Legendary 600-lb ‘Pig Nose’ fish caught by B.C.’s sturgeon whisperer

Nice! Looking forward to a sturgeon trip in a couple weeks.
 
after such a monumental fight, is it likely a big old fish like this survives? do they give it shots or something to help increase survival? it would seem that it's fought itself to near death from total exhaustion before they can handle it in the shallows.
 
after such a monumental fight, is it likely a big old fish like this survives?..... it would seem that it's fought itself to near death from total exhaustion before they can handle it in the shallows.
I've caught all kinds to 8' and lost many larger they are tough as nails they don't completely exhaust themselves during the fight- never seen one wallowing in the shallows after being unhooked they head unerringly to deeper water and that's that.
 
Be awesome if there were angler days on the lower river. The sturgeon get absolutely shitkicked. Closure from mid nov till end of winter would be awesome. Now everybody is a guide out here lol. Winter time used to be maybe the odd guy out, now you have dozen guides beating on them in there wintering holes daily. Great experience when you look at the inside of the mouth and looks like somebody has taken a holepunch to it...
 
after such a monumental fight, is it likely a big old fish like this survives? do they give it shots or something to help increase survival? it would seem that it's fought itself to near death from total exhaustion before they can handle it in the shallows.
They've done quite abit of this research, jbv (but maybe not on sturgeon) - good question by-the-way! .

The factors that increase/decrease mortality/survivabity for sports-caught fish is (in no particular order):
1/ Water temps (stress),
2/ time played (stress),
3/ how caught (physical and physiological damage), and
4/ length of time out of water (if pertinent - physiological damage).

Estimated rates of mortality raise upwards from 2% to over 30$% depending....
 
i'm aware of those factors generally for other fish, trout mainly, for which there's a lot of research. it would seem that with a strong guiding business they would have catching these to a science. know where every sturgeon on the river is.
 
it would seem that with a strong guiding business they would have catching these to a science. know where every sturgeon on the river is.
Nothing to do with science as anyone who's fished them can tell you it's finding a deeper spot in the river/anchoring just upstream and using fresh bait when the bite is on-generally from now until late November especially during stable barometric conditions.

Since there are over 60,000 fish estimated to be in the Lower Fraser it's doubtful anyone knows where each fish is.
 
Great sport fish!!

I have fished them for over 25 years....biggest to date is 10'4" and that was several years ago....

People that come out with me are taught to bring them in fast, if you tire, you hand the rod off.....their revival time is unbelievable!!

As far as fighting it to exhaustion....no! These fish in the shallows go very docile....great for the pictures, as if they are camera hogs!! Treated with respect, they are a great sport fish and many of them around to chase!!

The illusive big ones are what brings many back.....I have lost count of the many over 8', 9' too....the 10'+ are what dreams are made of....... then the odd time you see one breach that you know you will never catch.......!
 
I would think mortality rates from sturgeon release would require a study all to itself. They should be lower than ocean-caught fish since the adult fish don't really have any predators, no seals or sea lions or orcas or sharks to pick them off whilst recovering from capture/release. But like so many aspects of fishing, we don't know for sure. Science has much work to be done.
 
Be awesome if there were angler days on the lower river. The sturgeon get absolutely shitkicked. Closure from mid nov till end of winter would be awesome. Now everybody is a guide out here lol. Winter time used to be maybe the odd guy out, now you have dozen guides beating on them in there wintering holes daily. Great experience when you look at the inside of the mouth and looks like somebody has taken a holepunch to it...
I agree about giving the fish a break in the winter
 
Yes. I wonder how many guides are chasing Sturgeon on the Fraser River nowadays? Seems to me this unchecked industry keeps growing and now is a year round business. I think a moratorium should be slapped on the Fraser with the number of guides capped and fishing closures in the winter months.
 
The sturgeon fishery as it is is not sustainable. There are no restrictions on fishing during spawning times , nor are there any sanctuary zones where the fish can get a break, or are known spawning areas. While the fish seem to survive catch and release pretty well, there is some evidence that the repeated times female fish are caught may be increasing stress and causing them to reabsorb eggs and not spawn as often. Young fish are being seen at low rates on the river.
 
McLean MF, Hanson KC, Cooke SJ, Hinch SG, Patterson DA, Nettles TL, Litvak MK, Crossin GT (2016) Physiological stress response, reflex impairment and delayed mortality of white sturgeon Acipenser transmontanus exposed to simulated fisheries stressors. Conserv Physiol 4(1): cow031; doi:10.1093/conphys/cow031

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27766153

Abstract
White sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) are the largest freshwater fish in North America and a species exposed to widespread fishing pressure. Despite the growing interest in recreational fishing for white sturgeon, little is known about the sublethal and lethal impacts of angling on released sturgeon. In summer (July 2014, mean water temperature 15.3°C) and winter (February 2015, mean water temperature 6.6°C), captive white sturgeon (n = 48) were exposed to a combination of exercise and air exposure as a method of simulating an angling event. After the stressor, sturgeon were assessed for a physiological stress response, and reflex impairments were quantified to determine overall fish vitality (i.e. capacity for survival). A physiological stress response occurred in all sturgeon exposed to a fishing-related stressor, with the magnitude of the response correlated with the duration of the stressor. Moreover, the stress from exercise was more pronounced in summer, leading to higher reflex impairment scores (mean ± SEM, 0.44 ± 0.07 and 0.25 ± 0.05 in summer and winter, respectively). Reflex impairment was also correlated with lactate concentrations (e.g. physiological stress measures related to exhaustive exercise; r = 0.53) and recovery time (r = 0.76). Two mortalities occurred >24 h after the cessation of treatment in the summer. Given that natural habitats for white sturgeon can reach much higher temperatures than those presented in our study, we caution the use of this mortality estimate for a summer season, because latent mortality could be much higher when temperatures exceed 16°C. This is the first experiment investigating the physiological disturbance and reflex impairment of capture and release at two temperatures on subadult/adult white sturgeon, and the results suggest that future research needs to examine the longer term and fitness consequences of extended play and air exposure times, because these are largely unknown for wild populations.
 
I ran from Fort Langley to Mission last weekend. The amount of boats anchored, some clearly marked guideboats, others that were either guide boats without logos, or under the table guides, was insane. Easily 75-100 boats out there in that stretch of river alone.

With the salmon closures/restrictions it's only getting worse.
 
The sturgeon fishery is a joke now.
The same fish getting beat on daily.
An unwritten rule was you didnt fish sturgeon during winter. Now the fish get harrassed every day during the winter in there wintering holes.
Another little known secret is the sale of springs and sockeye being illegally bought off FN to use as bait from April sept.
Some very big names in the guiding community are among the worst offenders.
Catching a sturgeon thats mouth looks like someone has taken a hole punch to it is not cool.
Guides playing fish with fly rods till they are almost dead. The new pollution of sturgeon guides are poor excuses for ethical anglers.These fish need a break! Closures can't come quick enough to save these fish.
Unfortunetly 95% of the guides out there are new or under the table and do.not.care about the resource.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top