Monty's 12-21-08 "It was the worst of times..."

You know how the story goes...

The sun was shining, the birds were singing... I got my boys up, feed them some breakfast, took them to school and decided that it was a nice day to soak some bait. I headed to the Monty's for a try at landing a sturgeon. I got to the launch at just before 1100am and headed to the spot. I anchored up and proceeded to soak some bait. A couple hours go by and I'm thinking that if I brought my shotgun, I could just about shoot some ducks that were flying overhead. Then... tap tap... batter up boys... I swing and FISH ON... Maybe... I didn't know what I hooked into. I don't feel anything except for some dead weight. Not a thing... just weight coming up... I figured it was a car tire or something. Then, just about all the way to the surface, I see it... a loooooooooooooooong white thing... Sturgeon. Then, it bolts for who knows where... peeling line off of my reel like nothing. There wasn't anything I could do to slow this guy down. Then, it slows and I could feel this thing pulling me, my yak and anchor out to the bay... We play tug of war and it makes a U turn and comes straight to me... I'm reeling line in as fast as I could to keep pressure on him. Then, straight under my yak it goes... I look back and I see my spectra crossing my anchor line... DAMN!!! I can feel the fish on still so I proceed to pull up my anchor... About half way up... I see my spectra all tangled up in my anchor line through the pulley. I let it back down a bit because I didn't my the pulley to saw off my spectra... But, it doesn't matter... a minute later, I don't feel a thing anymore... I climb to the back of my yak to untangle the mess and my line was sawed off... I wasn't using a quick release type of an anchor rig. I was using my river drift anchor rig instead... No way to release it quickly without cutting the line and losing the anchor. Big mistake on my part... I just figured that I would be able to hook a fish and have time to pull my anchor up before anything bad happened... Maybe next time...??? I'm pretty sure that the fish I lost was an oversized fish so, as far as AOTY points are concerned... it wouldn't have helped me out. But still... it would've been nice to haul in a big sturgeon like that. I mean... that thing looked like a big ol' fat telephone pole when it came up under me... and that was the last I would see of him.

I retie my rig, cast out some more bait and call Stuie and Chucke about my great loss and heartbreak. I'm pretty bummed but, they cheer me up a little and then... "Chuck... Gotta go... BYE!!!" Not 20 minutes later... tap tap tap... FISH ON!!! Oh yeah... I can tell that this fish is smaller, so there may be a chance for me still. I play the fish for about 10 minutes and get it within 20 yards or so from my yak... we go back and forth for a bit and I can feel that the fish is tired out... I quickly pull up my anchor to prevent another heartbreak and reel the fish in... a few minutes later... snare on, tail tied up and I'm showing this fish some Savage Love... "It was the worst of times... it was the best of times..." all in about 30 minutes... Man, I love fishing.



Tight Lines,

Freddie

wow!  that was a great read. way to get savage out there.
see you in the spring Freddie.

NICE!!!!!!

  WTG Freddie!!!!........... Danglin

Great report! That looks like a nice size keeper too.

CHEERS!

Congrats Freddie! That one point last longer than I ever thought it would!!!

Freddie:

Good on ya bud.  Way to stick with it.

Jim

Congrats Freddie!

Now, that you passed Scwafish and Fishshim.  I guess I'm next.

Great report Freddie!
Where's Monty's?
Fish on!

Freddie~

Swing by when you want the quick release set-up. No worries that way.
Glad to see someone got some love.

WTG, Freddie...and a great read, too! Gotta love fishing!

Janice aka "Big J"

Great Job Freddie, Those big sturgeon are a handful, everything happens real fast.  Congratulations!  

Cool report.  WTG.   

Hell ya Freddie!!!!!       

I second that "hells ya"!  That was a great rollercoaster of a story, too.  Right on Freddie!

Great report Freddie...congrats on the catch.

Al