Canadian Sturgeon

A trip to the Fraser River in Canada is on the bucket list of many anglers.  The sturgeons grow very big and if it takes your fancy the salmon run in the river is counted in the millions.  This year I returned again with good friends John Found and David Cook for a 6 days on the boat trip.  We would again be using Cascade Fishing Adventures with Marc Laynes in charge.  Working out of Chilliwack on the west coast of the country they organise everything, hotel, lift to and from the Vancouver Airport and of course the guided boat trips with all tackle and bait supplied.

We arrived to be told by anglers just finishing the break that the fishing was slow but with 17 sturgeon landed and a number of others lost to hook pulls, snags and foul hooking, it seemed quite good to us.  My best was an 8ft 300lb specimen and both John and Dave had 7ft 200lb fish although the largest fish hooked fell to John.  This fish probably about 9ft leapt well clear to give us and excellent view of her spender and after thirty minutes of more of the fight she found a snag and was lost, very disappointing.  My best fight or at least the most powerful came from a probable 7ft fish hooked in the tail, quickly released from the barbless hooks being used it swam off without a problem leaving quite a memory.

I’ll put up a series of photos that I’m sure will give a feel of the trip but if you get the chance then go.

                              My 8ft specimen.  Advised not to lift the head clear of the water.

                                         Dave's big fish   200lb +

                                            John's best fish  200+

                                                 They are not all big.

                                           John tries his best to lift a big one off the bed.

                                            Quite a backdrop for a days fishing.

                                                          A good fighting bend for Dave.

                                                 Waiting for the next bite.

Whilst travelling the bank we also saw bear, deer, coyote, and a wide range of eagles, vultures, and other species of strange birds.   Add to that the longest trains, John counted 150 trucks on one that passed.

info@cascadefishingadventures.com 

A new season begins.

The last week has been an improvement in as much as I’ve finally started to catch fish again, that said I lose them as well, it went like this.

My tench fishing had all but been a total failure and I had decided that with the rivers opening on the Thursday I would miss the 100 mile trip to the tench lake and go after the sturgeon instead, at least that was less millage.   My previous visits had always been just for the day and I had had considerable success with fish to over 40lb but I knew there was larger sturgeon to be had.  Also many of the fish come out at night so a 24hr session was planned for Tuesday into Wednesday.

My tackle is similar to that used for pike, 2,75lb test rods with 15lb line going to a Safe zone leader that the fishery owner insists on.  A size 4 hook is tied with a suitable hair rig to take one of the many types of bait that are acceptable to the sturgeon.  Bacon Grill, Chopped Ham with Pork, luncheon Meat, Salmon chunks or liver, the list goes on.

As you will no doubt be aware the midlands and the south of the country had a fair bit of rain over the week and I got wet more than once.  Fortunately it did not affect the fishing and shortly after I arrived I landed my first fish, a beluga sturgeon of about 18lb, shortly after it was followed by a diamond back sturgeon of about 25lb.    These fish fight with a power that has to be felt, I put them as the best battle pound for pound of any of our coarse fish, I’ve landed a good number of them as mentioned and no longer weigh those that appear to be in the 10lb to 20lb+ range.  The next strike I hit into something different and this fish had the real power that left me standing.   

This went straight out and I realised my mistake in swim choice, there were two islands in the lake and My swim choice gave the fish the chance of going between them and then I would be in real trouble.   Tightening the clutch I applied severe pressure and managed to turn the fish and he proceeded to come back towards me then he went off to the left.  Here I made my second mistake and I continued to play him from my current position.  In hindsight, which is always perfect, I should have followed him to a position at the end of the lake, as it was he came back and again headed across between the islands.    This time when I clamped up with the fish already past the left hand island the 15lb line snapped with a crack that could have been heard several hundred yards away and my hoped for prize had mad his escape.   Without a doubt that was the near 80lb fish known to be in the lake and even with over 50 years experience I had mad those two fatal mistakes, but I will not make them again and possibly this blog will help you avoid making the same mistake as well.

