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[greese30]

Ok I'll admit it. I'm a solo sturgeon chaser. Just me and my little tin boat. To date my best is a 7' -er... But that was with a friend that day. This evening I hooked into a LARGE sturgeon. It gave me a beautiful display right close to the boat and I am confident this fish was substantially larger than my previous best. Problem is within a couple fighting minutes the fish decided to head for Vancouver - I live in chilliwack - so I'm trying to hold my rod between my legs while its peeling line and the reel is singing and I am trying to pull in the anchor. Simple right?  But alas the anchor is a little stuck and I have no way to chase th fish now. My anchor system does not allow me to throw over a buoy and chase.  My options were to let all 100' of rope slide through my pulley system and leave it stringing in the current (likely never to retrieve and only be a snagging nuisance for future anglers) or likely lose the fish. Try as I might I could not get the anchor off - the fish had me to within a couple yards on the spool. I thumbed it tighter yet but who's fooling who - I was no turning that bad boy tonight.

So can anybody please send me a pic of the proper setup for allowing the "throw buoy out -anchor stays in place - boat is free to chase the fish" concept?  A picture, an explanation....anything would be appreciated.

I say it's lost a fish of a lifetime because that is what I'm feeling right now. I question whether I will ever be fortunate enough to hook another behemoth so large ...but in case I do I want to be sure I can quickly chase without anchor issues.

Thanks for the help.

[sumasriver]

Sorry to hear. Sounds like some real excitement and still a  great story.

I also hooked into my largest sturgeon today in your neighbourhood.  Alas, i only had 10lb mono on my 6-12 lb shimano Clarus rod.

My fight did not last as long as yours but my sturgeon also came out of the water. Head first like in the jaws movie. It was beast sized as well.

Beautiful monsters of the river.

[firstlight]

You need to use a clam cleat and not run line through a pulley.
Or even a quick knot and then a buoy tied onto the end of the rope.
Is a good system and not only for chasing fish.
Turned around one time and a huge log was coming at us fast so just undid the line and threw it all over and I was free to go.
Moved out of the way,luckily tree didn't catch the rope and then went and grabbed rope/buoy and right back to fishing.

[greese30]

Of course!  That makes total sense. Now when guys are doing that type of drop - throw the buoy in with all rope - how muh rope are guys throwing in?  I guess the real question is how long of anchor rope do guys typically have/use on the fraser.

[Ian Forbes]

Of course!  That makes total sense. Now when guys are doing that type of drop - throw the buoy in with all rope - how muh rope are guys throwing in?  I guess the real question is how long of anchor rope do guys typically have/use on the fraser.

Length of rope depends on current speed and depth of water. Going after sturgeon on the Fraser by yourself is a gamble at best. You have to expect to lose the real large ones. I've seen 4 big guys play one huge sturgeon for over an hour before it finally snagged them around an anchored log boom and broke off. Each guy took a turn on the rod and nobody could stop the fish or even slow it down. One man alone in a small boat is hopelessly over matched. It is like going after Chinook salmon with a 2 weight fly rod and a 5x tippet.