It took almost two hours, but a small group of fishermen managed to catch and safely release a river monster.

Earlier this month, local guide Walter Togeretz, of Bent Rods fishing adventure,  hooked into a large sturgeon on the Fraser River near Mission.

After a long battle, Togeretz and his guests were finally able to land and record this 鈥渙nce in a lifetime catch鈥�.

The sturgeon measured 11 feet, six inches long with a girth of 65 inches. The approximate weight is more than 800 pounds the sturgeon is believed to be over 100 years old.

According to Togeretz, landing a fish of this size is 鈥渘o small ordeal, the fish peeled off hundreds of yards of line.鈥�

He said it is common for these large fish to find underwater snags where you lose the fish.

鈥淓verything has to be right, from rod power, big reels with plenty of line, very strong hooks and perfect knots not to break off such a large river monster.鈥