FOLLOWING last week's shock discovery of a young sterlet in Chapman's Pond, Woodthorpe, another York angler has been in touch with the Evening Press about his own experiences with sturgeon.

Ray Robson, of Barlby, near Selby, has landed a considerable number of the rare fish, of which the saltwater breeds are protected by a royal decree.

He told the Evening Press: "I was very interested in the article about the capture of a sterlet in a pond in York though I must disagree with one of the facts you wrote about.

"The fact I have to disagree with is that it is stated that on average there are six landed each year but I have landed six in a week and my pal and I once had eight in a weekend between us."

He continued: "In 1999, I fished a match at a water called Hunters Lodge near East Grinstead in Surrey.

"The owner of this two-acre lake told me later that there were ten sturgeon in the lake that had been illegally stocked many years before but he thought they must have died off as none had ever been caught.

"This intrigued me, and, after giving it some thought I decided I could waste a day chasing ghosts so I and a friend were back the next day.

"Because the water was heaving with roach, everyone fished with maggot, caster, bread or sweetcorn and I didn't think they were baits that would entice sturgeon and maybe that was why nobody had landed one, so I took some luncheon meat and liver.

"My meat was only in the water for ten minutes when the tip pulled around and I knew immediately this was no roach. After five explosive minutes, I was admiring a beautiful 6lb sturgeon."

Robson has found raw liver to be an ideal bait for the bottom-dwelling creatures, especially on a square-inch hair rigged on an eight hook, dropped into the deepest water around - tactics which have also yielded a 34lb catfish -- and his biggest sturgeon was a 14-pounder.

Updated: 10:15 Wednesday, July 14, 2004