Sturgeon on the Fraser River

I recently graduated from a family practice medical residency program in British Columbia, Canada. The program, like most medical residencies, is pretty intense with very tough call schedules. One day a year, however, the program gives all of the residents the day off in order to "bond" as a group. This, as you can imagine, is a very special and long anticipated day. A lot of thought and planning goes into the activity for the day, wanting to get the biggest bang for our time.

The residency program is located in Chilliwack, B.C., which is well known for its fishing as it has several large river systems surrounding it. Although none of us in the program were avid fishermen, we thought it would be fun to do a fishing trip for our day off. We chartered 3 boats to take the dozen of us out for a day of sturgeon fishing on the great Fraser River.

Now none of use knew much about sturgeon fishing, or how big these fish could get. Sturgeons are known as the dinosaurs of fishing and are native to the waters of British Columbia. They range from 8-11 feet in length and some species can grow to be much larger. They are bottom feeders and so have an odd wedge shaped snout and sensitive barbells to detect small fish and shells from which to feed.

When we arrived bright and early at the bank of the river our guides gave us a bit of an odd look. Most of us were studious looking women who looked like we spent most of our time in the hospital not fishing the river. In my boat were my husband and my two very petite female colleagues. Our guide was very nervous and said he wasn't sure we could handle the fish. He said he had never had such light-weight women sturgeon fishing before. We assured him we were stronger than we looked and he agreed to give it a try.

It turns out he was wrong- we were able to pull in half a dozen beautiful sturgeons (with the help of the guide and my husband- they can really put up a fight). In fact, we landed more than any of the other boats. We had one fish on that was too big to land in the boat. We attempted to land it on shore, but in the process it got away. At the end of the day our guide gave us a big pat on the back and told us how impressed he was with us. It was definitely an experience I will never forget!