Mission angler's last cast hooks giant sturgeon
Mission angler's last cast hooks giant sturgeon
11-footer is released after an hour battle to haul 'er in
By Glenda Luymes, The Province
Published: Thursday, October 30, 2008
The last cast of the day was a winner for fishing guide Matt Schaap.
An hour after dangling a hook baited with salmon roe in the Fraser River, the largest Fraser sturgeon hooked this year was on his line.
Weighing close to 362 kilograms (800 pounds) and estimated at about 100 years old, Schaap's 3.38-metre (11-feet, one-inch) catch was measured, photographed, tagged and released Saturday evening near Hatzic Bench in Mission.
http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465...ish.jpg?size=l Fishing guide Matt Schapp (far right) assists other anglers in hauling in a 3.4-metre-long sturgeon at Mission's Hatzic Bench Oct. 25.
It's the fifth-largest sturgeon caught on the Fraser River since tagging began in the mid-1990s.
"It was amazing to be part of it," said Schaap's boss, Vic Carrao, owner of STS Guiding Service.
The catch came five minutes before the end of an eight-hour fishing trip with a group of Langley men.
Schaap, who has been with STS for about six years, decided to try his luck one more time.
"He had a piece of used-up bait. He thought about changing it, but it was the last cast," said Carrao.
Using a 150-pound test line with a Lamiglas rod and Penn reel, Schaap and four other fishermen took turns hauling in the huge fish.
An hour later, they had their prize. Carrao, whose personal record catch is a 3.08-metre (10-feet, 11-inch) sturgeon landed in 2007, said this year's fish is the largest caught by someone with his guiding company.
"It's good to know there's quite a few fish of this size left on the Fraser," he said.
The prehistoric-looking fish, which was "calm as can be" after its capture, was photographed in the river and then released.
According to the Fraser River Sturgeon Conservation Society, sturgeon can live up to 150 years, grow to six metres in length and weigh upwards of 600 kilograms.
The longest ever caught was 3.4 metres, landed in 2003.
The fish is a threatened species, still recovering from intensive overfishing in the early 1900s.
There are an estimated 55,000 sturgeon in the Fraser River.
