Sidney Kozelenko and Braeden Rouse had been on a Vancouver Island fishing trip for a month – but most of their catch actually came after the trip was over.
“We decided to go fishing and obviously our luck was pretty good that weekend,” Kozelenko said.
Throwing a cylinder from a kayak into the Fraser River, Rouse – after about half an hour of racing – wrapped a 2.6-meter-long sturgeon at about 159 kilograms.
Sidney Kozelenko and the great sturgeon were captured and released into the Fraser River in BC. (Commissioned by Sidney Kozelenko)
The housemate, who works today in BC, has been fishing since the age of four.
“It was quite amazing. I do not know how to explain it, but it was definitely unexpected, that’s for sure,” he said.
“I was hoping for a big one, but the way it all works out turned out to be a lot more exciting than I ever expected.”
Kozelenko said they released the fish afterwards and felt humiliated by the experience.
“You do not really realize how big it is and how majestic it is until you are right next to it, especially one so big. It is almost breathtaking,” he said.
The sturgeon population is recovering
Sturgeon are some of the largest fish in the world, said Doug Whiteside, an associate professor of conservation medicine at the University of Calgary School of Veterinary Medicine. The sturgeon that Rose wrapped around was estimated to be about 50 or 60 years old. “During this life, they will really grow to some amazing lengths. There was a sturgeon that was caught … It was over 11 feet and it was believed to be the holder of the world record for freshwater sturgeon,” he said. As sturgeon populations recover from previous overfishing and habitat destruction, larger sturgeons may occur more frequently, Whiteside said. “Historically they have been used extensively for caviar, and that has really led them to overexploitation … but now they are trying to recover as people are more attuned to their situation.” As for Kozelenko and Rouse, they plan to return to the Fraser River to continue fishing. “We will definitely try to break our record whenever we can,” Kozelenko said.
