Big Sturgeon

[Moosebunk]

A 3.29m (just under 11 feet) leviathan caught 2 days ago by a Fraser River Fishing Lodge guest. Can't imagine that fight.

 

[snag]

WOW!

 

WHAT A BEAUTY!

 

Did it survive?

[setomonkey]

Probably, I've watched a couple of fishing show episodes on sturgeon, they are hardy and can survive a lot, including being beached like that (the only way I can think of to "land" a 10'+ fish!)

 

Mike

[nautifish]

That is wow.

 

 

I have a question though.

 

Are these Fish pretty abundant down on the west coast?

 

They say we still have sturgeon here in lake erie. Allthough i can honestly say i have not heard of anyone catching one around here.

 

I know they're used to be...They have some awesome pictures of sturgoen fished on this lake at the museum here.

[Ron]

That is one nice buhemith of a Sturgen! Too bad his nails aren't manicured.

[camillj]

Now thats what I call a BIGGUN !!!

 

I have heard of the odd one being caught in Lake O over the years .. havent heard about any from Erie though

[Mike Pike]

Ya, a fellow posted a pic of a sturgeon he caught in a Lake Ontario harbour on the Niagara message board a few months ago. A gorgeous fish to be sure. But I haven't heard of any Erie sturgeon either.

 

Nothing would compare to that BC fish though. Yikes!

Edited November 18, 2006 by Mike Pike

[GbayGiant]

I would love to fish the Fraiser one day.

[The Urban Fisherman]

yepp - same here, it's my goal to fish BC sturgies some day!

[Rizzo]

That is a ridiculous fish. As far as sturgeon out this way, I spotted one on my aquaview in the upper niagara last year. Was maybe a 40 inch fish

[nautifish]

Well i know there were sturgeon in LAKE EIRE.......They have pics in the musuem here,,,,and some monsters pulled out too.

 

But like i said never heard of anyone pulling one out since i have been here.

 

But with that being said if i pulled a beauty sturgoen out the lake not sure i would advertise it.

 

 

 

As for fishing the fraser...Maybe those members that want to go could pull togeather and do a fundraiser for next yr?

 

 

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE IF U PUT UR HEART & SOUL INTO IT.

Edited November 18, 2006 by nautifish

[Rich]

*Books trip to Fraser River Lodge*

[ccmtcanada]

Hey...that guy caught my mother in law!!!! Uncanny the resemblance!!!

[outdoorguy61]

Ed Pazkowski caught a 168 pd. specimen in the 1980's in Georgian Bay.

 

A 217 pd was taken in a commercial net near Adolphustown in 1952 and a 180 pd in the 1990's near Picton. There are sturgeon in the Trent R. (mostly lower section).

 

Just some tidbits. I have not seen the particular picture before on this thread and am wondering if this might in fact be older, as I run into most fishing related BC fishing items on a regular basis....since I work here. There was a large specimen taken in a group shot that was packaged as being from a variety of locations.....lots of stuff gets repackaged on the net. Either way, a nice fish. This is not meant in any disrespect to moosebunk.

 

outdoorguy61

Edited November 18, 2006 by outdoorguy61

[kemper]

That is well....a tank. I have no other way to describe it.

 

Ive seen a few sturgeon, twice at the mouth of the St.Clair river on lake huron and once while casting the peir on lake ontario. Swam right along side the pier. Cool for sure, but it wasnt really all that big.

[fishindevil]

WOW.....thats friggin huge i wonder how long the fight was to land that giant,ive seen a 7ftr come from the ottawa river and that was around 160lbs,so that might well be 500lbs,

[baowu2]

Actually, all the sturgeons in BC are "endangered" species, anglers are allowed to catch and release them. I remember a Vietnemness guy caught a 2 feet boy, brought it home and let it sit in the swimming pool. He was arrested by the police hours later with $20000 fine, impounded car, confiscated all the fishing equipments, and went to jail for 2 month.

It's that serious in BC if anyone tried to bring your trophy sturgeon home. PIX just fine!! ^^~

[bje]

This one was apparently caught this spring in Kincardine (Lake Huron). I do not know the original source of the picture. However you gotta say Wow!

 

I have also heard they are common under the BlueWater Bridge (Sarnia-Port Huron) - although I doubt there are many caught this big.

 

Edited November 18, 2006 by bje

[ChrisK]

This one was apparently caught this spring in Kincardine (Lake Huron). I do not know the original source of the picture. However you gotta say Wow!

 

I heard the Kincardine fish was a hoax...It was caught elsewhere...

 

As for the fish in the picture here,man what a monster !!!

