Sunday, July 22, 2012

British couple catch 12-foot Sturgeon in North America

 

A couple from England just may have caught the biggest fish ever caught in North America, a 12-foot white sturgeon weighing 1,100 pounds.
Michael Snell, 65, and his wife, Margaret from England, caught the gigantic fish during a trip to Chilliwack, British Columbia in Canada.
Margaret held on to her husband during the hour-and-a-half hour long war to bring the fish to shore.

Michael Snell and his wife, Margaret, both of Salisbury, England, reeled in a 12-foot were in the Fraser River area, that's where they caught a five-foot long sturgeon in 2009. 

He tried to reel in the fish, but that battle took 45 minutes before he could even see the top of the fish.

His wife held on to his harness so he wouldn't be pulled into the water during the struggle.
Eventually they managed to get the fish to shore with the help of their guide, Dean Werk.
The fish, a white sturgeon 12 feet, four inches in length and a girth measured at 53 inches.
Michael said, 'It all happened so quickly. When we picked her head up out of the water, it was almost three feet wide. I never knew a fish could be that large.'

'A dinosaur', Dean Werk (left side of the photo) the couple's guide called the fish.
He said it was unlike anything he's seen, saying, 'I've been a professional fishing guide on the Fraser for 25 years and I've never seen a sturgeon this big.'