Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => General Discussion => Topic started by: Dave on April 08, 2015, 11:52:32 AM
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Buck and I made our first trip into the upper river today, looking for steelhead. This is the 5th year we will be documenting spawning activity, and as in past years, we must emphasize this is not meant as a population estimate. We simply attempt to count the same known spawning areas weekly, at the same time each year, the goal being to see if trends develop.
This is the earliest we have started, the rationale being everything else seems to be few weeks ahead of time. Our first site was at the outlet of Chilliwack Lake where we saw 2 holding fish. Conditions for observations were poor, with a light chop in the area fish spawn, and sunlight in our eyes. We will attempt to count this site on future visits around noon, when the sun will be overhead. Water temperature was 6° C.
Next up was Centennial Channel, where no fish or redds were seen. Again the water temperature was 6°C and conditions were optimal.
5 fish were observed holding in the deeper water under the Middle Creek bridge; seeing these staging fish made us think the Box Canyon, one of the very few deep, slow pools in the upper river, would have a few fish, but none were observed. Fwiw, back in the early 70’s, a local CO and I saw app 100 steelhead one day in this pool.
More to come in the weeks ahead.
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Good work, saw one caught at Peach today.
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Buck and I made our second trip into the upper river this morning. As it was a bright sunny day we opted to check Centennial Channel first, so we would arrive at Chilliwack Lake when the sun was optimum for viewing. Centennial had 2 fish, paired up and looking to be in love … the male looked about 1/3 the size of the female. No redds or gravel disturbances; water temperature 6°C. In our 5 years of counts, this is the earliest we have seen fish here. We also picked up a few bags of garbage that will be deposited in the dumpster at the CVRCS cleanup on Saturday.
Viewing conditions at the outlet of Chilliwack Lake were better than last week, when 2 were seen. Today, we saw 14, 4 of which, along with a trout, were on the gravel pad and spawning. Last year on this date we saw 1, and none in previous years. We have never seen the lake level so low; some of gravel where these fish have spawned in the past is high and dry. Water temperature was 8°C.
Viewing conditions at the Middle Creek Bridge were poor, and no fish were seen. Next week we will check this site first, as proper sun angles are necessary for accurate observations here. One redd was seen in the new gravel put in by DFO, on our recommendation, about 100m downstream of the bridge.
Based on these early numbers we are cautiously optimistic 2015 will show a decent return to the areas we monitor. And, if the weather is suitable, we may get some of this spawning activity on film as Chris will be joining us next week.
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Thanx for sharing.
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Yes thanks for this good to see that numbers have bumped up a bit and this fits with everyones assessment of the Steelheading year generally.
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Thanx for sharing.
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Chris and I made the 3rd trip today looking for spawning steelhead. Despite the recent warm weather, the river was even lower than last week. If this river actually has a freshet this spring, we believe it will be a short one. We first stopped at the Middle Creek Bridge but viewing conditions were poor, so our counts started at Centennial Channel, where 5 fish were observed. In 2012 on at this app. date 2 were seen; in 2013 on the app. date 3 were seen, and in 2014, 0 were seen. I think Chris got an appreciation for this magnificent salmonid habitat, how skittish these fish are, and how difficult they are to see in the water. One fish cooperated long enough for Chris to get a few photos. Water temperature was 7° C.
On to Chilliwack Lake where we were disappointed to find the gate at the Park entrance locked. This meant a longer trek, something we weren't keen on after walking CC (we are seniors, after all, with a combined age of 137, lol!) It was worth it though as we saw 20 fish here, most of which were spawning. Conditions for viewing were good, but we could easily have underestimated the numbers of fish that were staging in the deep pool below the outlet. In 2013, 20 were seen, and in 2014, 3. Water temperature here was 8°C. Chris was able to get some video of this site and spawning fish, which he will post later.
On the way back we tried again at the Middle Creek Bridge but the light conditions were again poor, so this site will be recorded as not counted.
All in all a good day with a good friend … topped off with Chris buying me lunch at Cookies! More next week.
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A brief video of the spawning steelhead area at the outlet of Chilliwack Lake. Sorry the quality of the film is not better but it gives you an idea of the areas they stage and spawn in. Sometimes they are very hard to spot and I was so suprised how spooky they are, maybe a lesson or two when you are fishing, especially to those that wade too far out in runs we are fishing.
Was an interesting day with some good exercise, excellent fellowship and a good meal at Cookies to end the trip, thanks for taking me along Dave.
https://youtu.be/rVjo1O_gej0
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You can see some stills of the trip here if you wish.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.825862434154506.1073741894.111769675563789&type=3&uploaded=21#!/pages/Fraser-Valley-Salmon-Society/111769675563789
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Great to see!
Thanks
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Intersting pictures and vid. Thanks for sharing. I followed the links to see the pics from rivers cleanup. Just want to say thank you, my hat off to you.
