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[frozensalmon]

Richmond part fraser river
floating around shore

[silver ghost]

ahhh son of a bitch. this is why i DONT fish for sturgeon. yes they are a big cool looking make you a hero-type fish, but they don't always recover - this is likely what happened to the poor bugger. If you want to conserve somethine...avoid catching it! duh! did it have a big circle hook in its mouth? probably.

pictures/talk of thompson steelies, interior coho, sturgeon "kill and release" really angers me, I want to punch holes in the wall because there's nothing I can really do to help the situation. ****.

[alwaysfishn]

Let's not get carried away here....   Fish die of diseases, natural causes and old age. On the other hand maybe it did die after being stressed because of being caught by a fisherman.

It would be hard to be a fisherman if you weren't allowed to catch anything! Your name seems to imply that you probably like catching fish as well..  There are risks with our sport. If the risks are all removed there would no longer be a sport.

[frozensalmon]

I don't know what happened to the sturgeon but it seems like it doesn't have any injury around the body, i just saw it floating around the shore

[1son]

wussup with all these dead fish floating around lately seen like 30 dead salmon looked to be sockeye on the fraser the past 2 days and now sturgeon something mysterious is going on what gives is there something wrong with the water temperature or natural causes

[clarki]

wussup with all these dead fish floating around lately seen like 30 dead salmon looked to be sockeye on the fraser the past 2 days and now sturgeon something mysterious is going on what gives is there something wrong with the water temperature or natural causes

There are a good number of dead pinks floating downstream from the mouth of the Harrison. The FN are commercially fishing pinks, targetting the females for the roe for the overseas market. The bucks are released; some don't make it...

[alwaysfishn]

There are a lot of unspawned Harrison sockeye floating down the river as well.

[UFC]

I was at the Harrison on Friday. There were literally hundreds of dead salmon floating downstream and/or washed up on shore. Most looked like pinks, but quite a few looked to be sockeye in relatively good shape, so we weren't sure if they were because of nets, or something else.

[buckjr]

Wow Fishhunter! First thing you need to do to help this situation is to educate yourself on the facts surrounding the Fraser River sturgeon fishery, instead of making outlandish comments like you have.

As mentioned, this sturgeon could have died from a variety of scenarios. Thankfully, through scientific evidence, supported by the over 45,000 sturgeon tagged and released we know that the mortality rate of catch and release sturgeon fishing is virtually nil. Thus why we still have a fishery for them. There is so much data indicating the multiple recapture of fish over many years. These fish are strong, and very hearty, it takes ALOT to affect them in such a way to kill them.

As for the fish floating down the Harrison, most of the bright sockeye seen dead are affected by a parasite that affects their kidneys. They die prior to spawning and they generally appear in good health otherwise. This is seen on most years in the Harrison. As also said, the FN "release" the males as they are of no commercial value to them. There tends to be a high mortality rate with these "released" males.

[silver ghost]

Oh. I stand corrected.

But There still exist some morts, ive seen a dead sturgeon wrapped in 150lb line belly up with jaw ripped open by circle hook once...

[Dogbreath]

If you want to conserve somethine...avoid catching it! duh! did it have a big circle hook in its mouth? probably.

But There still exist some morts, ive seen a dead sturgeon wrapped in 150lb line belly up with jaw ripped open by circle hook once...

FWIW-I've been fishing the Fraser since the early 70's & have chased Sturgeon from Vancouver to Chilliwack and have never ever seen anyone use a circle hook for Sturgeon-J hooks work just fine and are easier to remove.

Also-This Just In-sport fishing is a blood sport-even with C&R-and as the old saying goes if you can't take the heat get out of the kitchen.

I actually know someone who stopped guiding out of Campbell River years ago because he didn't like using live bait it seemed the Herring squirmed too much while hooked.

IIRC he took up flyfishing to console his conscience.

[blaydRnr]

it always seems there are more dead fish floating the river when big runs of salmon are being targeted by commercial and fn fishermen...chances are this fish was caught up in someone's net and drowned.

[rjs]

hhhhmm, I wonder if it was the same 1 I saw Sat near alex Fraser bridge ?

[shuswapsteve]

Wow Fishhunter! First thing you need to do to help this situation is to educate yourself on the facts surrounding the Fraser River sturgeon fishery, instead of making outlandish comments like you have.

As mentioned, this sturgeon could have died from a variety of scenarios. Thankfully, through scientific evidence, supported by the over 45,000 sturgeon tagged and released we know that the mortality rate of catch and release sturgeon fishing is virtually nil. Thus why we still have a fishery for them. There is so much data indicating the multiple recapture of fish over many years. These fish are strong, and very hearty, it takes ALOT to affect them in such a way to kill them.

As for the fish floating down the Harrison, most of the bright sockeye seen dead are affected by a parasite that affects their kidneys. They die prior to spawning and they generally appear in good health otherwise. This is seen on most years in the Harrison. As also said, the FN "release" the males as they are of no commercial value to them. There tends to be a high mortality rate with these "released" males.

Good post.  Nice to hear from knowledgeable folks.

[zabber]

did it have a big circle hook in its mouth? probably.

Don't circle hooks lower fish mortality? Or is that just in species such as salmon and trout (i.e. fish with "lips")?

there's nothing I can really do to help the situation. ****.

You can't be the only one out there with these concerns; maybe get a group together and do some lobbying. or... I'm sure you guys could think of something if you put your mind to it

hhhhmm, I wonder if it was the same 1 I saw Sat near alex Fraser bridge ?

Hopefully!