July 6, 2015 – Keegan Rothman of Northfield, NJ has quite a bit of onwater experience as a saltwater angler. He’s caught cobia and jack crevalle in Florida, 120-pound Ixtapan sailfish in the Mexican state of Guerrero, along with a fair share of fluke, striped bass and bluefish around South Jersey.
Keegan’s got a couple of double-digit tautog under his belt, and back in the summer of 2013 he fought and landed a pair of sheepshead about 4 miles east of Great Egg Inlet that went 11.79 and 11.2 pounds respectfully that were tackled on 15-pound test line. He’s also taken a few local contests, including earning special prizes in New Jersey’s Beach N’ Boat Fishing Challenge as well as the Atlantic City Press Fishing Contest.
Not too shabby for a kid who just turned 9 years old.
Today, the South Jersey youth is making international headlines for yet another fishing accomplishment, the landing and release of an estimated 600-pound, 10-foot long Great White sturgeon on the Fraser River while fishing with Great River Fishing Adventures in British Columbia.
Just another day, and another fish; his dad Dan Rothman is obviously proud, though not entirely shocked.
“It’s not like we fish once a month, Keegan’s on the boat with me all the time,” the elder Rothman told me. “He’s probably fished over 1,000 times, and when he’s not fishing on the boat, he’s fishing at the dock for bait. He’s fishing nuts!”
The story of Keegan Rothman and his epic catch begins in school. Earlier this year, he asked his parents what he would receive as an award for finishing third grade with all ‘A’s. Dad asked what it was that he would want for such an academic accomplishment. “During the school year he was studying living dinosaurs, and Keegan said he wanted to catch one,” Dan said. “He said ‘there’s a crocodile, and then there’s the sturgeon’, and I knew we’d probably get into trouble going after crocodiles,” dad laughed.
Sturgeon it was.
Dad hooked up with Matt Clive and fishing guide Ben Trainer out of Chilliwack, British Columbia, flying in from Atlantic City for a June 29th charter on the Fraser River. The 4-foot-tall Keegan felt the hit in the afternoon and fought the monster sturgeon for nearly two hours on 150-pound braid.
“My kid was covered in sweat, it looked like he just ran the Boston Marathon,” Dan said. Dad said the fish breached three times, and noted how “it looked like a great white shark with that white underbelly.” But the fight itself wasn’t just boy against fish, as nature almost got the upper hand when the sturgeon found its way to a partially submerged log. With the fish hung up in the driftwood, it appeared imminent that Keegan could lose the fish. Capt. Trainer dropped anchor, dislodging the wood which drove the sturgeon back into the depths with Keegan holding on for dear life.
“I went from elated to wanting to hang myself to being elated again,” Dan said of the ongoing battle. As the fish tired, Trainer angled the boat towards shore, and young Keegan was able to jump from the boat to leader and then release the prehistoric monster.
“It is the most excitement I’ve ever had with a fish. It was so hard to hold onto the rod. I thought the fish was going to pull me into the water,” Keegan told the Canadian press. “I’ll never forget this – this is the best trip of my life!”
Upon releasing the fish in the shallows, Keegan gently grabbed the tail and helped the fish swim away. Strangely, almost purposely, the 600-pound sturgeon slowly circled and swam back towards the 9-year-old with the steely nerves. “You wanna go or you wanna stay,” Keegan can be heard asking the fish on YouTube video as it swims towards him in the shallow water, before calmly guiding the fish back into the depths of the Fraser River with a hearty slap of the sturgeon’s tale, almost appreciatively if not out of respect.
Capt. Trainer himself said the young Jersey boy deserved a great deal of respect for such a capable fight.
“I’ve been a professional fishing guide on the Fraser for 11 years and have fished these rivers my whole life. This is one of my largest fish I have helped a client catch,” he told the Canadian newspapers. “We have helped to collectively tag more than 61,000 white sturgeon since 1995, and scanned an excess of 122,000 tagged sturgeon, which have been caught and released. With the size of this fish, I’d bet its over 75 years old.”
After their day on the water, with Dan pretty bushed, Keegan wanted to do one of his regular post-fishing trip traditions – he wanted to learn more about his quarry, with a visit to the local aquarium.
“He comes home and studies books when we’re done fishing for the day, he always wants to learn more about what we’ve caught,” Dan said. “I think he wants to be a marine biologist.”
For now, the 9-year-old Northfield kid with an extensive logbook of fishing exploits with various weights and sizes recorded throughout can probably be found tossing lures from the back deck of his family’s home, casting dog toys to his German shepherds – that is, until the next time dad’s able to cast off lines to head out for some local Jersey action with his favorite fishing partner.
“I love the sturgeon, but it wasn’t on my boat,” Dan said of their recent trip. “Mostly I’m just a good fishing mate for my son, I’m good at netting his fish and cutting the bait,” he added.
Click here to see video at YouTube of Keegan’s impressive catch.
