August 24th the much needed five week holiday began. First stop, Fraser River Fishing Lodge in Agassiz BC to test the biceps tuggin’ and warin’ with some white sturgeon.

This was a different kind of trip. Back in 2004 after returning from FRFL I posted the fishing report at Fish-Hawk.net to online friends. Before I knew it, there was interest from a few to plan a new trip. Speaking with FRFL’s owner and operator Frank Staiger the man was all too accommodating of a request for a 2007 group to fish the Fraser.

Nearly three years had to go by in the meantime. The process of organizing and promoting was… needless to say… interesting. It didn’t come without a few road bumps, but in the end it worked out perfectly for a group of seven committed and eager anglers. I will be sure right now to thank Simon, Dean, Chris, Diane, Hoss and Scotty for taking a chance by trusting my word, standing by and sticking with the plan, and finally joining in on what was a truly remarkable experience for us all. Thank you all

Anyway, getting to BC was getting to BC and come Sunday evening August 26th, the seven of us rested our feet under the majestic views of mountains bordering the Fraser River valley.

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The lucky gang of seven easily moulded into a solid and respectful group. It was quickly realized that all of us were in for a great time. The lodge is one stunning world class facility, the beers on tap are mint, the food… as I remembered… amazing, the staff all smiles, the atmosphere rich. Fishing being the only uncontrollable variable, without it, everything makes the grade the minute you arrive.

Simon, Dean, Chris, Me, Hoss, Diane and Scotty.

After a dinner of corn & potato chowder, skewered bison with breaded caramelized onions, a cucumber-tomato-strawberry-feta-shrimp salad, the best ribs and double baked potatoes ever, and finally chocolate volcano cake, with the fullest of bellies we retired for the night.

Wiping the cobwebs from our eyes next morning, bison and anglers grazed before all anglers made our way out to fish the first day of sturgeon. The launch just a fve minute walk from our rooms we were in the jetboats in no time.

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Didn’t take too long at all really, only 30+ months.

Feeeeeeesh ON!!!

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There is no fresh water fish by comparison. Anyone who has fished sturgeon can attest to their unparalleled strength. These fish can dog like lakers, peel like salmon, headshake like steroidal eyes but best of all leap like… well like sturgeon.

A number of first and great fish were caught on day one by the group. My order in this report may get a little mixed but the thing of it is, they were caught.

Chris with his first… a 48 incher.

Dean with 69 inches of great white. Monster tugger. Dean had lost a fish of 8+ feet early one morning after a long and tiring battle. Fish jumped and spit the single barbless hook right at him.

Scotty with a runt… his long lost brother. Haha… dig.

Hoss finds a nut bigger than his own.

Diane gives hugs to her second fish. She caught the smallest sturgeon ever day one then makes up for it with this 6 footer.

My first fish ties a personal best at 6 feet. Had to be the hulk and pick this brat up.

End of day one back at the lodge we all had a bite to eat. The bison had grass while we enjoyed a buffet of traditional open fire smoked salmon, bear kabobs, jumbo garlic shrimp, ribeye steaks, corn on the cob and peach cobbler. After that it was into the chairs to digest what an amazing day it had all been.

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Next morning our friends were up and out of bed. We found them through the fog to say “see ya” before heading back out for more sturg.

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When the fog cleared the sturgeonionees found us too. Tap, tap, tap on the tip.

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ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE. (actually, it broke loose for some of us for the next two days. I’ll keep this report rolling with the pics in fast forward)
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Simon with his seasoned trigger finger perfected the sturgeon jump shots. They were easily the best action pictures of the trip. Kudos dood.

This time, the fish jumping and thrashing were not so easily lost. Our Super 7 won the lotto. Here’s some of the winnings.

The Scotty Rocket.

Simon with a phat 81″ Cadillac.

Simon launches this torpedo back into reproduction anutha day.

Picked up a PB 73″ of my own.

Then, Diane unleashes her inner beast and from the back of the jet boat drives 130 pound test with a fury. A 90″ beautiful lady white sturg after a long fight taps out exhausted from it’s time in the ring with Diane. Our lady takes top honors and wins the championship belt with this victory and fish.

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But it wasn’t over yet. We had some eating to do back at the lodge. Garlic scallops wrapped in smoked sockeye with maple nut sauce, skewered shrimp caesar salad, baked halibut, shrimp and scallop crab cakes, oysters, salmon chowder and a few other tasties, it wasn’t McDonalds at the lodge, that’s for sure.

A wilderness fishing trip deep into the mountains up the Pitt River was next in the plans. Our gang was ready, as per usual.

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A jet boat up the Pitt wasn’t in the cards as the waters were just too low. Our guide Harry had a back up plan though, and so once crossing Pitt Lake we took to his vehicle and made our way up the areas logging roads.

The Pitt River area was breathtaking. Dolly varden, bull and cutthroat trout and sockeye were up in the pools eating or mating. Scotty and I ended up walking about six kilometers of the river just because. Everyone caught some smaller fish but the season was just not ripe yet for the Pitt. We were between runs of salmon with the exception of the non-biting sockeye. Well, all non-biting except for one Chris managed to catch.

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Even though the fishing proved tough, I don’t think there could be any worse places on earth to deal with that.

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Later back at the lodge it was steaks and spuds… but I think you can imagine how perfect those steaks and spuds were done.

To sleep under the setting sun.

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Our last day of fishing was another fun day. The salmon on the Fraser had actually been closed to angling all week but finally opened on our last day. So as a complete group we together took to some bar fishing for chinooks.

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The fishing didn’t disappoint, and neither did the company. In fact, we all nailed a salmon of our own with Scotty getting his in the final minutes to fully and completely finish the day.

Lost my shoe, then this fish too. Haha.

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A great day.

Back at the lodge the chef had prepared lamb for us. Had made the request a few days earlier and was sure glad I did. Another great meal by our gracious hosts at FRFL.

Early the following morning we said our goodbye.

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There are some things in life if you don’t do ’em you will surely regret it later on. And so for many a die hard anglers out there, not catching a sturgeon would certainly be one of those things. Thanks to the 2007 BC Gang for holding on for years and finally making this happen, and to Frank and Fraser River Lodge for our wonderful experience.

Bunk.
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