I went into the dark with those three chances and shortly after the full darkness came I was playing another good fish although not in the same class as the one lost.  Eventually the net went under a beluga sturgeon that proved to be 44lb-6oz.  My thanks go to the two lads fishing just along from my position that came and helped with the weighing.  An hour later I was back asking for help again and one of the lads came down and we got a weight of 46lb-10oz a very pleasing brace of fish.  I got photos of the first 40lb but with it raining I decided to release this one straight away.   About 3.00am I got my last fish with another 20lb+ diamond back sturgeon to round off a very successful session only spoiled by the lost chance, but I’ll be back!

                                                         44lb-6oz Sturgeon

                                                                    20lb+ sturgeon.

Then the rivers were open again and it was time to get a barbell fix.   I had been making swims on a section of the syndicate Upper Avon and I chose one of these for the first day.  The river itself looked perfect, about 3ft up and a light grey in colour with perhaps 1ft of visibility.

The day was mild but very wet, showers were going through at regular intervals and some of these were very heavy.  The end result was a disappointing blank though I’ve had many of those before.  The following day I was back again but this time I went onto a lower section of the river since there was a new member travelling up from Devon for a few days and I thought it would be good to meet up.   The river level was dropping and I felt it was still perfect for barbell fishing and I dropped into a swim that had produced for me over the Christmas period.

The river was showing a very different look to it’s winter dress in that there were numerous rush beds all along the length.  My chosen swim was clear immediately in front of my position but a long line of the rushes ran along the bank just downstream.  As usual I had two rods in action, one bait down the inside line, this being MAD baits Pandemic, the second rod went out into the middle of the river and this carried a Dynamite Crave self life boilie.  I bait dropped an amount of hemp on each line along with a few sample baits in the hope the flavour trail would draw the barbel upstream.

The day’s weather was a repeat of that experienced yesterday, showers with some heavy, of course when the barbel bite finally came it was right in the middle of one of those heavy spells.  This was a very powerful fish and with the extra help of the flooded river he had got alongside the rush bed and this gave me considerable problems.  The outside edge of the rushes was some 15ft or so away from the bank and the fish would not leave the rushes so I was constantly pulling in a direction that got him snagged on the rush.  I tried various tricks including slack line and pulling from a position level with him in the hope he would move out, all to no avail.   By now I looked like a drowned rat and that gave me the clue, I couldn’t get much wetter so I stripped off to underpants, put my shoes back on and went into the river.

Unless you have a fair idea of the depth this is definitely not recommended, I did, and I also allowed for the extra water the river was carrying.   Using the landing net handle I slowly went into the water, unfortunately this meant going through a bed of stinging nettles, with bare legs that gave me problems well into the following day.   Slowly I made my way to a point where the water was heading towards my chin and there I stopped.  Now with the rod held straight out the line was being pulled away from the rushes and I was in better control.   It’s not easy to use a landing net that is level with your face but eventually I saw a large barbel slide over the rim into its waiting embrace.   Now it was just a case of getting back to the bank and up onto the top section; not an easy task bringing the net and rod along with me, but eventually with the help of grabbing the stems of big bunches of stingers I got out, then I made the fish safe still in the landing net but in clear water.

                                                   13lb-4oz  Nice way to open the season.

I gave a quick phone call to Brian fishing just along from my swim to ask if he would come up for photos once the rain stopped, then a quick dry off and a change of clothes.  The fish was obviously a double but it would wait being quite safe in its current position.   Eventually Brian turned up and we got the fish out having already got the scales and camera ready, I said ‘definitely over 11lb’ but Brian just said ‘look at the shoulders, it’s bigger than that’.   As Brian lifted the scales I looked over his shoulder and saw that the reading was at 13lb-4oz, a great start to the new season.

Sturgeon fishing in Canada 2015

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

                                                       Rod watching on a sunny 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.

Highs and lows of 2013.

Well we reach the end of yet another year and of course that means a review of some of the highlights and a mention of those low points.

