White Sturgeon Trip

[RavYak]

Just got back from an awesome kayak fishing trip out to the Fraser for white sturgeon. Met up with some locals I know and also another kayaker from Ontario doing a cross country trip and between us we ended up landing 4 over 7 feet including my new personal best 7' 6".

Great fishing and the weather was amazing too.

I always thought a 7+ fter might get a little tricky out of a kayak but the Hobies handled them easily. Gonna have to step it up to 8 or 9 feet next time I go out!









This guy thought he was a monster lol.

[Bub]

That's awesome, man! Looks like fun times. Thanks for posting!

[aulrich]

What sort of Nantucket sleigh ride did they take you on. I have visions of getting dragged around for a mile or two. Are there any specific techniques for fighting a big fish in a yak


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[Talking moose]

Now those are fishing guides!!

[The Spank]

I much prefer your choice of fishing partners to your choice of boat....

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by The Spank

I much prefer your choice of fishing partners to your choice of boat....

Me too but there is no denying it, this guy can fish!

Thanks for sharing.

[RavYak]

Originally Posted by aulrich

What sort of Nantucket sleigh ride did they take you on. I have visions of getting dragged around for a mile or two. Are there any specific techniques for fighting a big fish in a yak


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Barely moved me because we fight these fish from a jetboat anchor. Fighting these fish off anchor although doable could lead to too many possible issues with being dragged into snags, nets, other boats etc so is avoided unless absolutely necessary.

As for fighting big fish from a kayak there are a few tricks to learn. The big one is to keep your rod tip to the front of the kayak. That way the kayak is always pointed towards the fish and it also gives you the most stability because they have to try and flip you end for end(which would take an insane amount of force) versus trying to roll you. If a big fish gets out to the side of you then you need to lower your drag and get repositioned before trying to put the boots back to them.

This kind of trip is one you definitely want to go out with someone experienced the first couple times.

[guru fisher]

what area you fishing? near island 22

[TylerThomson]

Unreal, never thought you could land fish that big from a kayak. Nice work.

[iYearn]

Originally Posted by RavYak

Barely moved me because we fight these fish from a jetboat anchor. Fighting these fish off anchor although doable could lead to too many possible issues with being dragged into snags, nets, other boats etc so is avoided unless absolutely necessary.

As for fighting big fish from a kayak there are a few tricks to learn. The big one is to keep your rod tip to the front of the kayak. That way the kayak is always pointed towards the fish and it also gives you the most stability because they have to try and flip you end for end(which would take an insane amount of force) versus trying to roll you. If a big fish gets out to the side of you then you need to lower your drag and get repositioned before trying to put the boots back to them.

This kind of trip is one you definitely want to go out with someone experienced the first couple times.

Well done!! That is amazing.

I have fished the Fraser from a jet boat and when we hooked up a good size fish (7'-9') we had to come off anchor to avoid spooling out.

How do you do that in kayak by yourself?

Do you come off anchor?

And it would take 2-3 of us to bring in one of the beasts...just spelling each other off.

That is just amazing to do that from a kayak.

[RavYak]

Originally Posted by iYearn

Well done!! That is amazing.

I have fished the Fraser from a jet boat and when we hooked up a good size fish (7'-9') we had to come off anchor to avoid spooling out.

How do you do that in kayak by yourself?

Do you come off anchor?

And it would take 2-3 of us to bring in one of the beasts...just spelling each other off.

That is just amazing to do that from a kayak.

I haven't had to come off anchor yet. One reason being that we fish slower water which takes some of the fishes advantage away and another one being that I set my drag a bit higher and just leave the lever lower and don't bump it up all the way unless I need to. Then if a fish is dumping line I bump it up to full and will even thumb the spool if I need to in order to try and slow them down.

If we had to come off anchor we have a system set up that we believe would work to fight the fish(and have tested briefly near the ends of fights). We always go out in groups of at least 2 and take tow ropes to be able to tow a kayaker that is fighting the fish. We also use pedal and electric drive kayaks which give a surprising amount of thrust, for example my Hobie has reverse and if I pedal strongly I can pull drag at strike so add in someone towing me as well and we can put a surprising amount of resistance on a fish if needed. All we would have to do is tire the fish out enough and get them to a safe spot then take them to shore and finish the fight from there.

So in short you are correct that things could get hairy if/when I hook into a fish big enough that I have to come off anchor but I believe we have a system in place to deal with that situation. Now that I have some more experience with these big fish I might try to fight one off anchor on a future trip just to make sure the system works as we believe it would(rather then waiting for a 9 footer to find out lol).

I don't think kayaks are the ideal watercraft for targeting these fish but imo with a proper set up they are far better then shore fishing for these fish which many people do.

[Timidhc]

I've been saving up to upgrade from my canoe to a jon boat. But after seeing you haul in amazing fish after fish from your kayak I think I might be changing my mind.

[Fishslayer99]

Great fish, congrats on the PB Rav...looks like a real good time!