Hot day of sturgeon fishing

Today's fishing adventure was hot. Not fantastic fishing hot, but temperature hot. In fact, at my house we would refer to the weather as "hot enough to boil a monkey's bum". Bonus points if you know where that expression comes from, or your name is Bruce.

Anyway, back to fishing. Since I am heading back up North next week I thought I would hit the Fraser again for sturgeon fishing. I arrived at the river later than I normally would, but I'm on vacation so sleeping in is a right I am taking advantage of. Thankfully there was no one at my spot and soon after arriving I had my bait on the bottom of the big muddy.

The weather was hot, the fishing was not. I was baking in the sun, drinking lots of water and eating a delicious peach from my recent Okanagan trip. Waiting and waiting for a  bite. Since there are salmon migrating through the river at this time of year my first bait was sockeye belly. It produced nothing so I tried a few different baits. I tried pink salmon belly and some roe. Nothing. Since salmon and roe was all I brought for bait, and neither species was working I thought I would cover all angles and put on a strip of pink and a strip of sockeye. I sat and waitied with not even a nibble from a pike minnow.

I was beginning to think I may get skunked when all of a sudden, without warning, my rod slammed down with a big hit. I quickly scooped it up and set the hook. The fight ensued and after a couple head shakes and a bit of line pulled off the reel the sturgeon showed itself with a nice tail stand. The sturgeon ended up giving three nice jumps before I managed to get it to hand to unhook it and send the little four footer back on its way to grow and be caught another day.

Nechako Sturgeon release

Today I was fortunate enough to get to release some juvenile sturgeon from the Vanderhoof sturgeon hatchery into the Nechako river. What a great event and learning experience. The younger grades from the school I teach at got to release a fish each, had a tour of the hatchery and learned all about the Nechako sturgeon. They even had a few 7ft + adults in holding tanks that they were going to get eggs from for future generations.
The sturgeon we released were the same ones I saw in an ealier tour in September and boy had they grown! They were about a foot and a half long and full of energy today as they embarked on a new and exciting journey into the unknown. There were hundreds and hundreds of them.
The students were all buzzing about it back at the school. They all had their pictures taken with the fish they released (which they also named) and the coolest part is they can look up the tag code in years to come to see if the hatchery has recaptured or encountered their fish in their studies/brood stock program.
Thought I would share a few pictures of the release down the chutes and into the river. Thanks again to all the volunteers who helped make this event a success.

Nechako River Sturgeon Hatchery

I visited the Nechako River sturgeon hatchery today and got to go on a tour of the facility.
The tour started with a little sterilizing. Everyone was asked to use hand sanitizer and to step into a shallow puddle to help sanitize their shoes or anything they may be tracking in. The person from the hatchery took us around the tanks and talked about the sturgeon in the river and the program they are running there.
They use river water in the hatchery (from the Nechako river) and are able to reuse the water at a rate of about 94%. Some is obviously lost to waste.
The sturgeon eggs and milt were collected from the river and some pitt tags were put in the mature fish they collected. The estimates of the population of sturgeon in the river are measured in the hundreds instead of the historic thousands. Apparently they are considered a distinct strain from the fraser river white sturgeon and are considered endangered. The reason for the low numbers is thought to be due to habitat loss because of lower water caused by a dam upstream. More silt in the water is also thought to be choking out the eggs. Apparently the river doesn't get a proper freshet due to the dam so it doesnt 'flush' out all the silt.
I did ask if the Nechako sturgeon ever venture down stream into the fraser and apparently they don't really do it which is part of the reason they are considered a seperate strain.

The hatchery collects and hatches the eggs. The young are reared and fed multiple times a day through an automatic feeder. The feed is a small pellet in which their nutrients are mixed in. They are grown to about a foot in length and then released into the river to do their thing.
In a seperate pool at the hatchery they have two female sturgeon. This two gals (Slimey an Khaleesi) were kept because their eggs were premature and not as formed as they were expected to be for their size (about 6' for Slimey and around 7' for Khaleesi). They will be holding onto them until May when they can hopefully harvest the eggs and release the two back into the river.

It was a very cool tour. I learned sturgeon have a spiral intestine and therefore when they defecate in the water it comes out in little coils. I also left my contact information for when they need volunteers for tagging and egg harvesting/fertilizing. Looking forward to going back again.