                                              My third book continues to sell but copies are left.

January
With the very cold January it seems that lots of us anglers stayed home and read a good book, my sales at this time were quite reasonable but by the end of this year they had fell off dramatically and I've copies of both hardback and leathers still available.  With very little fishing done and no big fish caught I will move on to February.

February
Slightly better weather and with trips to Chew Valley and local waters the pike were the saviour of the day.

                                                  Chew pike, short and fat with small heads.

                                  At 19lb-14oz this would have been a 20lb+ but removed five sardines from its throat in order to remove a previous set of trebles that had been left there, this done before weighing it. :)

                                              The first of two local 20's caught this month 22lb-11oz.

                                                  The second pike at 20lb-12oz.

On the downside for this month we were reminded how fragile is life with the news of the death of the legend that was Terry Lampard, a good friend and one that will be sorely missed.

March
Normally the end of the river effort and the start of my bream fishing but this time South America's rain forest rivers called.    A trip to Guyana was too much to miss and although we struggled there were still plenty of big fish to be caught.

                                               One of my targets achieved 64lb Redtail Catfish.

April
Amongst lots of other fishing for this month the week at Lochnaw Castle always stands high, especially when the magical 3lb roach is landed.

                                                 A 3lb Lochnaw specimen roach.


May
May is always an exciting time though this year nature seemed well behind its normal state possibly by as much as 4 to 6 weeks.  fortunately the crucians at Johnson's Lake on the Marsh Farm complex did not seem to mind with good fish being caught over several trips there.

                                   At 3lb-12oz this was the best of 12 crucian on this session.

                                    7lb-3oz pb for the lake, one of 17 tench taken along with the crucians on this trip.

June
With a few local tench along with trips after bream and crucians the highlight of this month or even the year was the capture of a 12lb1oz tench, almost into the fish of dreams.

                                                Highlight of the year - 12lb-1oz personal best tench.

July
I had applied for a ticket for a carp syndicate in order to try for the eels after reading that two big ones had been caught by accident, it finally came through with a start date of July 1st.  The first night session was to prove both exciting and disappointing in equal measure.  At just gone midnight I hooked and landed a 6lb-4oz eel, weighed and safely secured in a Queenford tube I continued and took another eel of 4lb-3oz.  Through an amateur mistake the bigger fish escaped back into the lake whilst I was trying for a photo.  A later visit almost made up for the lack of the photo with the capture of a 5lb-10oz and two others over 4lb.

                               Normally I would be pleased with this eel but a poor 4lb-3oz consolation prize.

                              At 5lb-10oz the best of three eels the others going 4lb-9oz and 4lb-2oz.

August.
Plenty of fishing and a reasonable number of barbel caught, but the highlight for this month was my inclusion in the Barbel Challenge of trying to catch a double figure barbel of 14 different rivers in 14 days.  I joined Jerry Gleeson and Paul Floyd on four rivers and we caught on all four.  Dove, Derwent, Trent and Soar.  Over the total effort there were doubles caught off 9 of the 14 rivers, a remarkable effort by those involved and over £2500 was raised in the process.

                                             One of the doubles taken at 11lb-1oz.

                                         The largest of the doubles taken at 12lb-10oz by Jerry.

September.
Always barbel time and this month was no exception although I've still to get the hoped for River Nene double.  Sturgeon have always atracted me with the look and power so I was very pleased to capture a 42lb8oz specimen from a midland lake.

                                             42lb-8oz the best of four sturgeon on the day.

Over the years I've caught lots of 6lb plus chub along with four over 7lb, but I was very pleased to get a couple of big 5's off the local River Anker.

                                                    5lb-12oz River Anker Chub, one of the pair.

                                                5lb-11oz to make a very pleasing brace.

October
Along with lots of other fishing I got the chance to fish on the River Test for the roach again and fortune smiled in the form of a 2lb-4oz specimen as the best on the day.  Later in the month I was on the Chew Valley water again but this time it came up trumps with a 25lb-11oz specimen pike.

