It’s kind of ironic that the first post on my flyfishing blog has little flyfishing content. But sometimes flyfishing itself is ironic.
Bob Meiser came to visit for the weekend last month. He wanted to do some Pink Salmon fishing on the Fraser. I managed to talk him into going Sturgeon fishing instead. And, not knowing what he was in for, he agreed. My buddy Sascha had a day free from the fall guiding mania and we snapped it up right away. By September the Sturgeon have had a steady diet of rotting and fresh salmon carcasses, many of them the result of the Sockeye kill fishery. Anglers kill their catch and toss the guts and heads into the river. It’s a literal smorgasboard for bottom feeders. With 17 million Pinks returning to the river this year the fish could gorge themselves silly.
The first step was to get some bait. This involved catching some Pinks. Sascha anchored us up and we began to cast to the slack waters where the fish were rolling. When you see one Pink roll there’s probably another 20 right below it. Pinks are notoriously easy to catch. A pink or chartreuse streamer will get you a strike every cast. They don’t put up much of a fight but are fun on a 4/5 switch rod. A couple of fish in the boat and we were ready to go for the big boys. Sascha rigged us up.
Bait
Now, when you hook a Sturgeon you need to be prepared for a fight. These fish are huge, powerful and not interested in being landed. the fight often involves following the fish down river until it tires out and then lasooing the tail at the beach so it doesn’t kill you while you take a picture. I don’t have that much experience with them myself but have had enough action to know that Bob would be in for an experience to remember.
It wasn’t long before we were into fish. Long dog fights and the occasional jump, tagging and releasing, a chug of Makers Mark as a reward. I believe we landed 11 fish, 7 of them between 6 and 8 feet in length. The “small ones” were around 40 pounds. At one point it seemed like each fish was bigger than the last. Maybe my back was just getting weaker as the day progressed.
7 foot 11
Kiss the Fish
6 foot somethin'
Rod in the head
Bob has been deflowered. I’m pretty sure he will be back next September with a friend or two once they see his pictures.
If you want to get your Sturginity taken shoot me an email and I can hook you up with Sascha. waskocreek@shaw.ca
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