What a great lake, I’m telling you. Whitewater Lake offers so much, from great shore lunch locations, plenty of sightseeing opportunities, courteous, friendly staff at Striker’s Point Lodge, and an abundance of amazing fishing. This week was like all the rest, terrific! The James group from Ohio were delighted by the bountiful Walleye catches. They also all joined the 30-inch club, with Craig’s 38 incher topping the list. Bob added an ingenious addition to his arsenal of fishing tackle, a breakfast sausage. Unfortunately the fish shied away from his offering of processed meat.

The Clemmons crew from Chicago area had a weeks worth of fishing and made the most of it by averaging 12 hours a day on the water. It certainly paid off for Tom who boasted a 30in Walleye.  He caught it in 14ft of water while vertically jigging a 3/8 oz jig head with a sucker minnow. It was taken at the second point in on the north shore of the Ogoki outlet, at a spot they referred to as “on demand.” Mike’s hard work rewarded him on his last night with a 38 inch Pike while trolling a Johnson Silver Minnow in the back bay, behind the lodge. Chris Clemmons, and Dale were pretty tough on the Wally’s this week, landing several fish in the 20-24 inch range. Severe weather caused flight delays for the Clemmons group, which in turn resulted in an extra day of fishing. Dale made good on his bonus night by successfully landing a beefy 43in Northern that hit a 30in Northern first. He then tossed a Johnson Silver Minnow which the Pike grabbed right away. He was fishing at the first island straight out from the lodge.

Paul and his gang from Oklahoma had a good start to their trip. Richard caught a 40 inch Pike while casting a Johnson Silver Minnow in about 5ft of weedy water straight across from the lodge, on the south shore.

And a late breaking development, the story of the week came from Jeremy of Vittoria, Ontario. He was here fishing with his father Terry. Both were fishing right off the dock. Terry was tearing up the Walleye, about 13 in a half hour. Meanwhile, Jeremy hooked into something big and heavy. It was about 10:45 pm. Something was peeling line off of his spool at an alarming rate. Before it was to late, Jeremy, Terry, and I actually had to untie a boat from the dock and follow the speeding fish. Finally at 11:30pm, and after several runs under the boat, a 60 inch Sturgeon was raised and netted. It was caught on a ¼ oz jig head, and white tail with 8 lb test. The fish was truly a monster! Although Terry’s Walleye action was so rudely interrupted, he was pleased enough to take some great shots of this prehistoric beast.

All that being said, the action hasn’t ceased since we opened on the 21st of May.
…Tyler Lancaster

Wasn’t it Weird Al Yankovic who recorded the Madonna parody, Like a Sturgeon, caught for the very first time?
Well that’s what Jeff Snow was singing up at Striker’s Point last week.

So what exactly is a Sturgeon?
A sturgeon is a fish in the family Acipenseridae, which contains over 20 known species. Humans are most familiar with the Sturgeon because it is a famous source of caviar, unfertilized roe collected from female fish. Both the eggs and the meat are considered a treasure by the First Nation anglers of this area of Canada. We find them mostly in our larger lakes like Whitewater, Miminiska and Makokibatan. Because they feed on the bottom, anglers bottom fishing with jigs are usually those who get the hefty surprise about a half dozen times a year.

The physical appearance of a Sturgeon is somewhat primordial. The fish are long, with several rows of bony plates along their bodies, along with an elongated snout, which has protruding barbels. The fish are bottom feeders, using their wedge-like snouts to churn up the bottom of waterways for food. Most Sturgeon eat mollusks, worms, and larvae. Sturgeons are classified as ganoid fishes, in a reference to the bony plates that line their bodies.

The northern hemisphere exclusively supports Sturgeon, and they prefer temperate, rather than tropical waters. Some Sturgeon are anadromous, which means that they travel between salt and fresh water. Others live solely in fresh water, usually within landlocked bodies of water, and some species spend their lives at sea. The largest species is the Russian Sturgeon, which can reach a length of 13 feet (almost four meters). Sturgeon of approximately half that size are much more abundant.

Humans have been eating sturgeon and their products for centuries. The caviar is the most prized Sturgeon product, but the flesh is eaten as well. Sturgeon meat is rich, high in fat, and very dense with a mild flavor. When obtainable, it is eaten fresh in many parts of Europe. In Russia, where large numbers of the fish are harvested for their roe, the meat is dried or smoked before being sold. Humans also use the swim bladder of the fish to extract isinglass, a type of gelatin used to clarify foods such as beer