British Columbia Fishing Blog

Chilliwack Vedder River Cleanup Society has finalized this year’s river clean-up dates with the City of Chilliwack and Fraser Valley Regional District. They are:

• April 20th at the Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve
• July 20th at the Great blue Heron Nature Reserve
• September 29th at the Chilliwack Fish and Games Club

This will be the twelfth year since we started the group. In 2012, participants racked up 2,464 volunteer hours, collecting 5.72 metric tonnes of garbage from the Chilliwack River. This shows the importance of having these clean-ups. Not only are we maintaining the Chilliwack River valley so it is a pristine recreational corridor for all to enjoy, we are also minimizing garbage from being washed into the Pacific Ocean. Please support these three clean-ups once again in 2013.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to be part of a rather fun, or dirty, project on the Alouette River. Students from BCIT were learning the process of collecting chum salmon eggs and milt for the Seymour Salmon Hatchery, and I was invited to document it.

As mentioned in an earlier article, 2012′s Fraser River chum salmon run has been better than average so far. 3 to 3.5 million fish are estimated to make their way into the system by the end of the year. Just the Alouette River alone can see up to 250,000 spawning fish returning. I was blown away by the amount of fish that have reached the counting fence at the hatchery.

Each year, Seymour Salmon Hatchery collects eggs and milt from the Alouette River to boost Seymour River’s chum salmon stock. The run has been poor for many usual reasons, including the existing dam, urbanization and poaching. By transplanting more fish, the hope is to rebuild this run to possibly what it once was.

Here are some photographs. Stay tuned for the video feature!

This past weekend, we decided to put our fishing rods down and attended a very worthy local event in Maple Ridge. On Sunday, at Kanaka Creek, volunteers from Kanaka Education and Environmental Partnership Society (K.E.E.P.S.) displayed salmon that are currently returning to this system at the fish counting fence.

Kanaka Creek is a small river system. Unlike larger systems such as the Chilliwack River, it only sees the return of several hundreds to thousands of salmon each year. Meanders through a rapidly developing part of Metro Vancouver, it faces many challenges, including pollution, river discharge fluctuation and poaching. Collectively, these challenges can impact the fragile salmon population if actions are not taken.

K.E.E.P.S. is an active stewardship group that ensures the survival of this stream and its inhabitants. By ongoing work at the Bell-Irving Hatchery, habitat enhancement, river patrol and various outreach programs, it has been responsible for the return of these fish each year.

While we were at the event, visitors also received an extra treat when a black bear decided to make a surprising appearance. I managed to capture the last portion of its visit on video.

I went fishing this evening, at Garry Point Park of course. A couple of days ago a pretty big pikeminnow greeted my 4wt, which was nice. I wanted to see if I could get another one on the tiny fly, but also had my sockeye gear with me (not betties but spinning rod, spoons etc) just in case because they have a tendency to hang in the shallows just after high tide to avoid the strong outgoing current.

The southeasterly wind was a bit strong so most of the spots were unfishable with the fly rod. I reached almost the end of the park and was greeted by Al. While chatting, he told me that there were people snagging on the other side, where I was just about to go. It’s a side canal where salmon have a tendency to stage back once the tide starts going out to avoid the strong current. I went over there after we chatted, sure enough, a few individuals were going at it and sockeye salmon were jumping once awhile in the bay.

Out came the cel phone to file a report at RAPP of course, then the camera followed.

Some were obviously aware of what they were doing. No need to keep turning around and look at me for approval.

Too bad, with a few fish holding that bay, there was a good chance that one of those would hit a fly or lure. I’m sure the same people, if not more people, will be back tomorrow if anyone else wants to go check it out. Just walk to the far end of Garry Point, can’t miss it.

Update: It appears that this video has stirred things up a bit, but the wrong person has been taking the heat. Somehow, people are assuming Marco at Nikka Fishing and Marine was behind this video. Not sure where that idea came from, but it is completely false. I encountered people who were trying to snag sockeye while fishing, was not pleased with it, took the video myself and decided to point out an existing problem in this area. I work hard to promote and improve recreational fishing in this community in many projects so I take personal offence when I see people choose to break the rules.

I do not know who the individuals are in the video so to think there is a personal agenda behind this video is absurd. I’m curious why some have chosen to make this a problem with Marco or the store. Just so it is clear, neither Marco or Nikka Fishing and Marine has anything to do with it. If you have a problem or concern with the video, you are welcome to email me at info@fishingwithrod.com to discuss this further.

When the invitation to be part of this year’s Great Salmon Send Off arrived in my inbox last month, I accepted it without much hesitation. Like the Fingerling Festival, this is another community based event that has generated plenty of interest among residents of Burnaby.

When this tradition started twenty years ago by local resident Jennifer Atchison, Stoney Creek, a tiny tributary of the Brunette River, was void of salmon. Today, spawning salmon can be seen returning each fall, thanks to countless hours of hard work by volunteers of the Stoney Creek Environment Committee.

Stoney Creek is just one of many streams in the Lower Mainland that are overshadowed by both residential and industrial developments. Each day, it faces threats from dewatering to accidental dumping. Unnoticed, its survival depends on programs such as the Great Salmon Send Off. The goal is not just to revive the salmon runs that once exist, but to make sure visitors become part of the solution at the end of the event.

At 11:00am, the release began when Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s community advisor Maurice Coulter-Boisvert opened up the holding tank. Several thousand juvenile coho salmon circled as they emerged from the dark, eager to start their long journey. Hundreds of parents and kids lined up patiently to receive their bag of fish. Once given, they were carried down to the edge of Stoney Creek where they were set free.

Our participation today included setting up a flytying workshop where each kid had a chance to tie a fly with the assistance of my friends Shane and Carlo. We were pretty overwhelmed by the amount of enthusiasm and interest! If you did not have a chance to tie a fly or pick up our fish identification cards, don’t worry because we will be at several more events in June and July.

More photographs from today’s event can be viewed on this page.