2 years after catching rare albino sturgeon, B.C. fishing guide lands same fish again

A Fraser Valley fishing guide and his tour group are heading home with one heck of a fish tale.

Jay Grant and his clients from Ukraine managed to bag a 2.3 metre (7.75 foot) albino sturgeon in the Fraser Canyon on Tuesday.

Impressive, certainly, but what makes the story notable is that Grant caught the pure white fish with unusually large nostrils, in the same place, almost two years ago to the day.

“Time to buy a lotto ticket, Jay!” wrote the lodge on its Facebook page, Tuesday.

Lodge owner Frank Staiger said they digitally tag every sturgeon they catch before releasing them, and after scanning the big white fish they realized Grant had previously caught it on July 7, 2017.

“It’s unheard of — we are just absolutely blown away,” said Staiger.

“It seems like he’s hanging out there this time of the year. It could be, of course, that he’s going into the ocean because that size fish, they often go in the ocean, they go up with a herring come down with the salmon.”

WATCH: Calgary fishermen catch massive sturgeon in B.C.

1:34 Calgary fishermen catch massive sturgeon in B.C.

Staiger said the sturgeon’s wide nostrils suggest it was not indigenous to the canyon, where he said sturgeons tend to have a “shovel nose” to help them dig up food.

He said the group scanned the sturgeon’s tag and then released it back into the river.