Tag: Fraser River

Giant river monster’s ‘insane jump’ takes Internet by storm

Footage showing a giant sturgeon leaping next to a fishing boat has garnered millions of views as it showcases the power and grace of these so-called living dinosaurs.

Footage showing a giant sturgeon leaping next to a fishing boat has garnered millions of views as it showcases the power and grace of these so-called living dinosaurs.

The accompanying footage, captured during a Yves Bisson charter on British Columbia’s Fraser River, shows the nearly 10-foot sturgeon breaking the surface during a ferocious attempt to shake the hook before rolling over and diving out of sight.

Bisson, who runs Yves Bisson Sturgeon Co., stated this week via Instagram:

“This was an insane jump right beside the boat. Unbelievable this video already has 55M views on TikTok and will most likely be my most viewed video of the year soon.”

Bisson told FTW Outdoors on Thursday morning that the TikTok viewership had since grown to more than 57 million. (Click here to watch the TikTok version.)

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The footage is popular, obviously, because of the size and prehistoric appearance of the sturgeon. White sturgeon date back 200 million years and are often described as living dinosaurs.

Viewers obviously noticed the bony plates on the sturgeon’s body as the fish rolled over to embark on another run.

Bisson Told FTW Outdoors that the fish was tagged and released as part of ongoing research of white sturgeon on the Fraser River. It measured 9 feet, 10 inches, boasted a girth of 54 inches, and weighed 550 pounds.

Bisson states on his website that sturgeon are “the world’s largest and most powerful freshwater fish” and that his clients occasionally battle fish weighing nearly 1,000 pounds.

Recreational sturgeon fishing on the Fraser River is strictly catch and release.

Kayak fisherman lands 350-pound sturgeon, and it’s on video

If not for being in a kayak, Braeden Rouse would have lost the huge sturgeon he hooked into while fishing on Canada’s famous Fraser River last week.

If not for being in a kayak, Braeden Rouse would have lost the huge sturgeon he hooked into while fishing on Canada’s famous Fraser River last week.

In a battle that lasted 30 minutes, Rouse managed to land an 8½-foot sturgeon that weighed an estimated 350 pounds, and his girlfriend Sidney Kozelenko captured it in video.

The footage, posted on the Adventures with Braeden and Sid Facebook page, is actually pretty comical as it shows Rouse being towed in zig-zags up and down the river.

“We laugh every time we watch it,” Rouse told USA Today/For The Win Outdoors.

To get the video footage, Kozelenko was forced to get into her own kayak and follow him. You can clearly see the speed at which the sturgeon pulls him.

“He’s pulling you faster than I can paddle,” Kozelenko said at one point in the video.

At times, the battle was a bit dicey.

“There was three times I nearly tipped as the sturgeon aggressively swam away,” Rouse told For The Win Outdoors. “I had to keep the rod tip at the bow of the boat just to avoid tipping.

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“A sturgeon guide told me he’s had clients catch sturgeon this size, and they normally trade off throughout the battle fighting this size of sturgeon and are standing in a boat. The fact I was sitting in a kayak was crazy.

“I’ve shared my pictures on a few sturgeon pages and many are pretty shocked I caught a sturgeon this size out of a kayak.

“If I wouldn’t have had my kayak, this fish would have just kept swimming with its sheer power until I had no line left on my spool. I would I have lost it.”

Credit also goes to Kozelenko, who helped in the landing. As the fish tired, both paddled close to shore. Kozelenko beached her kayak, got out and tied a rope to Rouse’s kayak and pulled him to shore. Rouse was then able to get out and finish the remaining seconds of the battle on land.

“I hadn’t quite realized how big this fish actually was until we got our first glimpse,” Rouse told For The Win Outdoors. “The pictures really don’t do it justice.”

After getting photos, Rouse released the huge sturgeon.

“I love the release part of catching a fish,” he told For The Win Outdoors. “This one was particularly rewarding. The fish swam gracefully away with a lot more spunk than I would have figured after the battle. When it gave its last push, the tail fin came nearly two feet out of the water.”

This was “by far” the biggest sturgeon Rouse has ever caught. His previous best measured 62 inches.

Photos courtesy of Braeden Rouse.

Former NHL star catches huge sturgeon claimed to be a world record

Sturgeon Slayers guide service on the famous Fraser River in British Columbia is “confident” it’s a world record, though it’s debatable.

Pete Peeters, a former award-winning NHL goalie who likes to note he once gave up four goals to Wayne Gretzky in a single game, can now boast of something substantial in the world of fishing.

Peeters and a friend combined to catch what the Sturgeon Slayers guide service is calling “the biggest white sturgeon landed in the world.”

Taking 25 minutes to land on the famous Fraser River in British Columbia, Peeters and Jake Driedger traded off reeling in the massive white sturgeon that measured 11½ feet with a girth of over 4½ feet. It was estimated to have weighed 890 pounds, as reported by The Province. The measurements were confirmed by another guide, Steve Forde of Reel Sturgeon Adventures.

“I couldn’t fathom how big these fish were,” Peeters told The Province from his home in Sturgeon County just north of Edmonton. “Even when the fish came up, it was hard to believe.”

Sturgeon Slayers guide Kevin Estrada admitted to becoming emotional about the catch.

“I had tears in my eyes,” he told The Providence. “I’ve been fishing this river since I was 15 years old…We’ve had some spectacular fish, some very memorable fish over the years, but never anything this big.”

