May 2013 SOTM Entry: Sturgeon
Tuesday, May 21, 2013 at 12:00AM 
From the inbox:
We were out on a local river and when I thought I was snagged I realized I had a monster on. I've caught a lot of big catfish on the fly and this was not feeling like a catfish at all. Not knowing what I had hooked, the fish took me upstream. Despite my efforts of side pressure, the fish was unphased by anything I did. After 15 mins we caught a glimpse of the fish and that's when we saw it was a sturgeon, the shark-like tail was unmistakable. ! I managed to get it in a riffle section where I was able to get my hand on the base of the tail and wrestle the fish briefly. The fish calmed down and we were able to get a quick pic. Knowing that they are a fish that deserve respect, I made sure to keep the fish in the water and only lift it out for a couple seconds to snap a pic and get it back in the water. We picked off a few lamprey that were attached to help it out and let the beast back on its way. What an experience.
I was drifting a crawfish pattern along the bottom hoping for catfish, bass or carp. I was not expecting a sturgeon to eat my fly. We laid the fish up against my fly rod while in the water and it measured from the butt to just past the second ferrule. Afterwards we measured it at 50-inches!
Cheers,
Nick "Flatlander" Laferriere
FISHBUM Outfitters
mmay 2013, slab of the month, sturgeon in Contests