Following on from last year’s trip to Canada we had to
return in an effort to get one of those big sturgeons that did not show for us
at the time. The group comprised of John
Found, David Cook and me and we would be traveling with Cascade Fishing Adventures
under Marc Laynes. His organisation is
located in Chilliwack in the province of British Columbia and we would fish for
the sturgeon in the Frazer River.
The 9 hour flight from Gatwick to Vancouver is bit of a trek and then we are picked up for the 1hr 30min
trip to the hotel in Chilliwack arriving about 3pm local time after allowing
for the minus 8 hour time difference between UK and the extreme west of
Canada. Since we will not fish until the
following morning there is plenty of time to sort out the suit case and get
cleaned up for a trip out to a local restaurant for a proper meal. One thing I do see here is the apparent lack
of cooked greens on the meals, nice meat but vegetables come mostly braised
assuming you can get any. Still after the
meal we made our way back to the hotel and by 9pm I was in bed ready for the
morning and our start at 8am.
We met up with Clayton Jones who would be our guide for the
day and after a 20 minute drive we were at the boat launch along with a number
of other boats setting for the day on the river. Within a very short space of time we were
travelling off to a nearby spot to catch bait in the form of a fish known as
pike-minnow. These are a pretty fish of
about 6inch long and were to prove our most successful bait, the other being
pink salmon in either a small fillet or just half the head form. Tackle comprise 9ft rods with Shimano reels
carrying lots of 130lb braid going to a wedge shaped leger weight of about 16oz
to 20oz, the hooks are barbless size 10.0’s.
Once we had a supply of minnow it was off on the jet boat
that seems standard transport for the guides with speeds of up to 30mph and the
ability to travel over 6 inch of water.
It was not too long after stopping that Dave was into the first fish of
the trip, a sturgeon of about 40lb and as such a real baby, shortly after this
I had an even smaller fish of perhaps 20lb but at least we were off the
mark. It seemed that John was playing it
crafty since the next two small fish that he caught both came off quite quickly
so he stayed on his rod. Meanwhile on
the last chance of the day Dave went on to catch a real beauty. At 7ft-9in and a girth of 40in it was put at 290lb. This, using the time proven formula for
converting length to weigh by using both length and a girth measurement taken
directly behind the pelvic fins. Using
this ‘pelvic girth’ position means the measurement will remain constant and
does not vary with spawn, hence it is a more reliable figure to give an
estimated weight. The fight was spectacular
and we had to follow the fish downstream before it finally gave up the scrap
and allowed us to take a couple of photos.
1st of the big fish at 290lb to Dave.
Pike-minnow bait ready to cast out.
Pink salmon chunks.
Back out the following morning, we went through a similar
routine of getting bait then off to one of Marc’s known hotspots. It did not take too long before John had taken
a 5ft-7in fish soon followed by me with a 6ft-2in specimen. Although medium fish by the standards of this
river they do give one hell of a fight and both of these would take 15mins to
land. Then at about 11am John struck
into a fish that really did fight and it would 45 minutes before this fish
thought it would be ok to have his photo taken.
At 8ft-5in and a 40in girth, it was estimated at 340lb, one hell of a
beast and it prove such when after one very poor photo on my camera and one
other better shot on another camera it broke free of our hold and disappeared
back into the deeps. Three other
sturgeon followed that before close of play, but with the best at 5ft-10in to
me they were comparatively small.
At 6ft-2in a little powerhouse.
A poor shot of John's 340lb. Better one later I hope.
Clayton Jones our guide for three days.
The evenings had settled into a nice easy routine of wash
and brush-up then out at 7.00pm for a visit to one of the many restaurants in
the area. With the weather holding at a
very comfortable level of around 25C maximum the fishing was great. Meet up with the guide at 8.00am and fish all
day through to 4.00pm when the rods would come in and we would head back to the
boat launch area. Each day was different
and today we had Mark Laynes as our guide and he headed right upstream to one
of his favourite spots on the river.
With fishing being what we all know we moved several times in the immediate
area and saw sturgeon roll, but not one fish took bait despite our best
efforts.
Moving downstream and dropping into other good swims I took
the first fish of the day, one of about 4ft but that was eclipsed by the next
taken by John yet again. This fish truly
gave a fight worthy of one 50lb heavier and when it finally gave up it was
measured at 7lb-9in length and a girth of 36.5in. Again using the formula we got an estimated
weight of 260lb a very worthwhile specimen to the growing list. Just before close of play I latched into
another hard fighting specimen that was eventually measured at 6ft-1oz to give
a very pleasing end to our days sport.
John's 260lb with Clayton & I holding it.
Last fish of the day at 6ft-1in to me.
We were now at Friday and all along the forecast had been
for rain to begin at that time and then to stay over our remaining days. Fortunately for this day at least we only
had the occasional shower and with four fish going to 6ft it was yet
another good sporting day.
John with his 6ft specimen.
John had been
on several trips to the region from 1997 onward and in those days twenty fish
catches coming to the boat were not unusual.
