Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => General Discussion => Topic started by: iblly on November 17, 2023, 09:55:06 AM
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Log towing right now on the west side of Bowen island and there are fish jumping everywhere. Silver, all look to be a couple of pounds. What could they be ? I have towed by here many many times and have never seen this.
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don't know but I will say this:
A fish of the North Atlantic coast of North America, American Shad were introduced in rivers in Northern California well over 100 years ago. Since then they have colonized rivers in Oregon and are increasingly abundant in the Columbia River to Bonneville Dam. There have been reports of shad in the Fraser going back to the 60s or earlier. Shad spawning runs generally occur in early spring - April and May on the Atlantic coast from Chesapeake to the Maritimes.
Shad are anadromous, abundant, schooling fish, very silver, generally weigh 3 to 5 lbs (they are a bit smaller in the Pacific) and look very similar to herring or even tarpon.
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Interesting. These fish all seemed to be heading north into Howe sound. Seals were definitely working on these fish.
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https://www.fishingwithrod.com/fish_profile/american_shad.html#:~:text=During%20the%20summer%20months%2C%20spawning,inches%20or%20less%20in%20length. (https://www.fishingwithrod.com/fish_profile/american_shad.html#:~:text=During%20the%20summer%20months%2C%20spawning,inches%20or%20less%20in%20length.)
"While they can be quite big in their native watersheds, American shad found on the West coast are usually quite small, around 12 inches or less in length.".
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Maybe Northern Anchovies ?
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I don't think Anchovies are that big. I have never seen anything to suggest shad were introduced into the Columbia system. Rod's info there is from several years ago or more. Things are changing rapidly on both coasts. Shad in the Sacramento yes and have spread into rivers in Oregon. The numbers in the Columbia are now in the millions. In Sacramento and Columbia the fish exceed 5lbs when they return to spawn. Not saying that any shad in BC are spawning here but there is little easy information on what their ocean ranges are.
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I love a good mystery, ibilly!
I wonder if juvenile coho?
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I thought at first they may have been coho but too many of them. Maybe though ??
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I thought at first they may have been coho but too many of them. Maybe though ??
could be or even feeder chinook coming the the surface for some reason.
Shad in the Columbia:
https://www.chinookobserver.com/news/local/record-breaking-7-5-million-non-native-american-shad-in-columbia-dwarfs-salmon-returns/article_3dfc74f8-c5f2-11e9-934b-534e02bf9b4d.html
this does indicate shad fry were released in the Colombia system in 19th century in rather small numbers and a hatchery operated on the Willamette River near Portland for several years. Still the recent explosion in shad returns isn't explained by those introductions of 100 to 150 years ago.
Shad in the Sacramento River California:
https://calwatercenter.org/american-shad-the-deltas-most-abundant-and-least-considered-anadromous-fish/
Shad fishing in California:
https://www.bestfishinginamerica.com/california-american-shad-fishing-best-rivers.html
https://fishsniffer.com/index.php/2017/06/02/unveiling-the-mysteries-of-american-river-shad/
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In all my sampling trips on Fraser River gillnetters I have seen 2 American shad captured, both in the Albion area, about 4 lbs each and silver bright.
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In all my sampling trips on Fraser River gillnetters I have seen 2 American shad captured, both in the Albion area, about 4 lbs each and silver bright.
the discussion was about fish seen jumping in the Strait near Bowen Island. Salmon from the US are common in our local waters so expecting other species isn't unreasonable.
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Too bad you don't have it on video.
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Ya the ol iPhone 8 can’t capture stuff that far away 😂
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Very interesting. Please post if any more info is forthcoming
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Not a place we tow by all the time. Was close to Cape Roger Curtis. We tow through there maybe once a month. Have never seen activity like that before.
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Long shot but lots of jacks around on the north side. Maybe?
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That’s what I thought when I saw the first few but then there was just too many of them to be jacks. And the middle of November is too late for that isn’t it ?
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Pretty sure they are coho. I also noticed them jumping this apast week. Fished Porlier Pass last week and caught a few while fishing for winter chinook. Excellent sign for next years return.
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Most likely they are coho grilse (as we used to call them) or something similar. If they were a couple of lbs as ibilly thought that would be a bit large for this time of year. Jacks in the river are mostly 3/4lb to 1 1/4 or so. Do these fish stay inside the Salish Sea now or do most still go outside to the west side of the Island?
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bluebacks
There's been reports of them returning this year to the SOG and sticking around.
some of our local coho apparently have an outside vs inside distribution, When the IFC numbers were high during the 80's it was primarily an inside distribution. It then trended to an outside distribution and numbers plummeted on the inside. There have been some reports of the inside numbers starting to increase and coho off WCVI trending down.
In Charlie White books he talks about the blueback fishery in the SOG, Was primarily a spring fishery, coho are the fastest growing salmon, growing from a few pounds in the spring to returning that fall 5+ plus. The blueback fishery was very popular until they pretty much vanished from the SOG.
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In White's day a Blueback was a coho caught in the spring (May or earlier) that weighed under 5lbs. Today a lot of the hatchery coho don't weigh that in the fall. Grilse were fish 16 or 17 inches and under caught in the late summer through into winter.
and back in the 70s and 80s the inside fish were US coho and from the Capilano hatchery.
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That's great information. I remember the blueback fishery off of Campbell River in the 80's. I believe this is a positive predictor, especially given inside adult coho numbers were great in salt.
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Mystery solved ? Thanks for the info fellas.
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bluebacks
In Charlie White books he talks about the blueback fishery in the SOG, Was primarily a spring fishery, coho are the fastest growing salmon, growing from a few pounds in the spring to returning that fall 5+ plus. The blueback fishery was very popular until they pretty much vanished from the SOG.
Actually the fastest growing salmon are pink salmon. From hatch to death in 2 years with weights commonly between 3 and 10 lbs and sometime larger. Coho at 2 years of age are generally under 1 1/2 pounds. Remember that coho spend the first 14 months of there life in freshwater while pinks are in the marine environment for almost all of there life.
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Chum must be lazy than
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Yep chum are the laziest of all the salmon. I have heard they will only jump a maximum of 8 inches to get upstream.