British Columbia's Fraser River, within a span of eight weeks, has produced two white sturgeon weighing an estimated 1,000 pounds or more, the latest by a team of accountants on a team-building adventure.
The first catch, measuring 12 feet, 4 inches and estimated to weigh 1,100 pounds, was on July 20 after a 90-minute struggle. The latest, at 11-8 and 1,000 pounds, was on Sept. 21, after a 50-minute fight.
Crunching the numbers, that's more than 1 ton of of prehistoric-looking river monsters, most likely with a combined age of 250 years or more.
Dr. Marvin Rosenau, a British Columbia Institute of Technology fish expert, told Kent Spencer of The Province: "I saw a 12.5 footer in 1993 which was 138 years old. That's older than Confederation. John A. Macdonald [Canada's first prime minister] had not signed the papers."
White sturgeon are classified as threatened on the lower Fraser. Harvesting them is banned and they appear to have mounted a comeback after nearly being wiped out decades ago.
Both recent catches were made near Chilliwack through Great River Fishing Adventures, then tagged and released after measurements were taken.
In a guide service press release Norman Daley, owner of the accounting firm and credited with hooking the behemoth, said: "In the first few minutes I had it on the line I thought my arms were going to fall off, or I would end up in the river."
Other employees were passed the rod so they could experience the catch, also. Daley added: "There was no way that one person alone was going to get that fish to the boat. It was truly a team effort."
Here's some video showing the result of that team effort:
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