Chronicles of a Blue Water Hunter

[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 rofl rofl
great catches man, just kidding...so how does it feel to land regular fish like the rest of us

 

[Mr. X]

...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!!...

rofl. 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!!

Mr.X, i think its just a matter of mindset. The anglers i mentioned above, one of them stays 4 minutes drive from the spot where i fish!! He's excuse was that the river doesn't offer good fishing this time of the year. Many anglers here own boats and therefor travel around alot. From my understanding, the sturgeon population was severely endangered a few years ago and with better regulation, their stocks have increased. Simply seems like the locals don't KNOW about their great sturgeon fishery right on their doorstep!! Like all anglers, myself included, we often overlook our local waters!!

Very excited at the prospect of landing a 100lb+ sturgeon here!! Another aspect of fishing, which i've neglected is fishing with artificials. i've become complacement with the tackle we use back home, simply becuase they work. I now have the opportunity to experiment with various types of lures for pike. Have made a couple of home-made lures and am keen to see whether they'll work......

 

[fer_abella]

Very relaxing.
No bumping and solid ground around you.
Completely different from YT.
Take a rest, you need it.

 

[Mr. X]

...
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!!

So what do make of this "World Record" InterationalUSA yellow fin tuna Miles (it's about half the size of the ones you catch):
Spearfisherman's big yellowtail taken off Baja may be a world record

This is the second IUSA "World Record" I've noticed that seems well below par. The other was an Amberjack that was much smaller than this one caught from shore by Antonio Concepcion Soria: European Spearfishing Supplies - Gallery World Record For Men's Amberjack

My two spearing heros in the same post, Antonio & Miles

[Should we infer from the USA in the IUSA title that this is a US organisation with international aspirations?]

 

[fer_abella]

I do not know how Miles ends always finding bigger fish than normally avalaible.
I am unsure if he managed to connect some water flows somehow in order to agreggate that sturgeon in the correct point to bait them.
These fish do not know who will be at the other side of the line : "Caterpillarman" at the reel. They will jump to the shore without using fins.
Just wait and see.
If he does not catch it with one reel, it can be done with a "rabitech" reel if legal in that remote part of the world ;-)

 

[Hugh.]

So what do make of this "World Record" InterationalUSA yellow fin tuna Miles (it's about half the size of the ones you catch):
Spearfisherman's big yellowtail taken off Baja may be a world record

This is the second IUSA "World Record" I've noticed that seems well below par. The other was an Amberjack that was much smaller than this one caught from shore by Antonio Concepcion Soria: European Spearfishing Supplies - Gallery World Record For Men's Amberjack

My two spearing heros in the same post, Antonio & Miles

[Should we infer from the USA in the IUSA title that this is a US organisation with international aspirations?]

That would be a yellowtail. Different specie all together.
Heres the world record for yellowfin tuna. The International Underwater Spearfishing Association
Also, the "IUSA" stands for international underwater spearfishing association.

 

[Hugh.]

And the amberjack record... The International Underwater Spearfishing Association
EDIT: I now see that the amberjack you posted was far larger. Ha. Anyway, it could be the catch didn't follow the rules of the organization.

 

[Bill]

The yellowtail is a different animal. I think they get bigger than that in New Zealand but that is huge for Baja.

 

[Mr. X]

That would be a yellowtail. Different species all together.
Heres the world record for yellowfin tuna. The International Underwater Spearfishing Association
Also, the "IUSA" stands for international underwater spearfishing association.

Quite right, my bad. Yes I know the USA doesn't stand for United States of America in this case but I can't help thinking it might be the Americans' expressing their well known love of their country again! They are all impressive fish:
The International Underwater Spearfishing Association

Now what about the AJ and those NZ yellow tails?

The International Underwater Spearfishing Association
European Spearfishing Supplies - Gallery World Record For Men's Amberjack

And the amberjack record... The International Underwater Spearfishing Association
EDIT: I now see that the amberjack you posted was far larger. Ha. Anyway, it could be the catch didn't follow the rules of the organization.

Antonio landed his alone, without a boat, with a single shot. Hard to imagine better style. You might be right, I wouldn't be surprised if you need to be a member to claim a record from the IUSA or BSA. A lot of folk don't claim records. You need witnesses, calibrated scales, etc.. Quite a lot of hassle if you just want to enjoy a good days fishing followed by a nice fish supper. I think the photos say enough, don't you?! I'm even more impressed because of the size of the fish compared to the guy - you know he had to work to swim that to shore.

 

[chrismar]

The NZ kingfish (Yellowtail) record is 105lbs, by Allan Langton. I thought it was registered as a world record too...

 

[Hugh.]

Now what about the AJ and those NZ yellow tails?

Antonio landed his alone, without a boat, with a single shot. Hard to imagine better style. You might be right, I wouldn't be surprised if you need to be a member to claim a record from the IUSA or BSA. A lot of folk don't claim records. You need witnesses, calibrated scales, etc.. Quite a lot of hassle if you just want to enjoy a good days fishing followed by a nice fish supper. I think the photos say enough, don't you?! I'm even more impressed because of the size of the fish compared to the guy - you know he had to work to swim that to shore.

Wow! That makes it much more impressive... :martial Who knows, he could have not applied for a record. He should have though, that thing is monstrous.