I have not been fishing much as we have been out of the province for 3 weeks on a family vacation driving to BC and back, which we originally planned to do in the summer of 2019... but heart issues, double bypass surgery and covid delayed things.
I had one day for fishing on the trip so I booked a 6 hour Fraser River trip with Bluewater Rockies Sportfish Guiding Co., with the hopes of catching my first white sturgeon.
https://www.riversportfishing.com/
The guiding company fishes a long stretch of the Fraser River, based on the time of the year we chose to fish the lower Fraser just east of Vancouver targeting the sturgeon that live on the Pacific coast and swim up river to feed on the spawning salmon. A few million sockeye salmon are currently swimming up river. We also fished in the afternoon (1 to 7 pm) to take advantage of the incoming tide in the river.
It was a hot and sunny 30 degree day and the fishing started off a little slow.... getting a few nibbles from smaller fish, but no takers. We moved around trying numerous spots on the river and a couple different baits (fresh sockeye strips, salmon head and lamprey chunks).
Finally after a couple hours we get a FISH ON!!! Unfortunately just a little 2 foot juvenile sturgeon. lol
We continue checking different spots hoping the fish will turn on as the tide comes in and then ... FISH ON and this one is a good one!!! The battle is on!!! The fish made numerous long, slow runs, that I could in no way slow down.... I gain some line.... then lost some line as the fish swam off again.... this back and forth battle continues for a long time. Surprisingly the fish did not jump it just stayed cruising along the bottom.
Finally the fish tired.... just before I ran out of gas and we beached the boat on shore for a couple quick photos and a measurement.
The fish was no monster by BC sturgeon standards, but at 7 foot 1 inch long fork length it was the biggest fish of my life and I was very excited.
After releasing the fish we set back up for some more fishing but nothing more at that spot. So we go for a little boat ride to cool off and stop for a washroom break. Shortly after setting up at a new spot we get into some more action!!! My oldest daughter lands a nice 4 foot specimen.
Not too long after that we get another fish on and my other daughter is up.
At first we did not think the fish was very big as it was not fighting much and coming in pretty easy... but then things changed and the fish started to run and my daughter was hoping on for dear life.... she fought the fish like a pro, I did hold her waist for a bit at one point to help stabilize her when it looked like either the rod or her were about to be pulled in the river. But she battled on and after a great fight landed a nice fish just under five and half feet long, about the same size as her!!
We fished for another hour or so and then headed back to shore. The trip started off a little slow, but ended up an awesome experience!!! There are lots of great sturgeon guides on the Fraser River and the Bluewater Rockies Sportfish Guiding Co. is definitely one of them and I would highly recommend them, great communication when panning our trip and our guide Wayne was awesome, a great fisherman, entertaining on the water.
If you are an angler and have not trying white sturgeon fishing I would definitely say do it if you ever get the chance. With that being said, make sure you are not too out of shape like me. lol. The battle with my seven footer was insane, and that is not even a big fish for the river. I am pretty sure if I fought that fish back in 2019 before my heart surgery I would not be here today... their power is incredible.
Time to get into better shape and try and get a 10 footer next time.