                                             2lb river roach are always that little bit more special.

                                                 25lb-11oz reward for a lot of effort.

November.
For a very long time I've not bothered to fish for carp having caught large numbers in the 1980's and 90's now I had decided to try and better my pb common with a fish of hopefully over 40lb.  I'm not a purist here so I was quite content to try for the shortcut to catch such a fish and booked with Catmaster Tours in Spain and they did not let me down.  On the first day our guide dropped us in a swim he thought offered the best chance and a few hours later I was looking at a 44lb-14oz specimen that met my target.  The rest of the trip was spent after the roach and again my companions John Found and Pete Reading all succeeded in getting into the 2lb plus specimens.

                                                Target set and Achieved.  44lb-14oz.

                                                 My 2lb-8oz best for this Spanish trip.

December.
This has been a very strange month and although I've fished in what I consider to be quite reasonable conditions along with those that were less favorable I did not catch any even moderate fish..  A small double figure pike from my main venue that has failed for all fishing there, small chub and no barbel, definitely not a good end to this year.  In just over a weeks time I will be back off to South America, this time Surinam after large catfish.  I might get wet but at least I'll be warm.
Tight lines for 2014 and I'll let you know how the year goes as always.
Phil

         

Monster river roach and other things.

A quick catch-up on the blog with my pursuit of specimen fish, I got back from the South late last night and I’m off to Chew Valley early tomorrow, then off to Scotland Saturday for a week after roach.  Last week I fished the River Nene on a different section to that previously tried and managed a nice barbel of 9lb-7oz, the double still eludes me.

                                                           9lb-7oz specimen barbel

  Later that week I went back chasing the 50lb sturgeon, but fell some pounds short with just one fish of 21lb-6oz although I did add a bonus 16lb carp later in the day.

                                            The only sturgeon of the day this time.

Then through bad planning and timing I had three days on the Kennet and a day on the River Test.  The first two days on the Kennet were for the Barbel Society fish-in organised by John Found.  With about fifteen anglers total over the two days it was patchy sport although some good fish were caught including a new personal best for David Cooke taking a fish of 13lb-8oz.  Other doubles of 12lb-4oz to John, and two 10lb fish to Pete Reading made for an interesting time.  I made do with just a small fish of about 5lb.  With the day on the Test arranged for Tuesday it was not worthwhile coming back to Coventry so I did another day on a different section of the river with a complete blank the result.

                                                   David Cooke with a 13lb-8oz monster.

                                              Evening sun sets over the Lower Benyons

Then one of the highlights of my year came, and I could travel to the River Test as a guest of Dave Steuart to fish for roach on his section of the river.  Travelling down with John we stopped for a breakfast and arrive at Dave’s around 9:00am to a river in what appears to be perfect trim.  The recent rain has had no apparent affect and whilst sitting with a cup of tea and chatting with Dave it was hard to avoid the eyes straying to the river sliding past the window of his living room.

                                                        John's rarely caught carp

There is no rush to start since it is all trotting and several hours of that is more than enough for me, the back aches and the legs get very tired with standing all the time.  Still in the event it was well worth while since we both caught lots of fish, mainly roach although trout, grayling and chub came to the net as well.  John even caught a nicely marked carp of 14lb-7oz that Dave tells us has not been caught since its last time on the bank about ten years previously.  I lost count of the number of roach about the one and a half pound mark I caught, but I did remember those above the figure with three at 1lb-10oz, a 1lb-11oz and 1lb-13oz, 1lb-15oz and finally the prize of 2lb-4oz.  The largest fish was an old warrior but at 16 inches long I did wonder just what it would have weighed if the same shape as the 1lb-15oz fish I had.  Red letter days like this are what can make our blanks seem a bit more bearable though hopefully I’ll be able to write about the monster pike I have in the next two days.

                                                  2lb-4oz River Test gem

                                                    A mint roach of 1lb-15oz.

                                                        Another mint fish of 1lb-14oz for John.