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[Steelhawk]

Yeah, they were (cohoes) stack like logs back in Expo 86 and 87 too. I remember about 120-130 thousand cohoes came back. The limit was raised to 6 adults in 1986.

Distant memory for me now. 


Silex user

Distant memory indeed. I still remember most runs we went to were packed with blue shade from the backs of hundreds of coho, and they travelled between runs all days. Not just the Vedder, the Cap was full of 'coho trains' moving up the river and waves and waves of them were going through runs and rapids. So what have changed? The eco system, ocean survival, or simply hatchery cutting back on stocking by the millions of fry? As far as we know we never got a license fee reduction but the hatchery production just seem to keep cutting back. I guess recreational fishery is simply an after thought in the mind of the head honchos. They care more about tourists than us. Lol. 

[RalphH]

Yeah, they were (cohoes) stack like logs back in Expo 86 and 87 too. I remember about 120-130 thousand cohoes came back. The limit was raised to 6 adults in 1986.

Distant memory for me now. 


Silex user

wasn't it 8 for a time?

The knowledge that hatchery raised fish can negatively impact wild stocks has drastically changed the use of hatchery enhancements. Also that coho don't stay in the Salish Sea but head out to the open Pacific almost immediately means there is much less economic payback and lower return on hatchery production.

Of course the massive production of hatchery coho throughout the Southern BC hatcheries makes me wonder if that wasn't a contributing factor to the collapse of the Georgia Straight summer coho fishery.

[typhoon]

wasn't it 8 for a time?

The knowledge that hatchery raised fish can negatively impact wild stocks has drastically changed the use of hatchery enhancements. Also that coho don't stay in the Salish Sea but head out to the open Pacific almost immediately means there is much less economic payback and lower return on hatchery production.

Of course the massive production of hatchery coho throughout the Southern BC hatcheries makes me wonder if that wasn't a contributing factor to the collapse of the Georgia Straight summer coho fishery.

...or it could have been the collapse of the herring population in the inside straight due to massive overfishing.

[Rodney]

Wait a minute... Are we actually complaining about a lack of keepable coho salmon and it doesn't reflect your licence cost? Less than 50% of the adipose clipped coho are retained before they reach the hatchery. Fish harder... lol

I have been working and unable to make it out from Vancouver for the past two weeks. I have my first day off in a while and am thinking of one last kick at the can. I go out every opportunity I get during the season as I love being there away from the noise and clatter of the big city. But I wonder , if going out tomorrow might be an act of futility. Going out is always a great adventure but with gas prices, I have to hedge my bets. Any fish still around ? Thoughts ? Or should I just wait for the steel to show ?

I would totally go tomorrow if I were you. I have to do something else tomorrow instead otherwise I'd by out there too before the river goes out after the forecasted rain. Started getting good action on both coho and chum salmon again from the crossing down to the canal this week.

[halcyonguitars]

Is it mostly first light where you need to know where you need to be before you get there, or can someone unfamiliar with the system still have a chance of poking around during the day and maybe have some success?

[redtide]

got 2 the other day around noon...1 hatch 1 wild......both on the smallish side about 4ish pounds. just below the crossing chucking 1/4 oz crocs. both caught within 20 minutes. then the wind started and froze me solid. called it a day....if coming out this way good idea to layer up..

[RalphH]

...or it could have been the collapse of the herring population in the inside straight due to massive overfishing.

that's worse than junk science because...

doesn't explain why the coho leave the straight & head to the open Pacific several months before they'd switch from eating zooplankton to needlefish and herring. It doesn't explain why in previous years (as in the mid to late 60s) when the herring collapsed the coho stayed in the straight and fed on needlefish and other baitfish.

[wildmanyeah]

Maybe it has something to do with The hatcheries Down south.

But like I said we should debating this in another thread

[bigsnag]

Not the Vedder but don't you wish it was like this:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBbUN21TQnE

No I don't.  If we have runs like this nowadays there won't be place for us to fish.

[typhoon]

that's worse than junk science because...

doesn't explain why the coho leave the straight & head to the open Pacific several months before they'd switch from eating zooplankton to needlefish and herring. It doesn't explain why in previous years (as in the mid to late 60s) when the herring collapsed the coho stayed in the straight and fed on needlefish and other baitfish.

So fish will stay where there is no food? Nice logic.

[Steelhawk]

No I don't.  If we have runs like this nowadays there won't be place for us to fish.

What is amazing in that video is that there were hardly anyone around when he was nailing fish after fish. I guess that river may be either the Platte or the Betsie rivers and they are far from major cities. Another thing is that those fish seem bigger than our coho this year. Do the great lakes have more feed for salmon than the Pacific? The lakes don't have herring, anchovy nor krill. Do their coho have red meat or taste similar? Lol. 

[clarki]

The lakes don't have herring, anchovy nor krill.

I grew up on the shores of Lake Huron. The Great Lakes have the alewife, which is a member of the herring family and related to the shad. In fact, we called it shad when I was growing up.

The alewife is invasive (it's native to the Atlantic Ocean) and gained access to the Upper Great lakes via the Welland Canal. In the 1940's/50's, Pacific Salmon were introduced, in part, into the Great Lakes to control the alewife population .

As a kid in the late 70's I can recall huge alewife/shad die offs and the shore would be just littered with dead fish.

[RalphH]

So fish will stay where there is no food? Nice logic.

try to read it again, maybe?

[RalphH]

I grew up on the shores of Lake Huron. The Great Lakes have the alewife, which is a member of the herring family and related to the shad. In fact, we called it shad when I was growing up.

The alewife is invasive (it's native to the Atlantic Ocean) and gained access to the Upper Great lakes via the Welland Canal. In the 1940's/50's, Pacific Salmon were introduced, in part, into the Great Lakes to control the alewife population .

As a kid in the late 70's I can recall huge alewife/shad die offs and the shore would be just littered with dead fish.

I was on the Bruce Penisula about 5 years ago. Some chinook were in the Saugeen River and the people I talked to, told me that state hatcheries in the US had stocked so many salmon that the alewife populations crashed, supposedly because the massive population of salmon cropped it down next to nothing. What followed was a salmon die off as many of the fish starved to death. The runs of chinook in the Penisula have never been the same.

Pacific Salmon (coho & later chinook) were originally stocked in the Great Lakes because Atlantic lamprey had entered the lake also via the Welland canal and devastated the natural Lake Trout population. Steelhead, present in the lakes for decades also exploded into the eco-niches emptied by the lake trout collapse. Most salmon populations (coho & chinook) in the Lakes are not self sustaining.

[typhoon]

try to read it again, maybe?

You don't catch parr. No food = no adults. Simple enough for you?