Normally, myself and Phil would find ourselves roaming and exploring rivers and getting lost in some of the finest nature this country has to offer. However, when the rivers shut up shop for the summer to let habitats refresh and various species get on with spawning, we turn our attentions to still waters.
This could involve spring/summer campaigns for Tench and Bream or even throwing the odd Carp session into the mix. After a number of phone calls planning various sessions, we decided on throwing something completely different into the mix…
When Phil randomly dropped the idea of hunting down some Sturgeon who was I to say no! This plan got us both excited about the session in hand and soon developed into one of our usual head to head challenges testing different methods.
Phil had already told me that he would be fishing large chunks of meat and prawns, as this has worked well for him previously. So, I thought I would take a more modern bait approach and fish for them how I would fish for Catfish.
Phil opted to fish prawns, which he had sprayed and boosted with Pink Peppered Squid Booster Spray, and large chunks of spam, which he had left for a few days marinading in Finamino Bait Soak. These were then to be fished over a bed of Smokey Jack Pellets.
I, however, decided I would take on a more “modern day” approach and fishing solid bags over small baited areas. My combination for the day would be two 20mm Smokey Jack Wafters on the business end and glugged in matching Active Gel. A PVA bag mix was made up of various Boosted Krill Pellets, Smokey Jack Pellets, Fish Bits and Salmon Oil. I was really intending to get a strong meaty fishy pocket of bait on the lake bed to attract any fish in. I finished this off by injecting the bags with the Sweet Meat Bait Sauce.
We spent the morning overly excited and getting some friendly competitive banter flowing, especially as all four rods were constantly under pressure from liners, small fish moving baits and carp picking up and dropping baits.
We stuck to our guns and after a couple of hours first, Phil struck first, when his right-hand rod tore away. Phil had baited an inside margin heavily with Smokey Jack Boilies and Pellets and dropped his big chunk of Finamino boosted spam right on the money. When he lifted into the run, we instantly knew this was the intended species as it darted off in any direction it could to try and escape. Sturgeon are one hell of a powerful fish and when they kick that large tail into action you better be holding your rod tightly!
Phil won the battle and we soon stood in awe as we watched his prize roll over the beads of the net, ready for a visit to the camera study (the mat!).
The fish was unhooked and left to rest in the net whilst we got mats and camera ready. We then got the pleasure of photographing a lovely conditioned 10lb 7oz sturgeon
Once the fish was released, it soon dawned on me that this also meant… it was one to nil on the natural bait vs modern day approach! So, it was time to up my game and stop clowning around, there was work to be done.
However, shortly after we had released Phil’s fish I had a one toner of a run on my right hand rod, which was being fished in open water over a bed of bait. You could see the line being ripped off straight towards the island of the lake. But, when I lifted the rod…absolutely nothing was on the end of it, which blew my mind a little bit. The assumptions were made that one of the many stockie Carp had picked up one of the gobstopper sized baits I was fishing on the hair and dragged it away.
This then led me to carry on putting more oily mix down on this spot and get fresh baits and a bag over the top. A few hours passed and I was starting to think maybe I had made a mistake in focusing on this one spot that had showed some signs of holding/attracting fish. Come mid afternoon my time to shine arrived, when the bobbin on my right had rod nailed the alarm. This time when I lifted into the run and I knew, I, too, had hooked into the intended species.
A quick smirk at my fellow angler I said the words we all like to say out loud…”be a darling and get the net”.
With the lake being a very murky water and there being virtually no clarity to see past the first inch or two we couldn’t tell how big the fish was, but she was sure making an account of herself, diving and lunging off in every direction and causing havoc.
After a short battle I soon got the enjoyment of watching my capture roll into the net and I was back level taking the score to one to one on the natural baits versus modern day approach battle.
My prize… a lovely fish of 16lb 10oz…
Following this fish, the sun hit home and killed off all likely sport, which then led to a final tally being a draw.
But this can only mean one thing… round two is on the cards!
