If you are patient and can tolerate being in a heated cabin on board my jet boat you might just connect with a "one percenter" such as this 7 ft 10 inch beauty.  As the water cools the sturgeon gorge on the last available salmon scraps before heading into their winter lairs.

And even if the day is slow you might just hook into a "Hail Mary" fish on the last minute of the day to make a fishing memory that will last a lifetime.

So if you wear a smile and enjoy the cool crisp weather, you might just break out in a sweat when the rod tip takes a deep bend

And I get to coach you on how to make it a great photo op!..  Tight lines everyone.

On monday, Samanta and her son Oscar joined me for a sunny day on the Fraser River on a hunt for the elusive great white sturgeon.  Samanta and Oscar are familiar with catching fish in their community in England but had never had the opportunity to catch a Fraser River White Sturgeon until today.

They arrived ready for action and were keen to get on the water and try this new fishing style.  After the short orientation, we were out on the river and ready for action.

And the sturgeon did not disappoint.  We had barely set up at the first location and the rods began their telltale sturgeon dance.

After the day on the water, Samantha kindly wrote back;

" Wow what an amazing day we had. Peter met us at the Sea bus terminal in North Vancouver and chauffeured us directly to the Fraser river. Within a matter of minutes we were safely launched and off on our 4 hr adventure. My son caught his 1st fish after just 8 minutes!!

As Peter supports the Fraser river sturgeon conservation society we became citizen scientists for the day and helped with tagging, measuring and health checks before release. Peter was so knowledgeable on everything related to Sturgeon, the Fraser river and the need for conservation, we learnt so much and will definitely book again when we next visit BC.  We were provided with life jackets, all rods and tackle, drinks and even home made cherry muffins!  I would highly recommend."

Oscar helped out with the measuring and tagging and Samantha recorded the data.  Now these newly marked fish will be registered and Oscar and Samantha's names will be recorded as the first to capture these fish.  Oscar gave them each a pet name of "Gerald", "Peter" and "David"...... They will follow these fish by going to the Fraser River White Sturgeon Conservation Society web site and formally adopting them. 

https://www.frasersturgeon.com/adopt-a-sturgeon/ 

Then they can track their life history and find out if/when/where they are ever caught again.

Thanks Samantha and Oscar, it was indeed a fine day!

Cheers

Peter

Brandon, Evan and Bryan treated their Dad Sheldon for his birthday by booking a 4 hour trip.  Having not caught any sturgeon before, they were literally in for a "Big Surprise".  I think Brandon's arms are still aching from first rip of line off the real to the end of the the half hour plus battle.  But the smiles and fist pump tell it all. 

We were able to successfully bring this fish (just a hair shy of 7 feet with a 31 inch girth) to shore, check the tags and measure body size for registration in our records in the Fraser River Sturgeon Conservation Society.  As this fish was a re-capture, Dad Sheldon is going to the FRSCS web site to perhaps adopt the fish they caught today and look up their life histories.  Great job guys and glad to have had you aboard.....Tight lines!


Brandon " Peter was super awesome and very knowledgeable. Knew what he was doing. I would definitely recommend him to anyone who wants to catch fish and learn about the local fishing." 

Julian's Biggest of the day, 7 feet 6 inches.  Apparently he needed a massage and liniment that evening.

I took the day off and went solo.....7 feet 9 inches....where were you when I needed you!

First fish of the day and 14 more after that.  They all got a real workout.

Join us for a great day on the water and support or sturgeon conservation and recovery programs while having an experience of a lifetime!

Always great to get out on the water.  On this day Bob invited his buddy Steve out for a day of fishing with me and neither had ever caught a sturgeon before.  I warned them that I am not responsible for chiropracter or physiotherapist appointments and normally when I take Newby's out we catch a big fish or two and today sure did not disappoint.

The first fish of the day were respectable starter fish that warmed bob up to and was into his 4th fish before Steve connected.  But what a fish Steve connected with!

And what a bruiser Steve's first fish was!  A full 6 ft 10 inches it breached three times putting on a spectacular show before giving Steve a workout he was not expecting.  We had some great laughs as the sweat was pouring down Steve's face and it took about 40 minutes to bring this great white sturgeon to the shore.  Both Steve and Bob were over the top with excitement as they were able to pose with memories of a lifetime!

Steve followed up with another great fish which seemed a lot bigger as the 6'10" had taken a bit of the steam out of Steve's muscles.  There was also some interesting activity as the Coast Guard hovercraft steamed by.  Not your everyday Fraser River boat by any stretch.

The boys were on fire and in total could have hooked up to 18 fish, but at least they got 9 to the boat on an epic fishing day.   I just want to say that it was Bob that both came and went with the hardware of the day.

