Alrighty folks, here’s everything you need to know about sturgeon fishing courtesy of these two guys, Gabe and Peter.
First, get a boat and launch that sucker under the Port Mann Bridge, as such.
Next, cruise out for a while. Then chill out. Check out the other boats, check out the scenery and stare at the ‘stuff’ going on before you get your lines in the water.
So, you’ve cruised into the spot where the sturgeon are. Bait the hooks, sucka’. Like this:
K, your shits all baited. Now stare at your rods. For hours.
Fast forward a while, and BAM! Fish on. Here’s one cruising around in the water.
Alrighty beauty eh. Fish is in the boat. Here’s something maybe you didn’t know. Tagging sturgeon is hugely important in learning more about these bad boys.
By tagging them, you learn their growth patterns, how old they are, and the overall population. Seeing as these guys were nearly extinct (and are still recovering), this is a good thing.
What you’re in fact doing when you tag a sturgeon is ‘gently’ inserting a small tracking thingy into their bodies. Once the scanner is in the sturgeon’s body, you can scan the fish when you catch them, check out the fishes ID code, and that goes into a system that is like a big-ass database for all sturgeon that have been tracked.
Here’s what tagging a sturgeon looks like with a bit of clipboard action.
Interesting eh? Well it was for me this day. I’d never jammed a GPS type ‘bit’ into a fish before with a syringe. Cool stuff.
Next on the list of ‘to do’s’ when sturgeon fishing is get a few pictures of you looking like an idiot with the fish, as I’ve demonstrated below.
Here’s Gaber’s stab with a sturgeon:
Ever looked real close to a sturgeon? Most folks haven’t. Here’s a close up, and yes folks, those spikes on their backs will cut the shit out of your hands if you touch them.
So, next step, proper release. Whereas a few years ago, my brother and I may have launched the fish into the water, we’ve learned better and do it now just as Pete and Gabe do.
Slowly, upstream, get the water into the gills, make sure it’s alive, all that good stuff.
There you go folks, a few bits and pieces of useful tidbits about sturgeon fishing. Interesting eh?
What I took from the day is how carefully these big ass fish should be treated. They’re a special, endangered species and the tracking, monitoring, and care that has gone into protecting them is slowly paying off.
Thanks again Peter and Gabe! Wicked fun day out there on the boat with you guys!
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