Wednesday turned out to be a stellar day to be out on the water for sturgeon.  It was Dave's first day out to tangle with the behemoths and he didn't waste any time as about 6 to 10 minutes after casting out the bait he was into his first fish!

This was a great starter fish as we are focusing our efforts to try and find the smaller ones to determine how the recruitment of the population is progressing.  The concern right now is to determine if the younger sturgeon are surviving or if there is some issue affecting them.  In this case, Dave learned about tagging, measuring and checking the health of the fish before he let it go and get prepared for the next one!  Little did he know what was coming!

 A little while later, rod #1 began to buck and strain and the line immediately began to peel off and the rod holder twisted over.  This sturgeon played the dive deep routine and it bent the rod double for several great runs.  In the end it was 6.5 feet long and Dave's first shore fish experience where we had to measure and tag it as it had never been tagged before.  But Dave wasn't done yet!.....not by a long shot!

  We anchored at roughly the same spot and put the bait back into the water with the current slowing down at the high tide.  Things got relatively peaceful until chaos broke out.  The #1 rod just hammered down again without any warning and the line just began to peel out and out threatening to rip off the rod holder again!  Dave got into his jacket and fighting belt and the battle was on!  It took about two or three rod trade offs, for Dave to get his breath back and then take over the battle again. This brute decided to fight the classic battle and launched himself right out of the water for a spectacular breach.

​​After about 35 minutes and a half kilometer drift down river Dave landed his third personal world record in one day with this beautiful 7 foot 8 inch sturgeon.  This will put him into our hall of fame page with the #1 fish in the Silver Club category!

Click on this to see the  YouTube video at 

It was a fitting end to a great day and Dave did a fine job. Congratulations Dave!

The sturgeon season is reaching it's peak  now so don't hesitate to call 1 778 870 3241 and book a trip.  Or e-mail me at peterk12@live.com

Cheers and tight lines!

Ps: Dave wont tell me if his arms and back were sore the next day!

It is fall in southern British Columbia and the salmon are returning and the sturgeon are out in full force.  This is a Pink Salmon year and finally the run is beginning to show signs of strength.  As of Sept. 12th, an estimated 7,726,900 pink salmon had entered the Fraser River and the daily rate fluctuated to between 616,000 to 1,400,000.  This means that the Pink run has now significantly exceeded earlier pessimistic estimates of only 5,400,000 returning for the entire season.  This week the Fisheries Department opened up the lower Fraser River to fishing for Pink Salmon at 4 fish per day.  Chum salmon were also opened up though their numbers will still be lower for now.

 The Pink Salmon run also heralds an increase in sturgeon which seriously feed on the Pinks.  Some sturgeon become so bloated they start to look like blimps.  This means that if they get too full, they can start getting picky about baits.

On the flip side, the sturgeon in the lower Fraser have not seen as many Pink carcases and still have an appetite.  That appetite can be expected to increase since Chum are also now starting to arrive and that is another favorite of the sturgeon

I was able to take Greg and Julian out for the day and while the tides gave us a slack spot in the day we were able to get Greg two nice sturgeon, and this being Julian's first trip, his third sturgeon turned out to be his own personal world record fish.  Julian did comment that even at this size, his back was a little stiff and sore the next day.

When we landed Julian's fish at the shore (because it was over 5 ft long and by law you can't bring them into the boat) we also had to deal with a double header with a smaller sturgeon.  Both fish drew an interested crowd and gave us a great photo op and a chance to speak to them about the sturgeon and sturgeon conservation.

From now till mid November is prime sturgeon and salmon season.   Pickup locations are only 15 minutes from downtown Vancouver and we can be on the river in about 45 minutes to an hour depending on traffic.  The weather in September is usually some of the best for fishing and if you want to take a shore break there are one or two river side pubs that will help you get your strength back before heading back out for another round of fishing.

 So give me a call at 1 778 870 3241 or e-mail at peterk12@live.com to book a trip today!