Driedger, left, and Peeters holding up the tail end of the huge sturgeon.

But is it really a world record?

“We are confident it is, but not 100 percent,” Sturgeon Slayers wrote in a blog.

“We have also submitted to Guinness World Records to have them look at it. That takes up to 16 weeks.”

However, in July 2012, Michael Snell landed what was then being called “one of the largest catches ever recorded in North America—a 12-foot white sturgeon weighing an estimated 1,100 pounds,” according to the Anchorage Daily News. That, too, was caught on the Fraser River.

And last month, CTV reported that an 11½-foot white sturgeon estimated at over 800 pounds was caught, tagged and released, as is the protocol on the Fraser River.

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British Columbia has “no official record” for white sturgeon “considering the size and conservation status of the species,” RecordFishCanada reports.

The International Game Fish Association, the keeper of fishing world records, lists a 468-pound white sturgeon caught by Joey Pallotta III in Benicia, Calif., in July 1983 as the official world record.

So a true world record isn’t likely to be established anytime soon. Nevertheless, the one caught, tagged and released by Peeters and Driedger can be called one of the biggest ever caught, there is no denying that.

It’s definitely a trophy fish Peeters (a four-time NHL All-Star) can brag about—to go along with the Vezina Trophy he won for his goalie play with the Boston Bruins in the 1982-83 season.

Photos courtesy of Sturgeon Slayers. Driedger and Peeters are shown

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Watch: Angler beyond impressed as 9-foot sturgeon leaps from river

A woman fishing last week on the Fraser River outside of Vancouver, Canada, hooked a 9-foot sturgeon whose mighty leap was caught on video.

A woman fishing last week on the Fraser River outside of Vancouver, Canada, hooked a 9-foot sturgeon whose ferocious leap was caught on video.

In the footage, Steevie Zdebiak, while struggling against the weight of the massive fish, expresses her disbelief as the airborne sturgeon attempts to shake the hook. (The video, best viewed with sound, contains mild profanity.)

Guide Yves Bisson described the Aug. 1 battle as “insane” and told FTW Outdoors that the sturgeon’s splashdown soaked the anglers and the fish “almost landed in the boat.”

It was the second time in three weeks that a white sturgeon measuring nearly 10 feet propelled so much of its body out of the water during a Yves Bisson Sturgeon Co. charter.

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Zdebiak’s husband, Rob, hooked another giant sturgeon at the same time. Bisson, however, focused his camera on Steevie and her fish.

“All heck broke loose,” he said. “It was crazy that we hooked two at once that size and landed them. Both were over 300 pounds and one was over 8 feet, and the other over 9 feet.”

Both fish were carefully released.

White sturgeon can measure 12-plus feet and weigh more than 1,000 pounds. The fish date to prehistoric times and have been described as “living dinosaurs.”

‘All heck breaks loose’ as husband, wife battle massive sturgeon

A woman fishing last week on the Fraser River outside of Vancouver, Canada, hooked a 9-foot sturgeon whose mighty leap was caught on video.

A woman fishing last week on the Fraser River outside of Vancouver, Canada, hooked a 9-foot sturgeon whose mighty leap was caught on video.

In the accompanying footage (best viewed with sound), Steevie Zdebiak, while struggling against the weight of the massive fish, laughs in disbelief as the sturgeon leaps almost clear of the surface.

Guide Yves Bisson described the Aug. 1 outing as “insane” and told FTW Outdoors that the sturgeon’s splashdown soaked the anglers and the fish “almost landed in the boat.”

Perhaps as remarkable was that Zdebiak’s husband, Rob, hooked a different sturgeon of similar size at the same time so two epic fights involving  prehistoric-looking “river monsters” occurred simultaneously.

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“All heck broke loose,” Bisson, owner of Yves Bisson Sturgeon Co., said. “It was crazy that we hooked two at once that size and landed them. Both were over 300 pounds and one was over 8 feet, and the other over 9 feet.”

Only Steevie jumped in to pose with the sturgeon before they were unhooked and allowed to swim free. (White sturgeon cannot be harvested on the Lower Fraser River).

White sturgeon can measure 12-plus feet and weigh more than 1,000 pounds. The fish date to prehistoric times and have been described as “living dinosaurs.”

 

Watch: Giant sturgeon leaps from river as angler watches in awe

The crew of a sportfishing charter in British Columbia, Canada, has recorded the epic moment when a 9-foot sturgeon leaps clear of the water while a visibly weary angler clutches his fishing rod while watching in awe.

The crew of a sportfishing charter in British Columbia, Canada, has recorded the epic moment a 9-foot sturgeon leaps clear of the water while an exhausted angler watches in disbelief.

Yves Bisson, who runs Yves Bisson Sturgeon Co., told ABC 6 that the 350-pound sturgeon was caught July 16 on the Fraser River near Chilliwack, and that one point “it almost landed in the boat.”

Bisson, who shared the video on Instagram, estimated the sturgeon to be at least 50 years old and described the catch as “a fish of a lifetime.”

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Bisson tagged and released the sturgeon after taking measurements. His website explains that anglers become “directly involved” with a long-standing sturgeon research program during his excursions.

Bisson had not responded to inquiries by FTW Outdoors at the time of this post.

White sturgeon can exceed 15 feet and weigh more than 1,000 pounds. The fish date to prehistoric times and have been described as “living dinosaurs.”