First day of Sockeye

Fishing for sockeye salmon in local waters recently opened so today marked the first outting to target them. We launched in Ladner at first light and went down the Fraser River and out to the salt. As we got to the mouth of the Fraser it became evident that the forcast was not as good as we had expected. The rollers were rolling in and things were not only difficult for trolling gear but also playing havoc on certain sensory inputs. In other words, after attempting to troll for a while my face began turning green and i was praying I would not be heaving over the side of the boat sharing a partially digested McDonalds breakfast with the Pacific Ocean. Thankfully I was able to retain the particularly nutritious meal and save myself the embarrassment of regurgitating over the side. Unfortunately for us, the waves were a bit much and the sockeye were not cooperating either. We retired to the sanctity of the Fraser mouth where the wind and waves were diminished. Again, the sockeye were not cooperating.  Maybe it was the coloured up brownish water of the Fraser, maybe it was the 30 or so Native driftnets dredging the river, or maybe we just lacked the tidal water fishing skills. Either way, it was time to switch to sturgeon.

We went back up stream towards the launch and stopped by some very polite and generous Native fishermen who kindly gave us some sockeye scraps as they cleaned their catch. The scraps included some nice roe skeins and the guts of the fish.

We tried a few spots but the wind and the heavy incoming tide were not cooperating and the boat would not sit still when anchored. Finally we found a nice sheltered spot with a 30 foot hole. We anchored up and cast out. At first we tried some spring salmon pieces we had that were the ticket last week. No luck today with that. We switched over to the fresh sockeye parts we had aquired and the bite was on. I hooked up a sockeye heart and a liver in a mesh sack and dropped out my line. It didn't take long and after a few good taps I set the hook into a nice 4'4" sturgeon. We tagged the fish and sent it on its way. Two more fish came to the boat after that one, a 4'1" and one about  3 foot. Funny thing was, all three sturgeon were caught on the same piece of bait. I didn't bother changing it after each fish. It just goes to show you that you don't always need a fresh piece of bait, the same one can work for longer than you may think.

On a side note here is the gear I used today...

For sockeye:
A 10'6" Trophy Titan 3106 rod, a green/blue/purple flasher an 18" leader and a barbless sparse pink hoochie on the end (made sparse by removing half the legs). The reel was an Abu 7001 spooled with 30 lb mono line. The leader was a little stiffer with 40 lb line so that the flasher imparted more action on the hoochie.

For sturgeon:
An 8 foot one piece Shimano technium rod with an Avet HX reel spoed with 150lb power pro line. We used 14oz wedge weights on a slider to sit the bait on the bottom and a 96lb nylon leader attached to a barbless 9/0 Gammagatzu hook.

Monster Sturgeon

Living in Vancouver, right near the mighty Fraser River has its perks. Lurking in the deep of the silty brown fraser river are some monster fish.
Yesterday's trip out was to target sturgeon. We launched in Fort Langley early in the morning and started up river. We set out the rods with a variety of baits (lamprey, pikeminnow, and chinook salmon pieces). It wasn't long before we had our first fish to the boat. Just a little guy but still a fun fight. It was an untagged fish and being on a boat that supports the fraser sturgeon tagging program, we inserted a tag and sent it on its way. After one more fish, this one on a piece of chinook we pulled anchor and tried another spot.

The next location was up near mission and produced the biggest fish of the day, hooked on a piece of chinook. The rod tip dipped a couple of times, I closed in on the rod ready to strike. The rod tip tapped again and I set the hook hard. At first I didnt think it was a big fish, but then it peeled some line and came up to say hello. The fish leapt out of the water for a nice tail stand and a big splash, twice, before we could get the gopro running and then again for a third time. This was a nice fish. I fought it hard for over 45 minutes. Pulling as hard as I could. My arms, legs and back were shaking. We pulled anchor and followed the fish around, getting it close to the beach before it took one last hard run and the worst feeling... snap... the fish broke the 150lb test line. I was devastated.  Upon further inspection the fish had frayed the line on it scutes (sharp bony protrusions) and there was about 5 ft of frayed line near where it broke. For those curious, this was the biggest fish I have ever had the pleasure of fighting. It was an estimated 8 feet long and a very healthy thick fish. Sigh.

Back to trying for another fish, but hoping for a bit of time before having to fight any other large ones. My arms, legs and back couldn't take another battle like that for a while.

Further up stream, in the Chilliwack area, I managed another big fish. Not as big as the 8 footer but still a big fish and a hard fight. This fish was also hooked on a piece of chinook salmon. Again i set the hook hard but there was not air time for this big boy. The other rods were pulled in and the anchor pulled. The fish decided to pull line and head down stream. Cut a long story short, after another long hard battle the fish gave up and we landed it at the beach. Unfortunately it wasn't as big as the one earlier but it did tie my personal best at 6 feet 4 inches. After checking for a tag (it was a recapture and already had one), measuring the fish and recording it all we sent it on its way.

The day ended with a total of seven fish landed and one big one lost. I got the pleasure of landing four of the seven fish ( 4'1" , 4'7" and 6'4"). Not to mention the 8 footer that snapped me off.  Needless to say, I woke up this morning feeling very sore.