About Harrison Hot Springs
Harrison Hot Springs sits at the south end of Harrison Lake, about 90 minutes east of Vancouver, where the Fraser Valley meets the mountains. The Sts'ailes First Nation knew this as a healing place for thousands of years before settlers "discovered" the hot mineral waters in 1858. Today it's a small resort village built around those same natural hot springs — a perfect basecamp for a day (or a week) chasing sturgeon on the Harrison and Fraser Rivers, then soaking it off before dinner. Between the lake, the mountains, and the mineral pools, it's easy to see why anglers keep coming back long after the fish are boated.
Fishing On The River
Fraser River
Our mighty Fraser River offers both the world’s largest salmon return and its last healthy, wild sturgeon stock!
About Fraser River White Sturgeon
PREHISTORIC BEASTS
The white sturgeon is about as close to fishing for a dinosaur as it gets — the species has barely changed in over 100 million years. The Fraser River is home to the healthiest wild population left anywhere, with fish reaching well over 12 feet and 1,000+ pounds, and some individuals over a century old. Because of that, every white sturgeon caught in BC is strictly catch-and-release — we handle, measure, tag, and release every fish we land, which is exactly how a fishery like this stays this good for this long.
Fun Facts
- Sturgeon can grow over 3,000lbs, the largest on record was a female beluga sturgeon at 23' 7" long and 3,463 lbs.
- Sturgeon have been around for about 200 million years.
- Sturgeon are North America's biggest freshwater fish.
- Sturgeon can live for over 100 years.
- Sturgeon have no scales and no teeth.
- They take 15-20 years to reach adulthood.
- over 85% of sturgeon species are now at risk of extinction.
- Big sturgeon leap their whole body into the air.
- They have a sixth sense, by detecting faint electrical fields given off by living creatures, they catch prey buried in the mud.
- There are 27 species of sturgeon, all in the family Acipenseridae.
Why BC is Famous for Sturgeon Fishing
Ancient Giants, Modern Adventure
Three things make the Fraser River unmatched for sturgeon: the habitat, the food, and the conservation. The river's mix of deep holes, fast riffles, and slow-moving channels gives sturgeon everything they need at every stage of life. It also carries an enormous volume of sediment and nutrients downstream each year, feeding the salmon runs and prey species sturgeon depend on — the same river that produces the world's largest salmon return also happens to be the last one with a genuinely healthy wild sturgeon stock. On top of that, a tagging program running since 1997 has tracked more than 100,000 fish, making Fraser River white sturgeon one of the most studied fish populations on Earth. The result: consistent, well-managed fishing that isn't going anywhere.
