Thanks for posting the notices and for the clarification. This should be a great time then for bar fishers in that section of the river.
I guess the powers that be though still can't, for some reason or another, take out this statement: "This means that anglers are requested to use
angling methods that do not catch sockeye or coho".
But yet they say, "You may not fish for sockeye salmon".
If you may not fish for sockeye but you may use any method for other species (you are merely requested to use methods that do not catch sockeye), then there is nothing here stopping everyone from C&Ring however many sockeye before they catch their spring or chum. Anyone fishing can just say that they did not mean to catch sockeye. There can't be any true enforcement of what FOC is trying for.
I don't understand the reason for not being more strong in their wording. I am happy to fish one method for sockeye and then change methods when I have my limit. Is the reason that they don't word it more strongly and say specifically what fishing methods are/aren't allowed because they don't have proof that one method is more selective than another or is there something else at play? I have never seen any published study of the selectivity of different methods of fishing. Can anyone point me to one? I am going on the premise that bar fishing doesn't completely eliminate the bycatch of sockeye but that it is very good way to avoid catching them, and I myself have never caught a sockeye barfishing. I would love to know if there has been a study done on the selectivity of fishing methods and where to find it if it exists.
Anyways, I am a bit off topic (but related). I am very glad that the river will still be open to catch Chum and Chinook at least for a portion of the river. I love sitting on the side of the big river, chatting, watching the scenery, and waiting for a bite! I hope September brings some Chinook my way!
Barbless