Fraser River Sturgeon Trip
Just got back from 5 days of Fraser River sturgeon fishing.
Over the last year I became interested in sturgeon after reading about the fish on this AO fishing board. Especially after some recent large game fishing exposure with Tarpon, and looking for a similar experience closer to home. I didn’t really think much about it other than it being a possible option, as an alternative to salmon. Then a friend of mine asked me to join him on a sturgeon trip. I did some minimal research which basically consisted of searching this discussion board for past threads on sturgeon fishing and making a list of guides/outfits based on what I read. I did a short list and made a couple of calls and decided to go with Kevin Estrada of Sturgeon Slayers.
Sturgeon and big game fishing
Let’s get right to what matters the most. Fishing for large sturgeon and the fight experience. My only other big game fish experience is Tarpon (2 trips to Costa Rica) so I’m not an expert but also not a newbie. I was pretty skeptical about sturgeon being an exciting fish going in to this trip, even after all that I read and watched on youtube. But that all changed in the first couple of hours and day 1 on the Fraser and hooking in to a couple of large ones. Sturgeon are strong fish. They have to be, to live in a large river like the Fraser with all the current. Add they do air acrobatics too, which is amazing for such a large fish. I had one 7 footer jump 5 times. I’m not in to prolonged fighting so I wanted the excellent fight, but not to drag it out over an hour plus in duration. So we got the fish to the boat/shore asap. But for the majority of the fight, the fish dictates things. From the first hookup thru to the end, these fish, especially the large ones, leaving you hanging on to the rod with all your might and using the rod and reel and physical strength and endurance and some help from the jet boat to do your best to hang on. There was no shortage of comments like “what a tank”, “oh my god did you see that?”, “it’s a monster”. And there were a couple of large fish that were so strong and went on for so long, we had to alternate. Fighting large sturgeon will give your biceps and arm muscles and even your core a good workout.
The river, the locations, the technique
Kevin took us downstream of Hope about 10-15k to a nice stretch of river that held about 30 plus sturgeon. You get a pretty accurate sense of the numbers based on what you catch, see jumping, and see on the fish finder. It was amazing to see so many large fish in a short stretch of water. We also fished upstream near Yale which had less fish, but great scenery and possibly larger fish. You could write a book on sturgeon and the Fraser. Factoids that stand out for me are over 60,000 have been tagged in the Fraser since they started the program. I would never know where sturgeon are located in a river this big, which is where guides comes in. They know where the fish are. Generally they are located in the slower water near a seam. But they can also locate in the main current. We saw a lot of them jump around us too. Like you’d see a trout or salmon rise or roll. It was pretty amazing to see a large sturgeon jump out of the water up or down stream of you when fishing. If you were nature walking the river and happened to see a sturgeon surface and jump, you’d freak out for sure. You'd think you were in Jurassic Park. We used some pretty nice chum roe and also some fish meat on single barbless hooks. Shimano reels and rods. 200lb braid. About 100lb mono leader. Weights from 16oz up to maybe 30oz. Cast out in to the current near a seam and let the weight sink and put in a rod holder and wait.
Our guide
Kevin Estrada is a fantastic Fraser sturgeon guide. I don’t have any other experience with the top guides in the area for comparison, but based on my past experience with guides overall, Kevin has to be considered one of the best Fraser river sturgeon guides. Kevin can roll with all kinds of clients. Corporate guys. Hard core fisherman. First timers. Kevin is very dedicated to the fishery. Sits on the conservation board. Is pursuing legal opportunities to improve the fishery. Does all the tagging and recording for each fish caught. He knows a lot about the fishery. And I felt like a lab assistant helping him with the record keeping part. Kevin is also very good at handling a jet boat. Things can get pretty chaotic when you get a large sturgeon on and you have 2 other lines in the water that need to be brought in. Then you have all the river aspects to deal with while fighting the fish. Rocks, currents, landing areas, what the fish is doing. Kevin is on his game when it comes to dealing with this very important and critical part of sturgeon fishing. We did have a double header with two large sturgeon, one of them foul hooked, and Kevin handled that situation like a pro. Kevin also cares about sturgeon. He handles the fish very carefully, and insists that his customers do as well. We learned a lot from Kevin about sturgeon, their habitat, their conservation.
I have images of the paperwork records for what we caught over 5 days. We recorded 21 sturgeon over 5 days. And had an average of 3 more per day that were either foul hooked or broke off (line on rocks etc).
Here are some pics from the trip.
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