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View Full Version : Sturgeon fishin' after dark



Shop Lord
04-24-2006, 08:09 AM
The sturgeon fishing is starting to pick up a bit. I've caught 7 so far this season before the weekend, the biggest being around 5 feet. Lost a couple of big ones though. We went to Lillooet to camp out and do some fishing, I figured at the very least we would "catch" a buzz. As soon as we got there my girlfriend hooked into a 3 foot fish with her brand new sturgeon set-up. We decided to stay at that hole until just before dark because we were camping at a different spot. Right at sunset I got a great bite and set the hook. About 25 minutes later we had a 5 foot fish on the shore. We left that hole, grabbed a pizza and went back to our camp. As soon as we got there I set up the rods with fishing bells and sat back to enjoy the fire and some cold ones. Around midnight my girfriend Siri starts yelling, "I got one, I got one!". The line screamed out of her reel and the fish surfaced acouple of times. Half an hour later she landed her fish, it was pushing 5 feet. By 1:30 am I was starting to pay less and less attention to my rod and more attention to the beer. Out of nowhere Siri says "hey, I can her your bell going." I listen for a second and sure enough I hear it. Ding, ding ........ DING, DING, DING !!!! The problem is that my rod is about 100 feet from the campfire and only held down by a rock. I make a mad dash over to my rod and grab it right out of the air. The tip was in the water and the but was swinging around wildly on the rest. I set the hook and the fight is on! The fish completely cleared the water 3 times which seems unusual with the water being so cold but I finally get it in. After about a 35 minute fight we landed the 6 foot 6 fish, the biggest of the season so far. The fish was super healthy and thick and would easily go 100 lbs.
Cooler full of beer.
Campfire on the beach.
100 + lbs sturgeon.
And a hot girl who loves to fish.
PRICELESS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

mark
04-24-2006, 08:12 AM
sounds like fun, is it legal to fish at night???

Shop Lord
04-24-2006, 08:35 AM
Good question. I've never heard that it's illegal but I'll have to check the regs. The co's came down in the morning and checked our licences,bait and hooks. I told them that we had caught a couple fish during the night and they never said anything about it being illegal.

lip_ripper00
04-24-2006, 08:57 AM
I have had my gear checked around midnight buy DFO we fish tides not daylight

ARC
04-24-2006, 10:25 AM
You are allowed to fish at night. I looked into it a couple of years ago, your just not allowed to use any light sources to attract them. When ice fishing for Burbot I often don't get out there until after sundown, seems to be when the are feeding the most.

Just curious, what do you guys use for bait on sturgeon? just fish parts? I hear some guys use chicken.

Shop Lord
04-24-2006, 01:58 PM
bacon, roe and worms (and a secret "sauce" )

Leaseman
05-17-2006, 07:48 AM
I do a lot of sturgeon fishing on the Fraser from Fort Langley and up...day or night is good fishing this time of year....we use whatever is running in the river at that time...ie right now the oolies are in and that is the bait of choice....year round the best all round bait is ditch eels if you can find them.....

Mike

ratherbefishin
05-17-2006, 02:34 PM
whats the ruling on sturgeon retention or did you release them?

Leaseman
05-18-2006, 08:59 AM
For the last 10-15 years (maybe longer, can't remember!!) there has been no retention on sturgeon...strictly catch and release...this being said I have never had a more fighting fish with long runs and big multiple jumps than these fish once the water warms up...usually mid may to early june...

Mike:-D

ratherbefishin
05-19-2006, 06:24 AM
I know from time to time a huge one washes up,looks like a telephone pole.What is the biggest recorded sturgeon in the frazer-and what river systems in BC are they found in-are the pretty much limited to the bigger rivers?Do they travel in salt water at all between river systems?

Leaseman
05-19-2006, 06:42 AM
Biggest Ihave heard about (with pics...actually in the papers back in the '50s) is over 20 feet and about 1800 pounds....this being said there are numerous fish hooked every year that people have NO hope of landing due to the size of the fish...we have ourselves hooked into a couple that have made 7 footers feel like squaw fish....

As far as what other rivers they are in I am not totally sure....tagged fish have shown up here from the Columbia and vice versa...the fish follow their food sources so who really knows!!!...have a buddy who lives(lived) in Bamfield year round and he says he has seen sturgeon in the winter there...

Mike

TGF
06-16-2006, 02:30 AM
Went on honeymoon 2 yrs ago in September to our cabin on Stuart lake. There were a few big bouys about 120 meters apart we noticed around the lake. It got real rough one day and a big boat tried to check one of the bouy sets. They gave up and came into our little peaceful bay. Low and behold it was Jason Yarmish and a few others who were doing sturgeon studies on that lake. Very interesting fellow with lots of good info. They set for 11 days and caught 14 fish altogether in those days rangeing from 4ft to an eigth of an inch under 10 ft.
They were hopeing to get some smaller ones but only the sizes previously mentioned. The Nechako sturgeon are different than the lower Fraser River sturgeon. I think they are seperated by Hells Gate. Friends also catch them in Upper Fraser around Prince George when fishing for burbot. Jason was mentioning that the sturgeon hone in on salmon spawning and like the carcasses after the cycle is over.
The sturgeon in lower Fraser seem to be doing really well.
Took my dad and wife out to Harrison river and we landed 6. One had been caught before and the other 5 had not. 4ft to 6ft 6 inches. The guide was part of the tagging program were they implanted a micro-chip in head. Here is a pic of the biggest.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v606/terrygonefishing/icefishingdec15020.jpg




Here is a pic that a buddy sent of a monster (11ft 1 inch) caught earlier this year. Or so the e-mail went.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v606/terrygonefishing/sturgeon.jpg

30-06
06-16-2006, 07:12 PM
I know from time to time a huge one washes up,looks like a telephone pole.What is the biggest recorded sturgeon in the frazer-and what river systems in BC are they found in-are the pretty much limited to the bigger rivers?Do they travel in salt water at all between river systems? i few years back .the world record for sturgeon was caught. it had to be pulled out by a d8 cat

30-06
06-16-2006, 07:14 PM
yeah i met a guy in tulameen here and he was on a fishign so called umm hooked with mark karuptu or somthing sturgen fishing in the fraser.cool guy