Tag: river monster

Angler catches a ‘river monster’ from the River of Death

An angler landed a prehistoric fish that has survived in the nasty waters of the Trinity River near Dallas, unlike other fish species.

Fisherman Alberto Flores stated he was “chasing river monsters” and managed to hook one Sunday near Dallas in the West Fork of the Trinity River, also referred to as the River of Death.

Flores landed a 5-foot-plus alligator gar, a prehistoric fish that has survived in the nasty waters of the Trinity, unlike other fish species.

The Trinity River is so polluted it earned the “River of Death” nickname because more than 1 million fish have died in its waters over a 15-year period, as reported by Chron.

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“Decades of pollution and mass death of other species have yet to vanquish this uniquely ancient and resilient fish,” Chron stated.

Flores posted video of his catch on TikTok. (Note: The video doesn’t appear on some media platforms, in which case you’ll need to go to the link to view it.)

@albertoflores5264

Chasing river monsters 🦖🔥🔥🔥 check out the “Fishin is my addiction”Angler Fever dry fit t-shirt💧💧💧#fyp #anglerfever #fishtok #outdoors #alligatorgar #fishing #pescando #dallas #tx #letemgoletemgrow #madkatz

♬ original sound – albertoflores5264

“This girl put up a beautiful fight, beautiful fish,” Flores said in the video. “I think she’s ready to go back, so we’re going to get her back into the water.”

He carried the alligator gar to the edge of the dirty river, put it down on the bank and the fish slithered its way back home.

One commenter on TikTok asked Flores, “That’s good eating, why did you put it back in?”

His reply: “We don’t eat fish out of the Trinity 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.

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.”

 

Rare catch made of 240-pound ‘real life river monster’ hatched in 1920

A crew from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service caught what it described as one of the largest lake sturgeon ever recorded in the U.S.

A crew from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service caught what it described as a “real life river monster,” a lake sturgeon that weighed 240 pounds and measured 6 feet, 10 inches with a 4-foot girth.

It is one of the largest lake sturgeon ever recorded in the U.S., and it was landed by the Detroit River native species crew from the Alpena Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office, as reported on Facebook on Friday.

“Based on its girth and size, it is assumed to be a female and that she has been roaming our waters over 100 years,” AFWCO wrote. “So, she likely hatched in the Detroit River around 1920 when Detroit became the 4th largest city in America.”

The fish was caught April 22 by the crew in a boat near Grosse Ile, Mich., on the Detroit River, which runs between Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie.

“We’re trying to protect this fishery,” Justin Chiotti, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist, told the Detroit Free Press. “Everybody is always catching a huge sturgeon. Everybody catches a 100-pounder. But a fish this size, is very, very rare to catch.”

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The crew of scientists—Paige Wigren, Jennifer Johnson and Jason Fischer—had been fishing a while without luck when Fischer felt a tug on one of the lines and told the others, “There’s a fish coming up.” Wigren grabbed the net.

After five or six minutes of trying, they finally got it into the net, though they weren’t sure they’d be able to haul it into the boat.

“It took all three of us to heave her over the side of the boat,” Wigren told the Free Press. “And just for reference, the largest fish Jenny and I have seen [previously] was 123 pounds.”

A photo of the fish lying next to the 5-foot-6 Johnson was taken after the three had measured and tagged the fish with a chip similar to what people use in pets. They then released it back into the water.

Chiotti told the Free Press that they don’t know the exact age of the fish, but one that size is likely 100 years old or older, “and I think that’s a minimum estimate, but I didn’t want to get too crazy.”

The largest lake sturgeon on record is 310 pounds, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Chiotti estimated that there are only 30,000 lake sturgeon remaining with 6,500 swimming in the Detroit River system and said fishing surveys help provide vital scientific data to protect and hopefully restore fish populations.

Photos of the lake sturgeon next to Johnson and the lake sturgeon illustration courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

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