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Buck and I made our 4th trip to the upper river this morning, starting at Centennial Channel. On arrival we found hooliganism at its best … several Alders chopped down in the riparian area, such a shame. After Chris and I seeing 5 last week we were expecting a few more, but it didn’t happen, only 2 were observed. On app. dates we counted 15 in 2011, 7 in 2012, 3 in 2013, and 1 in 2014. There seems to be a problem with this channel attracting steelhead (and possibly holding them until they spawn), but pinks and coho definitely find and use it. Imo, the entrance to this channel on the Chilliwack R needs a real look see by qualified people to see if improvements can be made for easier access by steelhead; or perhaps there are so few up river spawners, any fish finding this magnificent habitat are a bonus. 8) Water temp was 8°C
On to Chilliwack Lake where again the gate was closed … this was unfortunate as it meant Buck and I had to walk a few extra kms and, anglers wishing to fish this lake have no access to the boat launch. Last week Chris and I saw 20 fish, most of which were very actively spawning. Today we counted 21 fish, but only 5 were on the gravel, spawning. In 2013 we saw 20, 2014 we saw 7. Regarding this gravel there’s not much that hasn’t been dug up; not because of the number of fish, but because the water level is so low much of this man made gravel pad is exposed or in areas with minimal flow. Sorry firebird, I had a seniors moment and forgot to bring the thermometer … and that bastard Buck refused to walk back to the truck to get it ;D ;D
Last stop was the Middle Creek bridge, where we finally had a decent view to find 2 fish, both very small. It was good to see the recently added gravel here has been used, but it too is becoming more exposed due to low water.
Fwiw, after 5 years of documenting the observations of these fish, Buck and I speculate steelhead spawn and bugger off real fast, most certainly a survival tactic; what this means to readers of these posts is we believe we are seeing, with some obvious overlap, different fish weekly. This is certainly obvious regarding Centennial Channel.
More next week.
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The Chilliwack/Vedder should be returned to its natural state.
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The Chilliwack/Vedder should be returned to its natural state.
The people living in Chilliwack might be upset if we restore Sumas Lake.
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Great stuff Dave! 35 yrs to go? :P
Hopefully some answers/solutions to Centennial Channel will come up before then ;)
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Hopefully some answers/solutions to Centennial Channel will come up before then ;)
Sure hope so as this habitat certainly appears to be under utilized by spawning steelhead. :(
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Sure hope so as this habitat certainly appears to be under utilized by spawning steelhead. :(
A good project for the Steelhead Society of BC or the Fresh Water Society of BC to fund or help get off the ground, do they know about this? There must be some readers here from these two Societies?
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A good project for the Steelhead Society of BC or the Fresh Water Society of BC to fund or help get off the ground, do they know about this? There must be some readers here from these two Societies?
Well, we certainly know the FWFSBC and MOE reads these posts ;D ;D ;D Imo this issue should be investigated by them, and the habitat restoration unit of DFO, who built this channel. In the past the FWFSBC has primarily focused on lake angling opportunities and increasing license sales (to ensure their very survival). But now this group will be receiving more funding, and have suggested some of this money will go to moving water. What better place to start than the most heavily fished steelhead river in the province?
The issue is there is nothing to attract these fish (ie, deeper water,strategic rock placements, staging pools, etc). Now, if they are fortunate enough to find it, fish would have their backs out of the water trying to access the first, and boniest, steps of the channel.
The problem is very fixable and I am certain it would benefit wild steelhead.
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Well, we certainly know the FWFSBC and MOE reads these posts ;D ;D ;D Imo this issue should be investigated by them, and the habitat restoration unit of DFO, who built this channel. In the past the FWFSBC has primarily focused on lake angling opportunities and increasing license sales (to ensure their very survival). But now this group will be receiving more funding, and have suggested some of this money will go to moving water. What better place to start than the most heavily fished steelhead river in the province?
The issue is there is nothing to attract these fish (ie, deeper water,strategic rock placements, staging pools, etc). Now, if they are fortunate enough to find it, fish would have their backs out of the water trying to access the first, and boniest, steps of the channel.
The problem is very fixable and I am certain it would benefit wild steelhead.
Lets hope we hear from them shortly or we will have to send them a request.
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In my opinion, this years run was quite strong for both hatchery and wild fish and from my catch statistics the Steelhead spawned early.
I have never encountered so many spawned out fish so early in the season. I was catching very healthy repaired kelts regularily in early April.
Most years I catch maybe a few kelts, but many chrome pre spawn fish throughout April, this year lots of kelts and keep in mind I am fishing mostly the mid- lower river.
