An Awesome BIG Fish Story!

Thomas last visited us 4 years ago with a few buddies, where we experienced some great sturgeon fishing. This year, he felt it was time for a repeat trip.  He spent some time travelling in the USA prior to finishing up his travels by booking 2 days of sturgeon fishing on the Fraser River in early October.

He originally planned the fishing trip with his best friend, but about a month before the trip, we received notice that his fishing partner unexpectedly passed away.  For most, such a sad event would be enough to cancel the trip, but Thomas is one of the most upbeat, positive and excitable people you will ever meet. Nothing was going to stop him from coming over to have another crack at some big sturgeon.

We had 2 days to spend together. The first day, we fished the lower river, where we had some great action. Having only 2 rods, we managed to bring 12 sturgeon to the boat, but nothing bigger than 5ft. The second day was scheduled for the Fraser Canyon. I tried to discourage him from fishing the canyon as the previous trip yielded poor results with only 3 fish to the boat and the fishing was really heating up in the lower stretches.  Thomas, however, was set on seeing this beautiful part of the river and wanted to experience what it had to offer. I thought it would be a wasted day, but man, was I ever wrong.

The morning came and the valley was socked in with thick fog. We left east for Hope.  Time passed by quickly as we exchanged stories. Thomas told me he felt good and that he was feeling lucky.  Approximately 5 minutes outside of Hope, the skies started clearing up and we were looking at nothing but sun….wow, was this a sign of things to come? We launched and headed up river through the sunny and scenic river valley.

We stopped into the first spot and within 10 minutes, we were into a nice 5 footer…great start to the day. We missed a few more bites and landed one more really small fish.  I felt it was time to change places, so we proceeded further upstream. We set up again, and within 15 minutes, it was game on.  Thomas set the hook into what looked like a heavier fish, but we didn’t know what was at the end of the line until a few seconds later, when the entire fish busted right out of the water.  Wow, what a sight! The fish was of massive proportions and it was time to get serious.

Thomas is a great angler, so I knew that we had very good chances of landing this fish if it didn’t find any snags and if the tackle withstood the punishment.  Thomas stayed solo on the rod for the entire fight, less 5 minutes when he took a short break to shed off some warm layers and to give the arms a break. 40 minutes after the hook set, we had the amazing fish on shore….a true Canyon trophy measuring at 9’9” and in excess of 500lbs. We got a couple more nice fish, but our mission was already accomplished.

Awesome fish Thomas!….well done and you deserve that one. Your best friend must have been looking down upon you on that day. The day couldn’t have worked out any better.