or some thing. Then I felt a head shake.
I could tell it was big, very heavy. I got the weight near the surface and my buddy started freaking out!
A bunch of swear words, and such. Lol through all that he said it was a STURGEON! I didn't see it, but he said at least 4-5 feet long.
I had 10lb mono on my reel because I was trout fishing. Fought it for a half hour, chased it with the boat to try to gain line. But, no good. It was hugging bottom and I couldn't get it off. I had to do something so I tried to but some muscle to it to get it moving. Snapped the line.
Would have been one of my bucket list fish. Oh well.
Here's a pick of the fight.

Cheers!

[npetersen]

WOW, that would have been a great picture and a cross off the bucket list. Oh well, at least you had the fight and a new species to target

Nice bow as well.

I'm glad to hear you got your boat splashed last weekend. We are hoping to get ours in this coming weekend and also open up the trailer.

[nsfisher]

Hey Mark,
Nice bow, kicking myself for not going somewhere this morning. and what a great fish story I have been fishing chocolate for the past couple weekends just to get back into the swing of things with the pin.

I believe you bud, there have been some big sturgeon caught in that river, too bad you couldn't have at least got him up to have a peak.

[Sea Bass]

Jealous!

Days like that are makes us go back!

[FSHN FRK]

Would have been amazing to get a pic. I've always wanted to catch one.
At least I hooked one and fought it.

[nsfisher]

That rod is B E N T! I think you need to bring some heavier gear next time.

[ThorahGuy]

Hooking a beast on overmatched tackle seldom ends well . . . . but it can be fun while it lasts. Sorry you lost it Mark, next time.

[admin]

Mark, well done on a great outing.. Beauty bow..

About the sturgeon, all I can say is "I wish" -- it would be like fishing in an episode of River Monsters..

That is a fish of a lifetime.. Congrats on the hook-up and for feeling the weight of a true dinosaur of the deep..

[lundman]

Awesome. That would of been a fish of a lifetime.
Looks like it was a nice day for a boat ride.

[Longshank]

Good on Ya!

for sure that would have been a sturgeon. Get 2-3 every year and they pull like crazy. They usaully do a jump once or twice and then it's just a buldog fight, but they do have to come off bottom first.

[FatRap]

It is better to have caught and lost than to not have caught at all........or something like that

Great story Mark, like Wallydiver would say "it would have been nice to see the pudding". Would have for sure been a fish of a lifetime if you could have got him in but it is a good reason to go back and try again.

Nice bow, looks like it was a nice day to be out on the water.

Next time

[FSHN FRK]

It's not something I'm going to forget any time soon.
It was a great day. Thanks.
Cheers!

[Putaforkinya]

those dinosaurs are definately on my bucket list too.

I'm sure it was still one hell of a fight. sometimes it's good to "release" them quickly like you did as some people end up killing them by just trying to get them into the boat.

I don't even know how I'd land one of those babies in my boat