Bob was an Afghan war vet whose career was cut short after a helicopter accident broke a number of vertebrae in his back.  Bob went through some tough times to serve his country and fellow Canadians but he was back in fighting form today as the sturgeon gave him all the workout he could handle! 

As we near this Remembrance Day season let's all take time to thank our Veterans and first responders for the sacrifices they make for us every day.  If you know a Veteran who would enjoy a day on the water, drop me a line at peterk12@live.com

Our salute today goes to Bob who wins both the covetted Fraser Legends Fishing "Spidy Award" for capturing the smallest fish but also perpetual trophy for the most fish of the day for our Fraser River White Sturgeon Conservation project where in 2020 we are looking to catch and tag as many of the smallest and least understood sturgeon.  Our research is showing that recruitment of small sturgeon seems to be declining and we don't know why.  Coming out on a trip like this and using small special gear will help us find these little guys and tag them for the cause of fisheries science.

Thanks for the laughs and the adventure guys, we hope to see you on Big Blue again chasing the great white sturgeon of the Fraser River basin.

​Peter K. Krahn

And you thought it was snowing too hard to go fishing.  Kyle, Luke and Pete didn't think so and were handsomely rewarded with 5 fish including the last one at 6 feet on the nose!   Give me a call and lets get on the water! 778 870 3241

The Fraser main river fishery will remain closed for the foreseeable future unless radical changes occur in the population levels.  The fact that chum fisheries have also deteriorated bodes poorly for expansion of the commercial fishery into this species as well.  Back in the day, no one chased chums to any great degree and so they could always be counted on to populate the late season fishery.

In the Squamish river, they were an annual mainstay, since they were so accessible with a fly rod having just burst from salt water into the lower river like chrome torpedoes.  This year, like everywhere else, the catch and keep fishery was quickly changed to catch and release. 

This week the Squamish had some fish in the lower river, but no wheres near the numbers of a few years ago.  Still I managed to pick up a nice coho, battle a chum and a few bull trout until my fly reel blew apart.  If you want to see a summary of the day and a few furry creatures to boot, just check out my YouTube Video   Tight Lines  (and yes my camera was doing weird things when this still was taken.....however, it's the fish that is important!)

Never say die when it comes to Sturgeon fishing.  Yesterday we were out and the first fish was in the boat in about 20 minutes but then the tide changed and bites were hard to come by.  At the end of the day we moved downstream to a "Hail Mary" spot that would be our last resort to tie into a "shore fish" (a fish big enough we would have to go to shore to land and measure it).  I told Neil and Hardy they had 12 minutes left to hook a shore fish.  No sooner had I said it than we had a small bite but missed it.

orThe fish bit a second time and we missed it again.   I did not think a sturgeon would bite a 3rd time so I told Neil and Hardy they had one minute left and no sooner but the tip of the rod went down a 3rd time and Neil set the hook!  I thought it was about a 3 footer until it breached and looked closer to 5 to 6 feet!

Neil and Hardy were in for a battle and after putting on fighting belts each took turns to try and subdue the fish but it would have none of that!  The fish ran beneath the boat and wrapped around the anchor line.  I thought it was a goner and slowly raised the anchor and then reached to bring the rod from the back to the front of the boat.

After a few tries, I got the rod between the boat and anchor line and unwrapped it twice and felt the pull of the fish again!  I handed the rod back to Neil and the battle resumed.  After about 16 minutes the fish finally started to relent and I began to tow it to shore for measurement.  However, the fish had other ideas and wrapped around a snag.  I had to back up the boat and Dave helped free the fish and keep it near the surface.

We finally got the fish to shore and it measured 1.5 meters with a 59 cm girth.  Just a really nice fish to end the day!

If you want to come out, give me a call at 1 778 870 3241 or e-mail me at peterk12@live.com

Tight Lines

​Peter

In the inaugural Krahn Family Sturgeon Derby on Saturday, it was Trevor and his son Bailor that scored the top two fish of the day.  It didn't take long after they got on board that the first fish a solid 121 cm starter fish was hooked and landed by Bailor.  This fish had never been tagged before and now Bailor's name will forever be associated with this fish.

Trevor and Bailor helped with the insertion of the microchips which will help track the life cycle of these fish.  The data recorded is sent in to the Fraser River White Sturgeon Society biologists who will compile it and submit it to the B.C. Provincial Government which assists in the development of management and conservation programs.

The big fish of the day was a 160 cm fish that gave quite a show by breaching twice and then giving Bailor everything he could handle in an epic tug-of-war......It seems even Trevor had to assist by taking the rod for a while.  In the end, a great day for fishing and family fun and some more important data collected for science and wildlife management.

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!