Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => General Discussion => Topic started by: DanL on September 25, 2013, 12:04:38 PM
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I have read on this board some anecdotal speculation that the runs of pinks is delayed due to a number of factors like weather, water temp, etc.
So I decided to have a look at the test fishery data from the Whonnock 29D to see if that’s supported by the test catches. I took the returns from 2007-2013 from mid-august to late-sept and plotted them out. The 2013 run is in blue compared to 2011 (red), 2009 (orange), & 2007 (green):
(http://i.imgur.com/yQRp2yu.gif)
2007 was a very low year but the other years look very similar. The first push of fish seems to come in the first week of September between the 2nd-5th. It also seems to tail off quite dramatically around the third week of September between the 20th-23rd and the bulk of the run (>90%) is seen in those 2 and a half weeks.
Assuming no late bump of pinks is forthcoming (I don’t know if there is any real data to suggest there is), it seems that the 2013 run of pinks is not timed any differently than any other year. If anything it is amazing how consistent it appears. Having said that, my records from 2011 shows I was still getting into 6-10 fish per day in the tidal Fraser as late as Sep 24th when the test fishery already declined to very low numbers, so do not let the test numbers deter you from going out and having some fun, they are still there to be found.
All the data can be downloaded here if you wish to look at other species or areas:
http://www.psc.org/info_testfishing_summaries.htm
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Wow, amazing how consistent those fish are. Other than the big outlier of 600, the graphs are very similar! Pretty amazing when you think about it.
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I think now that's it's tapering, I can say I am surprised at their lack of biting in the Fraser. my last trip out, I saw 50-60 fish rise, and saw 1 caught. 2011 was better, in that they were more willing to play.
good work on the chart. I appreciate seeing it all plotted out.
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Wow that's great thanks so much for posting this!
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That's pretty cool thanks for posting.
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..my last trip out, I saw 50-60 fish rise, and saw 1 caught. 2011 was better, in that they were more willing to play...
I've been taking out a newbie friend for pinks this year and a few weeks ago, the river was literally alive with pinks yet my friend got skunked even though the fish were practically jumping in his lap. Then this weekend we limited out, yet i dont think we saw even 5 risers in the 3.5 hours we were there. Just when you think you've got things all figured out then Mother Nature throws you for a loop.
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...I am surprised at their lack of biting in the Fraser.
I wonder if that has anything to do with the visibility in the lower portion. I found the river murkier than the previous years...
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I think there are many other factors besides the test fishery. Tides temperature sunshine visibility etc will all play a very big part.
Perhaps I am just trying to find excuses for why I sucked so much at fishing this year.
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I think there are many other factors besides the test fishery. Tides temperature sunshine visibility etc will all play a very big part.
Perhaps I am just trying to find excuses for why I sucked so much at fishing this year.
From what I've been hearing and reading, I think a lot of us sucked at fishing for pinks this year :)
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definitely a harder year but persistence pays off. that chart is sweet, thanks for sharing.
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The chart is very accurate of how things went for myself this year on the lower Fraser catching pinks. First week of September was super slow, second week things picked up and by the last bit of the second week things were on fire.
Oh well time to get ready for coho season. :)
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Thanks for the sharing, great chart.
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Cool looking chart DanL. Thanks! :)
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the run dies off in the 3rd week in Sept partially because they stop operating the test fishery.
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Thanks for putting this together Dan.
Makes me chuckle having heard all the people claiming that the pinks were late this year because they were having trouble catching them.
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Thanks for doing that Dan, very interesting data, amazing consistency year to year!
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You are all very welcome. I thought it would be an useful exercise for my own edification but it turned out to be such an interesting result I was happy to share it.
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I've been fishing pink in non-tidal waters since they were opened in '93. I have noted high returns and good fishing don't necessarily correlate all that well. For example I checked my journal for 2007 and I noted lots of fish and good catches in the Fraser by the 2nd week of Sept and good fishing in the Vedder in the last 10 days.
One thing I do note is that the graphs discount the idea some people have that pinks start to show in fishable numbers by the middle of August. For the most part it's the 2nd week of sept before the test fisheries get their first big spike of pinks
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Great chart!
What's the latest date that anyone has ever caught a pink salmon in the tidal part of the Fraser?