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Posts: 341
| Now this is a big fish!!!
Supposedly this Sturgeon was caught on the Fraser River in British Columbia two weeks ago. It weighed over 1,000 lbs and measured over 11ft. with a 56" girth. It took over 6.5 hours to land with 4 guys taking turns reeling... an impressive fish.
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| WOW... that is a monster! |
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| That's awesome! Talk about a good time!
That's one pre-historic beast there!
That'll make the beers taste extra good after that battle! |
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| Time for a bigger boat |
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Location: The desert | Holy crap!
Mike |
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Location: Lake Country, Wisconsin | It's amazing how such a GIANT fish can have such SMALL eyes |
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Location: Brookfield, WI | When I saw the title of this post I thought it might be referring to me, and I was ready to defend myself. 46" maybe, 56" never.
That is one huge prehistoric monster. How old is a fish like that? 100+ years? A fish that big could hold a lot of caviar. You'd need blinis the size of dinner plates and gallons of sour cream. That's my kind of hors d oeurvre.
Kevin
Reducing my girth over the winter was the least successful part of the plan. |
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Location: Stevens Point | that's a huge fish! |
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Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | Wow! Awesome fish............. To bad it took 4 of them to bring her to the boat, kinda like a team event. Seriously congrats to the fisherman and the guide. The Fraser River is truely a testament to the British Columbia Ministry of Natural Resources, the Fraser River guides, and the people of British Columbia for protecting such a fragile resource.
Kinda reminds me of that photo of Larry Ramsell swimming with that huge muskie.
Have fun!
Al |
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Location: Oregon | That's a big one for sure. I have landed many in the 8' range and have hooked many others that snapped 100# PowerPro with ease. An 8' fish will strip 150 yards of 100 pound line out in seconds and believe it or not these fish often jump on the first run. They are a sportfisherman's dream and a candidate for the "king of freshwater". It doesn't surprise me that it took four of them to land the fish. After 45 minutes of pulling as hard as you can your arms begin to shake....and keep shaking. What's interesting about these fish is once they begin to fatigue and get close to the boat they empty their swim bladders so you start to see huge rings of bubbles coming to the surface. Once you get them boatside all you have to do is turn them upside down and they won't move an inch, like a lip-locked bass.
Here's a couple of pics I just found on Yahoo Search, the first looks like Hells Canyon on the Snake River the second pic was taken on the Columbia River, Oregon.
jed v.
BBC
Edited by RiverMan 4/24/2006 4:51 PM
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Location: Brookfield, WI | Riverman,
That first one looks like the Nautilus from 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. There should be a little hatch on top where Kirk Douglas and James Mason could climb out.
Kevin
The plan can actually sense something's about to happen. |
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Location: Oregon | Believe it or not guys you get tired catching these fish rather quickly. In the right locations they are actually quite easy to catch...whole suckers or shad and an 11/0 single circle hook. All of the large fish must be released unharmed. Once hooked, the fish feel no different than hooking on to the back of a Volkswagon Beetle, there is no controlling them! You can literally pull as hard as you can and they won't move an inch. After one or two battles the desire to hook another is pretty much gone for awhile. And, since they are bottom feeders there is no chance of taking them on topwater. I have hooked them while jigging for walleye tho and back-bouncing plugs for salmon.
I would much rather fish for salmon or musky!!
Jed V.
Edited by RiverMan 4/24/2006 4:51 PM
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Posts: 381
| Now that is a fish!
I think they are going to need a bigger BOAT! JAWS!!!!! |
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Location: Northern Illinois | It looks like that Mountain Dew commercial where the guy rides the Great White Shark!!! Have you guys thought about hopping on for a ride or do you have to drink a can of Dew before that occurs? |
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| WOW! Not sure what I would do with one of those at the end of my line. |
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| RiverMan - 4/24/2006 4:49 PM
Believe it or not guys you get tired catching these fish rather quickly. In the right locations they are actually quite easy to catch...whole suckers or shad and an 11/0 single circle hook. All of the large fish must be released unharmed. Once hooked, the fish feel no different than hooking on to the back of a Volkswagon Beetle, there is no controlling them! You can literally pull as hard as you can and they won't move an inch. After one or two battles the desire to hook another is pretty much gone for awhile. And, since they are bottom feeders there is no chance of taking them on topwater. I have hooked them while jigging for walleye tho and back-bouncing plugs for salmon.
I would much rather fish for salmon or musky!!
Jed V.
I sure would like to find out the hard way!  That's one fresh water species I've not had the opportunity to go after....yet. |
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| Some members of the Fargo-Moorhead Chapter of Muskies Inc. started making an annual trip to the Rainy River to fish for Sturgeon. They went last week, and in a day and a half, caught 7 fish with a 55 inch average. One fish went 62 inches and had an estimated weight of 100lbs. Nothing like this beast, but fun nonetheless. Great story. |
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Location: Chicago, IL | WOW! hopefully it was released in good shape. |
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Location: Oregon | For anyone that wants to fish for one of these monsters, schedule a trip with a guide below Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River in June......right when the shad run peaks. Bonneville Dam is very near Portland Oregon so you could fly right into Portland and jump on with the guide. You will easily hook several in the 6-10' range per day with a guide using whole shad (American shad that are about 5 pounds each in size) for bait. They are great fun but prepare yourself to flat get wore out!
jed v. |
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Location: Oregon | For anyone that wants to fish for one of these monsters, schedule a trip with a guide below Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River in June......right when the shad run peaks. Bonneville Dam is very near Portland Oregon so you could fly right into Portland and jump on with the guide. You will easily hook several in the 6-10' range per day with a guide using whole shad (American shad that are about 5 pounds each in size) for bait. They are great fun but prepare yourself to flat get wore out! After you are sick of Sturgeon you can fish for the shad, tens of thousands of them per day move past the dam.....they aren't any good to eat but you can catch them one after another, great sport. After that, well, it's beer time!
jed v.
Edited by RiverMan 4/24/2006 11:02 PM
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Location: Bloomington, Illinois | Hey Riverman,
I'd love to join you in all three activities... 
matt |
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| RiverMan - 4/24/2006 10:59 PM
another, great sport. After that, well, it's beer time!
jed v.
This man speaks my language.... |
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Location: Oregon | Here's the same pic with the entire fish......
jed v.
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Location: Wausau | Would be a crazy ride to snag hook one in the tail! |
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Location: Madison, WI | I could hear them now: "On the count of three!!" |
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Location: Belleville, WI | Does anyone know the estimated age of that fish? |
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Location: Oregon | That's a good question...I have an acquaintance that is a sturgeon biologist, and here is what he told me.
The fish is between 50 and 80 yrs of age. Apparently a section of the fin is used to age the fish and rings are counted like a tree. However, the rings are often so close together that aging them accurately is impossible. He also told me that female sturgeon do not spawn until they are 20-25 yrs of age and approximately 6 feet in length. Some sturgeon will get huge, others will not, just like our wives. They repeat spawn every 3-5 years. He estimated this fish is about 10.5 feet in length. He said that they caught one nearly identical to it (10' 6") several yrs ago on the Columbia River and it weighed 485 pounds!
He also said that they use trot lines as part of their research and that they have found 16/0 circle hooks straightened out while pulling in the lines! He said one particular fish on the trot line was pulling their 20' boat upstream while the boat was in reverse before straightening out the circle hook!
Now you know everything you never wanted to know about white sturgeon.
Jed V.
Edited by RiverMan 4/25/2006 4:30 PM
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