Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum

Fishing in British Columbia => General Discussion => Topic started by: Sinaran on November 04, 2005, 08:52:35 PM

Title: what happened to Seymour River?
Post by: Sinaran on November 04, 2005, 08:52:35 PM
After staying away from this river for two months (skunked 10/10 trip in august and september), i was up there today trying to practise my baitcasting with my new rod.  no one was fishing there, the water level was so much higher than before.  the water clarity was bad. and it looked badly polluted too (brownish water). lots of dog poos around, though there isn't any dead salmon around, it smells a lot grossier than toilet bowl at the stave.  i short floated pink wool, nothing happened for an hour.  no sign of fish either.  guess the nuclear ships repair dock has leaked lots of chemical components into the water over the years and now it has diminished the runs.  Bye, the mouth of seymour. No i am not coming back .....
Title: Re: what happened to Seymour River?
Post by: ~IvAn~ on November 04, 2005, 08:58:07 PM
Could it have anything to do with what they are doing up river.  ???
Title: Re: what happened to Seymour River?
Post by: Gooey on November 04, 2005, 10:03:33 PM
No, work on the pipeline (for drinking water) is currently not in progress. 

The river is high and much like any rising river, it will pick up debris and dirt.  Its colour is not a point of concern in my books.  Lots of feeder creeks there run thru sand and clay bank (much like the vedder) and when they release debris then the water colours up.

As memory serves me, 4 years ago there were 16k coho that returned to the seymour.  This should have been a strong return this year (the 16k years brood) but much like many other runs this year, they have yet to matirealize in any large numbers.
Title: Re: what happened to Seymour River?
Post by: bkk on November 04, 2005, 10:09:58 PM
Well since coho are pretty much always 3 years old here on the south coast, the brood from the 16K return would have been last year not this year.
Title: Re: what happened to Seymour River?
Post by: Gooey on November 05, 2005, 07:53:20 AM
I thought the coho on the cap were 4 yr fish?  I think the migratory map/info at the hatchery point s to 4 years...from what knowledge or background do you draw the conclusion that they are 3 year olds?
Title: Re: what happened to Seymour River?
Post by: bkk on November 05, 2005, 08:07:38 AM
I have had 23+ years of experience working with salmon in both the field and hatchery environment. They are 3 year old coho as 4 year old coho are not overly common in the south coast area. I also worked at Cap. at one point in my career. And your experience with coho is....
Title: Re: what happened to Seymour River?
Post by: marmot on November 05, 2005, 09:42:55 AM
Its too bad the seymour hasnt been productive , its a beautiful river.
Title: Re: what happened to Seymour River?
Post by: Rodney on November 05, 2005, 10:14:10 AM
For those who want to find out how the Seymour salmon stocks are doing, you can send an email to James at the hatchery jamesweger@shaw.ca and he should be able to answer most of your questions.

The Seymour salmon hatchery also has a good volunteer program, mention that to James in the email if interested. The volunteer program involves fin clipping, overall hatchery daily duties (feeding, cleaning, etc), fish release, spawner capture...
Title: Re: what happened to Seymour River?
Post by: Gooey on November 05, 2005, 01:43:55 PM
BBK, as I stated in my post, I thought I saw some literature in the cap hatchery...maybe it generalized that coho return after 4 years...who knows. 

I worked a season on a comercial boat, I have taken post secondary science coarse with a focus on biology/genetics, I once was an active volunteer at the Seymour hatchery (before kids), and  I have been an avid salmon fisher for the last 20 odd years!

On the internet there are a ton of guys beaking off with out a stitch of common sense or credentials there are also a ton of people who are highly educated and experienced in the fisheries field. 

I meant no offense when I asked about your back ground. With you being new to the community here, i was sinply trying to deteremine where you fit in that spectrum....based on your reply I would have to give a lot of consideration to a comment made from a person with your experience.

Title: Re: what happened to Seymour River?
Post by: scalper66 on November 07, 2005, 07:59:54 PM
if anyone finds out the stats on the seymours dismall pink return i would love to know
Title: Re: what happened to Seymour River?
Post by: bkk on November 07, 2005, 09:15:49 PM
Gooey,

 No offence taken as I always enjoy talking to people about the resourse

ya enough with you to chicks fighting ... rar.. find out some stuff about the river thats what this sight is about isnt it the love of the game .. not how much you know about it

I thought that was what we were doing by asking questions about the age of Seymour coho. By asking questions that's how you learn about the river. You know, there's more to fishing than just finding out where they live and what you can catch them on.
Title: Re: what happened to Seymour River?
Post by: BwiBwi on November 07, 2005, 10:35:51 PM
Is Cap coho also 3 year olds? They seem smaller in comparison to Little Qualicum River cohos.
Title: Re: what happened to Seymour River?
Post by: DragonSpeed on November 08, 2005, 07:52:40 AM
Correct me if I'm wrong (and I KNOW people will) -  Don't coho spend 1 year in the river, and then 3 in the ocean, returning after 4 total?
Title: Re: what happened to Seymour River?
Post by: Buckeye on November 08, 2005, 08:42:19 AM
Coho spend up to two years in fresh water, and normaly only up to 18 months in salt. Thus most fish (almost all) will spawn as (approximately) 3 year olds. Of course you need to add the incubating time to the entire life cycle.