Jake and Aaron called up spur of the moment and we got out on the water yesterday. The cold snap had dropped the water temperature to 42 F and we knew the bites would be light. However, Jake connected twice and caught his first sturgeon and the largest fish he has ever caught. However when he hooked the big one and the rod bent down and he felt his back muscles twinge he said, "I knew I was going to have to trade off the rod to Aaron" if the fight went the distance. This time the big one did a roll and the barbless hook came out. Jake and Aaron are planning to come back to renew that match up in October. From here on in the Sturgeon will be getting more aggressive as the weather and water warms and the Eulachon bait fish enter the river to spawn and the sturgeon start their spring feasting on this bait fish.

The last couple of outings have been beautiful views and a couple of arm muscle busting fights. Winter sturgeon fishing can have cool crisp days but a heated cabin and some warm tea or coffee and telling great fishing stories help pass the time. The rod tip may only bend slightly as bites can be a lot lighter as the water temperature drops but the thrill of help catch and tag and measure these beautiful creatures helps us build our winter data base. Even though we are looking to tag as many juvenile fish as possible, you just can't stop these big fish from biting!

Talk about picking the perfect day, perfect spot and perfect people to hang out with. Warren has fished in many places for many fish but white sturgeon had so far not been checked off his fishing bucket list. Well today was the day that box was filled in, in a BIG way! We worked the tide change and moved to a spot where some big fish were known to hang out. I had warned Warren that you could not always tell the size of the sturgeon by the bite as some are very subtle and can be hard to detect. This was one of those cagy fish as the bite was barely there when we decided to take the risk. At first the fish felt on the small side until he erupted out of the water next to the boat! We were in for a 45 min battle till we could get it to shore. At 7 ft 10 inches and around 250 lbs. it was all the fish that Warren had ever hoped to catch. Even though he is smiling here, you can't see the sweat that was rolling off his back from that epic battle. In the end he was able to grab the tail and give it a gentle push back into the depths of the Fraser River, perhaps to meet on another day!

Samantha and Oscar came out a long ways (all the ways from England) to check off a long time goal, catching a great white sturgeon. Today the fish weren't huge but the fun was. Sam and Oscar even adopted all their fish by going to the Fraser River White Sturgeon Conservation Society web site and adopting the fish they caught. By giving a conservation donation they will be in touch with their adopted fish whenever it is re-captured. They even tagged some "Newbies" which they gave names to!

Norm decided to bring out his boys for a great day of sturgeon tagging and the fish were biting. The boys found out how to tag these great fish and also found out that they weren't as strong as they thought they were when one of them nearly pulled them out of the boat!

Brandon, Bryan, and Evan surprised their Dad Sheldon for his Birthday with a sturgeon charter today and boy did they get a work out. When this 7 footer slammed the rod, the battle was on and everyone got in on the act. After a great tilt, we successfully got it to shore and scanned it for tags and recorded the body size data for the Fraser River Sturgeon Conservation Society program and then after a few great photos, let it swim off back to fight another day. Brandon said he was "90% sure he would be back for another trip".....be glad to have you!