EX-NHLER Peeters and friends reel in 111/2-foot-long sturgeon
All week, Pete Peeters had been joking to his fishing guide that he had made people famous.
The former National Hockey League goalie won the Vezina Trophy as the league's best goaltender in 1982-83 with the Boston Bruins, but prefers to make note of goals he gave up to Mario Lemieux or to Wayne Gretzky.
Lemieux scored his first NHL goal on Peeters, while Gretzky scored goals 46, 47, 48 and 49 in his 39th game of the 1981-82 season, when Peeters was a Philadelphia Flyer. The Great One scored goal No. 50 in the same game — setting a record that is likely never to be matched — but into an empty net.
“And then he said, `Now I've made you famous,'” Kevin Estrada explained with a laugh this week.
Estrada is a fishing guide — Sturgeon Slayers is his company — and earlier this month had Peeters and a group of friends out on the Fraser River, north of Chilliwack, when the group snagged something special: A sturgeon bigger than anything that's been measured in modern history.
The fish's fork-length was a B.C. record: 352 cm (or 11 feet, six inches). Its girth was 141 cm (55 inches) and was estimated to weigh 890 pounds. Other recent claims to similar sizes have been dismissed upon further review, Estrada said.
“I couldn't fathom how big these fish were,” Peeters said from his home in Alberta. “Even when the fish came up, it was hard to believe.”
The retired goalie lives in — if you can believe it — Sturgeon County, just north of Edmonton. A remarkable coincidence, though Peeters notes the area is better known for trout fishing.
Also on the boat were Jake Driedger, who traded off on the rod with Peeters to reel in the giant, as well as Barry and Bryant Bowtell. All four men are from Alberta.
“Canadians like them have kept our small business alive during COVID and we are very appreciative of all our resident Canadians who have helped us crawl through this,” Estrada said.
The measurements were confirmed by another guide, Steve Forde of Reel Sturgeon Adventures. And Estrada said he had been in touch with the Guinness World Records people as he believed it was a likely world record, too.
“Very rarely do you see something that is this big, over 11 feet,” Estrada told Postmedia. “Something this big could take well over 100 years to get to this size. It's a lifetime moment. It's hard to put into words.”
It took about 25 minutes for the group to reel in the sturgeon. Sturgeon bigger than 150 cm ( just under five feet) don't get lifted out of the water, but anglers are allowed to hold and pose with the fish in the water.
“It wasn't slimy like the trout we have out here ... it felt like a damp snake,” Peeters said.
Peeters' group actually got a special bonus, Estrada said.
“We were actually in some clear water so we got to see the whole fish,” he said. “You don't often get to see them in their full glory ... it was magnificent to see. I had tears in my eyes. I've been fishing this river since I was 15 years old ... We've had some spectacular fish, some very memorable fish over the years, but never anything this big.”