For the record, I did encounter quite a few spawned out hatchery females, which further shows that much cross breeding between wild and hatchery fish occurs on this river. Since the river is seemingly doing well I would guess that these hatch/wild hybrids are adjusting well to life without a hatchery and indeed adding viable babies to the wild gene pool.
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it seems everything is a month ahead this year. prob all related to the awesome weather.
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Buck and I made trip # 5 this morning, starting as usual at Centennial Channel. On arrival we saw even more damage had been done to the riparian area, and garbage had been strewn about. Sure wish this site was gated off, as it used to be. We saw 4 fish, 2 of which were spawning. On comparable dates, we counted 20 in 2011, 7 in 2012, 9 in 2013, and 13 in 2014. We saw only one possible redd, excluding the one the pair had built. Water temperature was 8°0 C
On to Chilliwack Lake where the official camping season has begun, despite the remnants of yesterday’s snowfall, so the gates are open. Here we saw 16, about ½ of which were actively spawning. The water level is still very low and a few of these fish had their dorsal fins in the air when chasing off nearby competitors. On a comparable date we saw 14 in 2012, 35 in 2013, and in 2014 we saw 14. Water temperature here was also 8°0 C
We were fortunate enough to have enough sun to determine there were 4 fish holding just downstream of the Middle Creek Bridge; the gravel here is definitely being stirred up by spawning fish … in 2013 we saw 18, in 2014 we saw 2.
Stopped by the hatchery where we saw about 30. Most of the juvenile steelhead from this facility have now been released and the coho any day now. With the Vedder as low and clear as it is, the mergansers are going to get fat.
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I donot think I can remember seeing the Chilliwack so clear at this time of year, no runoff, saw some fry trapped in some pools today hope we see a jump in water levels soon.
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Buck and I made trip #6 this morning, starting as usual at Centennial Channel where we met DFO people repairing the latest vandalism to this superb off channel habitat … this time some knuckle draggers had ripped out a gate valve supplying water to more wetted areas (understand, this complex is all connected by water, when it is allowed to flow) Kudos to DFO’s Habitat Restoration Unit and Chilliwack River Hatchery staff for catching this problem early, and averting certain juvenile coho mortalities.
We also had the opportunity to discuss the fish entry issues this channel is experiencing with the main guy who does this work … and were told it would be addressed this summer. This is awesome news for fish, and for Buck and I; after walking this channel for years, and seeing several kms of the absolute best quality off channel spawning gravel and rearing habitat in the upper Chilliwack River virtually unused really pisses us off … but on to fish counts.
We saw 2 at Centennial, one a severely fungused male who most likely will die soon. 2 redds were observed but visibility conditions were poor – lots of sun, lots of new growth vegetation in the riparian area, over shadowing the channel. All good for fish, but hard for us to see ‘em . On similar dates we saw 32 in 2011, 7 in 2012, 18 in 2013, and 4 in 2014. Water temperature was 9.0°C
Chilliwack Lake was great for viewing - 15 were seen, about ½ staging/spawning. On similar dates we saw 30 in 2012, 21 in 2013, and 10 in 2014. Water temperature was 10.0°C. The water level is amazingly low and fish are spawning on gravel dug up weeks ago. As hard as it may be to believe, we think this only area we are aware of that regularly sees reasonable numbers of spawning steelhead, may actually be overused. As we have mentioned in the past, the placement of gravel here was gold, and probably the best investment to wild steelhead this river has seen. It’s very obvious more gravel could be used at this site and we will be advocating for that.
With reasonable viewing conditions we saw 2 fish just downstream of the Middle Creek Bridge; in past years on this app date this site has had poor visibility due to high water so we have no previous data for comparisons.
More next week.
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Buck and I made our 7 th and final trip to the upper river this morning. We drove into Centennial Channel but on arrival it was obvious seeing any fish at this site would be nearly impossible due to the huge growth of riparian vegetation due to the early spring this valley is experiencing, and the sun light overhead through that vegetation. We decided no data for this site was better than poor data.
I had another opportunity to talk to DFO’s Habitat Restoration people at the Browne Creek Wetlands opening ceremony on May 14, and was again assured this channel and its entrance problems would be addressed this summer.
On to Chilliwack Lake where we were happy to see a slight increase in water levels, meaning the gravel on which we think up to 75 fish spawned will remain watered. Today we saw one lonely looking steelhead, cruising the gravel pad. This year marks the earliest we have curtailed counts, and also the earliest we have observed spawners, but are looking forward to doing it again next spring.
Although only a five year data set, and as limited as it is, these counts are actually being used in consideration for future habitat restoration decisions … Pete and I are happy about that as it makes it all worthwhile :)
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Thanks for all the hard work guys! It was a pleasure to read about your trips, and I hope this brings about some positive changes.
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Thank you Dave and Buck for your work and dedication. Im glad to hear that the work is being used to further enhance spawning habitat.
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thank you
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Thanks!