Sturgeon

Day two of our self guided trip even better then day one!! 1hr battle with this guy!

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Beauty fish but should be left in the drink for sure.


Ya it's in the regs. I am sure the fish was handled carefully as well, (we are just trying to educate you - is all) but you should definitely not be wrapping a rope around them either! The fish are tough as nails but you can damage the vertebrae.

I'm sure no one here wants to see you get caught doing the wrong thing is all, just have to handle the fish with care. If you plan on going sturgeon fishing you should all read the specific handling/fishing regulations if you haven't yet!
 
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We got this 7 footer on a Chub that we caught at the launch. We were just up just West of Jesperons yesterday in 18 feet of water just out from the main flow. Had to battle a swinging boat so the bites were slow. There were two boats closer to shore one had a nice one on than ran over one of our lines that give us false hope thinking it was a bite but I think they landed it on the beach at Peg. What beautiful weather yesterday and today!

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Fishin zinn, get bent and cannibal chris thanks for the valuable info. I certainly didn't want to cause that beauty any harm but was a little ignorant about the process even thou I tried to read up on it. The fish was badly wrapped in the mainline and we tried to subdue it with a towel and a soft rope to help free it. I will certainly follow your advice if I'm lucky enough to do this again, and leave these magnificent fish in the water until they can be set free. Thanks for helping to educate a newby guys.
 
Right on Boneman...different scenarios always present different solutions...awesome fish aren't they!!!!
 
I have never caught a chub. I can't wait to see the smart butt answers to this one. How do you guys catch your chubs and then how do you rig them for sturgeon?
 
really wanted to go there...but decided better. Worm on the bottom works
Buck off their head and tail and stitch them on ending with the head...sturgeon like to swallow bait head first...imho..
Certain times of the year is better to catch chub if I remember correctly...
 
I have never caught a chub. I can't wait to see the smart butt answers to this one. How do you guys catch your chubs and then how do you rig them for sturgeon?

We jigged for them off the back of the boat with small hook and worm and a little split shot, right at Island 22, NPM there too.
 
Chub love stinky stuff. Shrimp, chunks of any food really that will stay on the hook well. Add sent and you will do well. They're all over the Fraser but some spots are packed with them.
 
Chub and NPM are good dino baits for higher up river....Island 22 and up basically....... lower river, never work nearly as good, stay with what is in the water at time of fishing for bait.
 
Ok thank you for the advice on catching chub……;)

I mostly fish in around Ladner so it sounds like chub are not going to be a bait of choice in my neck of the woods.
 
Chub and NPM are good dino baits for higher up river....Island 22 and up basically....... lower river, never work nearly as good, stay with what is in the water at time of fishing for bait.
Gonna have to disagree with that Leaseman. We've gotten countless Sturgeon all over the Fraser from the canyon down to the mouths with Chub. Sturgeon travel all over the river and the same sturgeon move all over from upper reaches to the ocean then back up. They are opportunist feeders and if they have eaten a chub up river they will eat them down river. Yes it's true if OOLI's are in the river then use OOLI's, if Salmon are spawing and abundant then use that etc. but Chub are good all season long, anywhere on the river. :)
 
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...-white-sturgeon-on-the-fraser-river-1.3135044

Kegan Rothman, 9, catches a monster Great White Sturgeon on the Fraser River

The 'living dinosaur' measured 3 metres long and weighed about 272 kilograms

By Alexandra Gibb, CBC News Posted: Jul 01, 2015 8:18 PM PT| Last Updated: Jul 01,

Nine-year-old Kegan Rothman, picture above, was on a fishing trip with his dad on the Fraser River when he reeled in a 272 kilogram Great White Sturgeon. (Great River Fishing)

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A New Jersey boy has a colossal story to tell his fellow fourth graders when he returns to school this fall after he reeled in a "living dinosaur" from the Fraser River on Monday.

Nine-year-old Kegan Rothman and his father, Dan Rothman, were just hours into their week-long chartered fishing trip when Kegan hooked a monster Great White Sturgeon near Chilliwack. He fought the fish down the river for nearly two hours.

Kegan Rothman
Kegan Rothman, 9, had to fight the Great White Sturgeon for nearly two hours down the Fraser River before he was able to reel in the 272 kilogram monster. (Great River Fishing)

​"I was just saying to myself, 'When am I going to finish this? I'm tired,'" Kegan told CBC News on Wednesday.

The pursuit was made particularly challenging when the sturgeon somehow managed to wrap itself around a tree submerged in the water.

Kegan's father said that was a "blow" they just couldn't accept.

"We had already had the opportunity to see the fish. I was actually taking pictures of my son working the rod on the stern and the fish just came straight up, almost like a projectile from the water with its belly pronounced toward us," he said.

"To see the fish several times and then for it to get hung up and wrapped ... [we] were just saying to each other, 'No one's going to believe this. So what do we do?'"

The group eventually managed to dislodge the fish from the tree, allowing Kegan to reel it in, and manoeuvre it to shore for examination. The beast measured three metres long, more than a metre thick, and weighed an estimated 272 kilograms.

Kegan's father said, in the 30 years he's spent on the water, he's never seen a fish that big.

"These fish are hooked, but they're just never landed this size. It's very, very rare that they actually get the fish in. We're thankful and I'm thankful that Kegan was diligent and stuck with it."

'They are a living dinosaur'

That stick–to–itiveness is the reason Kegan and his father are on a fishing trip in the first place.

Earlier this year, the pair made a deal that if Kegan achieved straight As in school, they would go sturgeon fishing.

"I asked him what he was interested in and he said he had been studying in science about the link between alligators and sturgeon to prehistoric ancestry, and I said, 'Would you like to catch a big fish? A sturgeon?'" said Dan Rothman.

Of course, Kegan said yes.

​"I got interested in dinosaurs because in science we were studying what happened to them. They're such amazing species and not very many people have an interest in them right now," said Kegan.

"I wanted to catch a sturgeon because they are a living dinosaur from the Jurassic period."

​Catch and release

This week's monster catch won't be hanging over the Rothman's fireplace any time soon though. Most white sturgeon populations in B.C. are designated as endangered, and are protected under the federal Species At Risk Act.

They can, however, be fished from the Fraser River as long as they are released afterward.

That's perfectly okay with Kegan and his father. They snapped a few photographs and let the fish go.

"[Kegan] had remarked to me that he was happy about being able to return the fish. The fish will grow and the species will grow, and I'm grateful that he has that instilled in him and that he thinks that way," said Dan Rothman.

Watch the video to see Kegan letting the sturgeon go
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Wqqwg-Y8Pic?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The pair are set to continue their fishing adventure Thursday on the Pitt River.

"The bar's set kind of high now, right? I don't know if he's ruined for life now. I doubt it because he's ready to go again tomorrow," said Dan Rothman.

Kegan said he's hoping they'll catch a bigger one tomorrow — maybe even a 12-footer.

With files from the CBC's Luke Brocki
 
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