As with most fishing those that arrive early get the best sport and
today a catch of say six fish would be slightly above average, between two and
four is more the expected normal day
Saturday the weather had certainly come in with a vengeance,
heavy rain overnight and early morning was accompanied by very strong winds and
considerable damage was caused by falling trees. Fortunately Clayton went upstream to an area
that experience had shown him to be a little bit better sheltered in these
conditions and it was not until evening when we returned that it was realised
how fortunate we had been. Three foot
waves coming at us made it necessary to slow the boat almost to a crawl, but in
the calm area we made hay while the sun shone.
John was first with a fish of 6ft-8in length and 34in girth giving and
estimated weight of 180lb. A very hard
fight and only different to the larger specimens in that the fish gives up that
little bit sooner. That was at 11-15am
and at about 1.00pm we were in action again this time with Dave having a good
fish on his rod. A very similar fight to
John’s followed and eventually he landed an almost identical specimen. This time it came in at 6ft-9in length and
33in girth and again an estimated weight of 180lb.
180lb for John.
180lb for Dave.
With these larger fish coming to both John and Dave I was
getting a little concerned that maybe I would miss out, just the rest of this
day and one more to go and then it was back to England but I need not of
worried. My bait was taken and after an
initial twitch the rod bent over and I struck into weight. John and Dave went to bring in the rods
positioned behind me whilst Clayton went to the rod to my left, This meant the
he saw the fish leap as well as myself, and his comment as the fish came
totally clear of the water was ‘that’s a big mother ***.’ One of the best feelings to any fisherman
must be holding a rod with a tight clutch that is screaming as the line peels
off with a very large fish trying to make his escape. Once the other rods were in we could up-anchor
and slowly, but surely, get back into control. Not totally, in that the fish still went off
in long runs but each time I could get line back onto the reel until he was
just off the back of the boat. At this
stage I was tired and I hoped the fish was as weary as I, but Clayton obviously
felt not and he powered the boat away from the fish with the reel giving all
that hard earned line out again, dam! It
was probably another 15min to 20 mins before I got into a similar position as I
had previously attained but this time we could take him slowly to the shore for
the photos etc. I had come out on this
trip hoping for a 7ft plus specimen so I was well pleased when the tape showed
it to be exactly 8ft long and a girth of 41in, 320lb of solid muscle and I left
Clayton to hold the head for the photo as I was sure the fish could break my
grip as John’s fish had done to him in making his escape.
320lb for me.
Along with the rain the temperature had dropped by about 10C
and this reflected in our bait catching, where we caught enough in 20 minutes
at the start of the week it now took a lot longer and we actually left with
less than we had hoped for. Today we
suffered a number of dropped takes and dropped fish which did suggest the fish
were far more reluctant to take bait. We
did take three fish to 5ft-6in over the course of the day to give a final total
for the week of 21 sturgeon.
That was the end of the fishing but not the end of the excitement
if that was the right word for it. The
transport to the airport was arranged for 9.00am for a 1.25pm flight, plenty of
time and we got to the airport at about 10.45am. The journey took a little longer than usual
due to some work still being carried out in clearing fallen trees and our
driver had taken us via some back roads rather than the main highway as
usual. Walking through the doors into
the airport my mind went to the paperwork etc. I would need and I immediately
realised I had left my passport in the room safe back at the hotel, panic
stations!
The Coast Hotel - Chilliwack
A quick phone call to the hotel reception and the problem
explained, ‘could they get the passport and have a taxi bring it to the airport’
a task that was done very efficiently.
Meanwhile we went to the check-in desk and explained the problem only to
be told the gates close at 12.25pm on the dot, no exception. In fact the chap said they were overbooked
and were looking for three people to agree to stay over. Although I hoped the taxi would make on time
I knew it was highly unlikely and already I was prepared for and expensive
delay with the need to get another ticket and overnight hotel room. Sure enough the 12.25pm time came and went,
John and Dave had already gone through and they wished me luck. I had been in touch with Joe Taylor about my
error as he is a well-travelled angler and would be more likely to be able to
advise me what to do and I was actually talking to him when the taxi arrived a
12.45pm. Once the passport had been
sorted we continued to talk and Joe asked what airline I was on, I could not
remember so as we talked I walked down along all the different airline check in
desks. I had gone right to the start of
in international departures to meet the taxi and the check-in was at the other
end so it was a little walk to get back there.
It would now be about 25 minutes after the desk had closed but as I
spoke to Joe and related what airline it was I realised there were three people
checking in, nothing to lose and I went through and put my case on the conveyer
expecting to be told ‘go away’ or something like that. Instead the chap started to issue my boarding
pass and put the tickets on the suitcase.
He explained he had put me through as a priority passenger and explained
I could use the express route through to the loading area. Quite amazingly I actually got on the plane
before the other two as they waited for the low number seats to be called. Hopefully I will never leave my passport again;
though I will never know how I got on that plane the gods were certainly
smiling down at me.
I could not close without a couple of the animal shots taken at range. A brown bear that swam across the river behind us and a deer with her fawn.
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