Anglers hook over 100 year old fish

[Lee Borgersen]

 
Nick Calleya and George Carstairs with their 10-foot catch in the Fraser River in Chilliwack, Canada. Locals say there are even bigger fish in there!

Two British anglers waded waist deep into a river to land a 100-year-old monster fish weighing over 35 stone - after battling with it for over an hour.

Nick Calleya, 36, from Cubert in Cornwall and George Carstairs from Scotland landed the 500lb white Sturgeon while angling from a boat in the Fraser River in British Columbia in Canada.

The 10ft-long giant was snared using a rod and line with salmon eggs as bait.


Mr Calleya said: "We hooked on to it and it shot off.

"The boat was anchored so we quickly pulled it up and sped after it.

"George is quite a small guy so I had to grab him and hold him down because the fish was lifting him off his seat."

The pair grappled with the massive fish for over an hour, taking turns to hold the rod when their tired arms threatened to let their prey escape.

All the time, their fishing guide was at the controls of their jet boat trying to keep pace with the fish.

"We were constantly going up and down the river for half a mile or so," Mr Calleya said.

"Every now and then, the line would go dead and the fish would come back and zoom upstream.

"We managed to take it into a shallow spot further down stream and George jumped out and lassoed its tail and held it."

With the giant finally tamed, the two friends took pictures and captured their catch on video.

Their guide then microchipped the fish as part of a conservation research project before releasing it back into the river.

Mr Calleya said: "The guide said it was the best part of 100 years old.

"Although there are much bigger monsters in the river, he said it was the biggest one he had seen for more than a year."

The two friends spent a week fishing on the Fraser River, at Chilliwack, south of Vancouver.

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[Super Star!]

wow

[Randy Kaar]

that is one ugly fish!

randy aka bh

[Outdoors Junkie]

What a monster!  I would be scared to go swimming in that water.

[rchaze60]

now thats a great pacific northwest white sturgeon  awwww the days of catching those  it is awesome to hook into one of those beasts i have caught a few of those monsters in my time the columbia river has them too