When anglers think of pole fishing, they often assume it's a tactic for small fish. However, angler Ryan Taylor dispelled that myth when he landed an enormous 30lb sturgeon using a pole.
Ryan was fishing a lake he knew contained a few sturgeon, but he had never seen one caught before and certainly didn’t expect to tempt one while using a pole.
IT PAYS TO USE ONE OF THE BEST FISHING SEATBOXES WHEN YOU'RE USING THE POLE.
"The lake I was fishing is relatively deep. Where I was fishing at 11 meters, it was around 12 feet deep," Ryan told us.
"I was using maggots and casters, regularly catapulting maggots over the top, which helped me catch plenty of rudd, perch, and some good tench."
"After a few hours of fishing, I hooked into something, and at first, it felt like I was stuck on the bottom. Then it started to move, and I had no control over the situation."
"About 20 minutes later, I saw a very large fish tail walk about 25 meters away, and I thought, 'If that's on my pole, it's huge,'" he recalled.
"I called my friend over for assistance. The fight lasted for an hour, and at one point, I had to stand right up on the bank with my 14.5m pole vertical just to get the fish to the surface."
"We quickly realized it wouldn’t fit in our standard net, so my friend ran to a nearby carp angler to borrow his landing net."
"Unbelievably, the fish was netted, with my friend having to get into the water to secure it."
"It was an amazing and scary experience all at the same time, a once-in-a-lifetime fish on that setup," he said.
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