Art, Tomi, Ollie, Josh and Benji set out from Australia this April to spend some time in Whistler testing the ski runs and then coming out to the Fraser River to find and battle with the Great White Sturgeon. They set some personal and family World Record Catches and here are just a few shots of their adventures. Each of them had a chance to do battle but the last fish of the first day at 199 cm (78 inches or 6.5 ft) proved to be endurance test of the day. The fish tried a few tricks, starting with some good head shakes and then a sleeper run pretending to be a small one but then it took a rod bending run that looked like it was going to do in the tackle. Eventually Ollie prevailed and the family photo op smiles says it all. They were a fun crew to have on board and hope they make another trip up from Down Under soon! Tight lines.

Last September 2024 when McKenzie e-mailed that she and some family would be at the Whistler ski hills in March 2025 and asked if they could spend a day chasing sturgeon I was pretty optimistic that the day could turn out well..... I just didn't know how well! Water temperatures were up one degree F from last week at 44 F which would mean that the sturgeon would just be starting to wake up from their winter slumber and the bites might be tentative. Turns out that was the case as it took four or five bites for the team to get used to timing the gentle bites with the hook set but suddenly "Bam!" things started to click. Travis and Chris were first to connect and the ensuing tilts started to tow the boat from one side to the other. And so Team Florida's sturgeon adventure began. Once the bait scent started to flow downstream with a favourable current the bites started to multiply. At one point we had one in the sling and two on the line for an "almost triple header"! A few of them needed the fighting belts to help ease the strain on the back and shoulders! I actually pulled the rods for a bit so we could catch up with the measuring and tagging. The pre-trip e-mails from Kelly showed more than a fair measure of anticipation for the trip and she gracefully took on the role as 'Clerk Stenographer" to help me with the data recording sheet. On every trip we record detailed length, girth and tag numbers so the rest of the team hauled in the fish while Kelly faithfully recorded all the data I will be sending into the Fraser River White Sturgeon Conservation Society data base. Kelly did a bang up job on the data sheet but then it was her term to catch the "Special Fish of the Day". Our research program is seeking to identify the population of the smallest juvenile sturgeon to determine how recruitment and population growth is progressing. So Kelly showed everyone how it was done by landing the "most import research fish of the day". I think her smile tells it all and thanks for the great job on the data and landing this truly important trophy juvenile sturgeon.

Last September 2024 when McKenzie e-mailed that she and some family would be at the Whistler ski hills in March 2025 and asked if they could spend a day chasing sturgeon I was pretty optimistic that the day could turn out well..... I just didn't know how well! Water temperatures were up one degree F from last week at 44 F which would mean that the sturgeon would just be starting to wake up from their winter slumber and the bites might be tentative. Turns out that was the case as it took four or five bites for the team to get used to timing the gentle bites with the hook set but suddenly "Bam!" things started to click. Travis and Chris were first to connect and the ensuing tilts started to tow the boat from one side to the other. And so Team Florida's sturgeon adventure began. Once the bait scent started to flow downstream with a favourable current the bites started to multiply. At one point we had one in the sling and two on the line for an "almost triple header"! A few of them needed the fighting belts to help ease the strain on the back and shoulders! I actually pulled the rods for a bit so we could catch up with the measuring and tagging. The pre-trip e-mails from Kelly showed more than a fair measure of anticipation for the trip and she gracefully took on the role as 'Clerk Stenographer" to help me with the data recording sheet. On every trip we record detailed length, girth and tag numbers so the rest of the team hauled in the fish while Kelly faithfully recorded all the data I will be sending into the Fraser River White Sturgeon Conservation Society data base. Kelly did a bang up job on the data sheet but then it was her term to catch the "Special Fish of the Day". Our research program is seeking to identify the population of the smallest juvenile sturgeon to determine how recruitment and population growth is progressing. So Kelly showed everyone how it was done by landing the "most import research fish of the day". I think her smile tells it all and thanks for the great job on the data and landing this truly important trophy juvenile sturgeon.