A man fishing the Fraser River in British Columbia landed a once-in-a-lifetime sturgeon, something nobody in his family had ever seen or caught in the 40-plus years that they’ve been fishing the river: an albino sturgeon. And not just any albino sturgeon, an 11-foot-long albino sturgeon with a girth measuring in at five feet. Think about that for one second: that’s an 11-foot-long fish with a girth that’s twice the length of Wee Man from Jackass.
The Times Colonist reports:
Chilliwack fisherman Chad Helmer caught a large and strangely coloured sturgeon Saturday afternoon in the Fraser River, an experience he described as wicked and unbelievable.
Helmers described the fish as an albino, with white skin and pale yellow markings, instead of a sturgeon s normal grey colouring. Helmer s family has caught thousands of fish on the Fraser River over the last four decades, he said, and never seen an albino sturgeon like this one.
“We’ve never, ever seen one like that before,” Helmer said.
Helmer caught the fish Saturday afternoon after a 2-hour struggle, he said, then he measured it, posed for a few photos with it and released it.
Helmers said he measured its length at more than 11 feet, and its girth at around five feet. Sturgeon measuring more than 12 feet have been caught in the Fraser River in recent years.
Shout out to ‘Chilliwack’ for being a thing or place that exists. I’ve never heard that name before but I’m pretty sure that’s what I’m going to start calling my bowel movements from now on. As for Chat Helmer’s once-in-a-lifetime fish I have to say that I’m both incredibly jealous and impressed. I’ve yet to catch a sturgeon of my own, and it’s definitely a bucket list fish for me.
For more on this rare catch you can click on over to the Times Colonist and/or Field & Stream! I’d also like to send a shout out to my fellow editor Matt Birl for tipping me off to this rare albino sturgeon being caught!