A fishing guide got more than he bargained for when he reeled in a colossal - but friendly - sturgeon in a Canadian river recently. Take a look at the astonishing moment below:
This incredible moment was caught on camera by Yves Bisson's fishing partner and was posted on TikTok where it quickly went viral.
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Bisson, who describes himself as a 'sturgeon guide', says that it was 'one of the largest I’ve ever seen' in the video that has amassed over 36 million views in the last week.
In the viral clip, Bisson struggles to guide the beast’s head towards the camera, saying: "Check this out, this fish is 10 and a half feet, probably 500, maybe 600lbs,"
Sturgeons, the species of fish which this specimen belongs to, are sometimes called 'living dinosaurs' in reference to their Jurassic-era origins.
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Bisson is an expert on the sturgeon fish that live in Canada’s Fraser River and he reckons that his viral monster catch might have been alive for more than a century.
But thankfully, these sturgeon guides are not interested in killing these aquatic anachronisms.
In accordance with his strict '100 percent catch and release' policy, Bisson and pal Dan Lallier decided to let it swim free after taking a few selfies.
"We were just able to tag it, it has probably never been caught and now we are going to release it back into the river," he explained to USA Today.
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He uses the data he collects from the electronic tags he attaches to the sturgeon to learn more about the species of fish and has estimated that he's caught more that 22,000 sturgeon in his last two decades as a guide.
“They are the strongest freshwater fish in the world and the mortality rate for angling is 0.012 per cent, so basically they never die, and our world-renown tagging program has the data to back all this.
People who watched this fisherman’s once-in-a-lifetime catch online, expressed disbelief that such animals really exist. One commented “nah that’s the basilisk from Harry Potter” while another comment, with 65k likes, simply read: “Immediately no”.
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And this isn’t the only beast of the deep to make an appearance in recent times.
A family out on a fishing trip in New Zealand earlier this year managed to capture some impressive footage of the moment they accidentally hooked a great white shark.
Jason Bragg, his partner and his nephew Andre, were out fishing on the Kaipara Harbour on Boxing Day hoping to catch themselves a couple of fish.
Much like Bisson, they ended up hooking a lot more than they bargained for when a great white shark sailed across their bow.
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And this was another happy ending since their great white shark was eventually able to swim away completely unharmed.
Featured Image Credit: StoryfulTopics: World News, Animals