 

Cheers !!!

[Mike Pike]

Ya, that's one of the hoax stories, BJE. A great fish to be sure, just not caught in Kincardine. A different species of sturgeon all together from our great lakes fish, as well.

[outdoorguy61]

This picture is beginning to emerge on the FishBC board. It is said to have been caught by a visiting angler from Denmark. Hopefully more information will surface (pardon the pun)...lol.

 

outdoorguy61

[Moosebunk]

The Kincardine fish is a hoax. That fish was actually caught by a group chartering out of Chilliwack on the Fraser River. The fish was taken just outside of Mission BC late last fall. It's a steel-welded jet boat in the pic. How often do you see those in this area???

 

The fish I posted was sent to me in an email only a few days ago by the owner of Fraser River Fishing Lodge. I was told who the guide was, when the fish was caught, and given the particulars as to it's length.

The guide who caught this fish was the same guide who took this pic for me in 2004. Here's the link to where the pic is kept now.

 

http://www.fraserriverlodge.com/images/gal...turg160_lrg.jpg

 

 

The guides out there generally use 80-120lb test, 10/0 hooks and a variety of baits to match the forage of the season. The sturgeon are protected now, but, endangered I don't know. About 15 years ago huge fish were washing up on shore dead. I remember reading an article on this. It was a scare to some folks out there as it couldn't be explained why. Now, on the Fraser, there are supposedly about 450 guides, most w/e warriors, who will charter for these fish. I remember one guide telling me his best day was 36 fish, the same guide who chartered for the fish in this thread, and, who has also caught a 10 and 9.4 footer this season.

 

The Ontario record 168lb would likely be about the same size as the fish in this very post. This fish being a "white," the Ontario fish being a "lake" sturgeon. Not much seems to be studied about Lake sturgeon and there really is no active/consistent fishery. In the St. Lawrence, Lake O, and parts of the Ottawa River, one could actually hook an Atlantic sturgeon which could be bigger than a lake sturgeon's max size.

 

If you google Ontario sturgeon fishing you might come across a site that charters for the Ogoki river area on the Albany watershed. They claim their fish to be white sturgeon. It's my opinion that they would be wrong.

Edited November 18, 2006 by Moosebunk

[Moosebunk]

Here's a story behind the fish. The guide is definetely "FishWhisperer"

 

 

Asger Michaelsen with his 11 ft. trophy sturgeon

On Nov.16, 2006, we have hooked, landed, tagged and carefully released one of the largest sturgeon EVER caught in the Fraser River. In our last fishing report, we mentioned a group of die-hard sturgeon fishermen from our tour operator in Denmark, Atlantik Travel www.atlantiktravel.com This group - on their last day - wrote a piece of fishing history...

 

When the group arrived from Denmark last week, we were approached by the group leader and asked for a very patient guide, as 3 anglers in their group could neither hear nor speak. I replied to him, that all our guides are patient, as fishing is not a job, but a lifestyle for them. He looked around at all the guides present and into the room walked Kevin, a guide of few words. His nickname is "The Fishwhisperer" (thanks for the name, Carolyn Hansen). I said "here is your guide, the 3 of you don`t talk, Kevin doesn`t either - perfect". They hugged and up they went. I`ve learned, that, after every sturgeon they`ve landed, it was "hugging time" - approx. 20 times per day average. This was their way of saying "thank you". All guides, John, Steve and Kerry, did exceptionally well, landing lots of fish and lots of big fish, but the biggest smile was mostly with "Asger Michaelsen", "Jornaa Pedersen" and "Bjarne Toft Loholt".

 

It was in the afternoon, as Kevin called me on my speaker phone: "we just hooked a big one" ... "OK", I replied, "how big?" ... "big..." (remember, a man of few words). That`s as much information as I could get out of him. Knowing Kevin, I knew, that`s a serious fish. Almost 3 hours later, Kevin called again with the stunning news; The Sturgeon has a total length of 329 cm or less than a fingertip short of 11 ft. with a girth of 136 cm, that`s over 4.5 ft. around. We estimate the fish at 120 years old with a realistic weight of 750 to 800 lbs. The sturgeon was measured, tagged, photos taken and released carefully and unharmed. The fish was hooked and fought by "Asger Michaelsen" for 2 hours and 53 minutes - all by himself without any help. Asger is a strong man, but this fish took his toll on him.

[Cookslav]

Wow...thats a biggun!

 

I Know they have some giants in G-bay, and Huron, but then again I've never personaly seen one either?

[outdoorguy61]

It is in todays Vancouver Sun. Westcoast Section if I recall correctly.

 

outdoorguy61