[fishortho]

It would seem to me after talking to the boys at Berry's that there is a lot more interest in catching these big Dino's in the Fraser over the past two years and a lot more interest from a whole new crop of "guides" that profess to be "experts" in the catching of these fish....How about we post all the sturgeon info here as to who's catching, how many, where you caught them etc. how big.....I don't think there are too many "secrets" on the methods, but I would like to hear some stories of what goes on when you'r fishing this summer and fall as well as the stories of the elusive "BIG ONE" that got away...........Ortho 8)

 

[young gun]

u meen like the one i hooked bar fishing plain roe and would make a head shake that pulled me forward 3 feet.

 

[chronic1]

There's a pretty cool picture and story on guidebc.com about the recent catch of a 10'11" sturgeon up in the canyon!! :happy: An 83 year-old guy from California fishing with his grandson. Just a huge fish and a good commentary. If I knew how I'd supply a link, but you can see a link on the right side of guidebc.com's mainpage.
Planning on getting out in about a month or so with a long time sturgeon guy, so I'll post my experience, flattering or not!

 

[Bent Rod]

Heres a good story from the other night.

I decide to take my wife and 3 yeard old son out fishing as my other 2 kids with with grandparents.

My wife decide she would like to catch a bigger Sturgeon than the 3 footer she broght in 5 years ago.

So off we went to a area near Mission, where my friend was guiding a lone client from the UK.
They had landed a couple 6-7 footers so far on this day and I was confident that we could find a big one in the area they were anchored in.

So we anchored up right beside my friend to broaden our scent trail.

As we are sitting there patiently waiting for the bite to turn on my friend landed a little tiddler, which started the friendly chastizing we always partake in.
As this is going on I notice the #2 rod is doing a very slow pull down, this usually the sign of a larger fish.
I casually head over and pick up the rod, at this point the rod goes tip right under, I set hard and the fish
immediately starts an upstream run. At this point I tell my wife "heres your big one" knowing full well we are into at least an 8 footer probably better. The minute I hand the rod to my wife the fish starts a line spooling run at light speed. With my wife literally screaming, my son now crying I toss the anchor ball and start to chase .
I finally get a bit caught up and get a belt on my terrified wife, who really wants me to take the fish.
I also get belt #2 on and give the fish a go, but it is dead set on spooling me and someone has to drive the boat.
So i hand it back to my wife, get the boat back in the chase and decide that we cannot deal with this fish.
I call up my friend and ask him if his client would like to have our GIANT fish. They say "hell yeah" and throw the ball and come and get it, which I might add is very difficult handing off a rod with a huge Sturgeon screamig off line and our boats swirling in heavy water.
We finally make the handoff and my wife is very happy, she is full of adrenalin and the forearm burn is heavy.

My friends client has landed many fish between 6-8 feet on hos 6 day trip but he is clearly in awe of this brute he is now playing. The battle rages on for another 15 minutes with the fish continuing to burn line in any direction it sees fit. This fish tried hard to drag them to the big swirling deep hole in this area and they were powerless to stop it or even slightly persuade it.

Unfortunately this story ends sadly as the fish either wrapped itself up or found some logs as the mailine was cut clean and the great fish won the day.
I have landed quite a few fish in the 7-8 foot mark this year but that was this years first encounter with that next level of Sturgeon. With the Pinks and Sockeyes on the way I am sure there will be more and next time I'll get the job finished :thumbup:.

The fellow from the UK was totally pumped and was going on and on about how he could tell that fish was so much bigger than the other large fish he fought during his stay.
He already has booked a 7 day trip with my buddy for 2009 pink salmon run timing and is clearly bent on landing a MONSTER.

The true beauty of Sturgeon fishing is never knowing if your next fish will be the "front pager".

 

[fishortho]

Nice story, Bent Rod...............unfortunately, those biggies are hard to land....I have caught quite a few in the 5-6 foot range and landed on 8 ft. 6" last fall with a bunch of buddies sharing the rod........Vic was lucky to keep the line out of the rocks as they can easily rip off a big fish in the depths of the canyon.
Speaking of debris.....who really knows what lies at the bottom of the Fraser?....There a couple of spots, especially near the log boom below the small beach that is particulary nasty.....I think there is a whole sawmill on the bottom!..........Ortho 8)

 

[Thrasher]

:thumbup:

thanks for the story BR!

I have got to get out for some dino action this year. I have yet to get one in the new boat. I have only been out once so far this year and was unsuccessful.

New boat, lots of room, need company...(hint, hint, hint)

if anyone wants to get out, let me know.

 

[abbyfireguy]

I took my 15 year old son out yesterday and anchored just below the boats fishing spaghetti.....
Saw one sturgie taken beside us , about a 5 footer by what we saw...
No monsters for us yesterday but a few smaller ones came to play.....
Best part of the day was listening to my son expound on how dads need to spend more time with their kids...
Thinking he was talking about me even though we are together all the time fishing and hunting, I had to ask him if we need more time together???? "No Dad" , he said, I'm already maxxed out on you old music and bad jokes,not to mention the aftermath of beans for lunch....
Kids.....

With regards to the original post, I think fresh bait is one of the best options,but,that being said , one has to get creative to get fresh sometimes...We use, fresh salmon parts(gills, hearts,belly strips,etc),eulichons(actually Columbia River smelts),fresh roe(hard to find when there are few salmon being caught),dew worms(a big glob in the bait loop), and ditch eels(legally harvested of course)..
Sliding weight attached to the mainline, and a short leader to keep the offering on the bottom and not thrashing around too much..
Their are several extremely accomplished sturgie anglers here who can be very specific with set-up , but you may not get their secret fishing holes locations from them.. :-X

 

[roscoe-pco]

Just look for deeper water at the tail-out of bars and what have you fish the lower part of the "hole" you can't go wrong and pay attention to what is in the river, use what-ever bait happens to be in the river at that particular time, and FRESH is best, also I like using Halibut scents, garlic is the best.
WARNING-- Do not drop bottle in boat!!!!! stinks real bad

 

[Britguy]

Thrasher i would love to join you sometime but i dont have any sturg gear
never fished for sturg but would like to take it up
even to catch a small one would make my day
Maybe i should try from shore if anyone knows of a good spot hint hint
and could i use my drift rod for the small ones ???
Can't convince the wife that i need yet another type of rod and reel :-\

 

[roscoe-pco]

where bouts you located lots of spots around Mission to fish from shore, the info centre just outside Mission is very very good.

 

[mountainman]

Thrasher i would love to join you sometime but i dont have any sturg gear
never fished for sturg but would like to take it up
even to catch a small one would make my day
Maybe i should try from shore if anyone knows of a good spot hint hint
and could i use my drift rod for the small ones ???
Can't convince the wife that i need yet another type of rod and reel :-\

Get her onto a good sturgeon and you'll be buying a new rod and reel A.S.A.P. Good luck with the drift rod, just remember that just cause there is supposed to be only little ones you never know what is going to grab the bait.

 

[leaseman]

I have found that most of the sturgie fishing is becoming spotty below Mission at present....still the odd good fight around, but as Abby said....look below the bars that are producing salmon, they will be starting to stack up in these areas for the next 3-4 weeks.......

Mike