Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => Fishing Reports => Members' Fishing Reports => Topic started by: chris gadsden on October 28, 2006, 08:14:08 AM
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Sorry for the late report but after getting back from the river yesterday late afternoon we had to dash off to the Environment Minister's fund raising dinner in Harrison. As while I was very tired after an early morning duck hunt that yielded 4 plump mallards, out of a local corn field, on 4 shots too. ;D Sorry I should not be boasting as a bad streak could befall me, just like coho fishing.
Just got home in time to change and had to then return back over the Agassiz Rosdale Bridge to the Harrison Hotel, glad Buckeye was driving. ;D
Anyway with the heavy rains yesterday and the Vedder marginal I phoned Lew to see if he was interested to go, which he was. ;D We headed over after lunch and got there around 2 giving us a little over 2 hours to fish.
On the way over Mt Woodside on Highway #7 we came upon a traffic mishap, a van had collided with a school bus, luckily there was no injuries, I phone radio CKWX and gave a alert as the collision was on a bad corner. With the kids still on board we certainly did not want to see another mishap. It was lucky that some logging trucks missed it as it was on a very steep grade but people were quick thinking and were setting warning signs and flagging. Things seemed in hand so we did not stop. 5 minutes after filing the report we heard it on the radio. I am glad they did not say that it was a school bus from the Chilliwack area as it would have unnecessary concerned the kid's loved ones that may have heard it on the air waves. Good reporting and thing by the 1130 news room staff. It certainly is a good station to listen to with traffic reports every 10 minutes.
Back to fishing, we arrived at the Easter seal and we could not believe it as only 2 people there, Lew and I commented that will be the fewest anglers the run will see for a while.
Conditions were perfect and I thought my coho slump would certainly end. My hopes were heightened as I had two take downs in the first drift, not sure if they were coho or one of the many chum we could see slipping by, on their way to the canyon area no less.
The two hours slipped by very quickly, we wished we did not have to leave. I had 2 more chances including briefly tyeing into a buck chum
We saw 2 caught and heard of a few others but we were not one of the lucky ones. Last night I sent some pictures of the channelization to Rodney so he may post so you can see some water is going to the hatchery now. Lots still going through the bush though.
I believe today should be good on the Chehails, according to "The Master" but there will be lots of chum too.
That is an abbreviated edition of the Journal for a Saturday morning as I have to go now and cut up the deer I got last week and check the Vedder too, maybe that illusive coho will come today, it seems I have better luck hunting of late. ??? Lew hopefully may add to this post as well.
Cheers to all for a good weekend.
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Thanks for the report chris,will be heading out that way real soon ;)
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Thanks for the report Chris. :)
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thanks for the report chris!!! Will also be going there in the next week or so
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well , done ;D ;D always good to hear a report from you
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Good to hear about the Chahalis thanks for the report.
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thanks buddy, we needed a report! Maby gonna head out there with my dad and our buddy! Hook a couple 15lb + cohos! WE hooked 4 15lb+ cohos last year there! 2 were above 20! We had a scale! Good luck fishing every one!
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Chris' Chehalis photos attached (log in to view).
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That is a bit higher than normal birdman...but still optimal conditons to be sure....Thanks for the report Chris, just what the doctor ordered, as I had already planned to go up there on monday, knowing the water levels are way up definitely takes the uncertainty out of the decision of where to go...very much appreciate those pics showing the water clarity etc...too.
Thanks again,
rib
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Thanks Rodney for posting the pictures. The last one gives you an idea how much water is going down to the hatchery and the other, which is the majority of the flow goes down through the bush.
May slip over tomorrow afternoon and try for the first coho of the season. ;D
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Look slike a decent amount of water flowing toward the hatchery, did they actually do the redirection work?
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Chris picked me up about 1:00 pm on Friday and he had even vacuumed out the Leaf Mobile for me to ride in. Enjoyed our ride over as we discussed a lot of the work on various committees and ate our lunch on the way. Doesn't matter how many times we travel to our various fishing locations we never fail to appreciate what a great area we live in and the great rivers and lakes we get to fish.
Haven't been to the Chehalis for a while so nice to have a go especially as there were only a few fisherman there. As Chris said, water was in great condition and we had great bait to seduce some coho. Saw one really nice chrome wild coho taken and released but none for Chris or me. Nice to fish in the rain which we so badly need even though the fish remained tight mouthed for us..
I'm sure it will do nothing but improve with the increased flow. First time in 60 YEARS that I have not wet a line in the Vedder for coho yet this year. With low water, fishing ethics, just not interested. With more water, there now, will have to get out next week so that I can say, have'nt missed a season in 60 years. Thanks to Chris for getting me out on Friday. I enjoyed it.
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thanks for the report Chris :)
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Look slike a decent amount of water flowing toward the hatchery, did they actually do the redirection work?
Yes they did and good to see some water going down that way again as it creates more water for anglers to fish. Of course it is more important that we have a passage way for the fish to reach the hatchery. Glad the job got done .
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Hey Chris...or anyone else for that matter...do you know how good the access down through the forest at the bottom of easter seal run is now?
I'm possibly going up there tomorrow, and am wondering if the river has cleared out much of the debris that was strewn through there? I'm trying to decide where exactly I will fish on the chehalis tomorrow...maybe canyon, maybe lower river, but the accessibility on the lower river is a concern...I might just go down past the hatchery, through purdy's etc...but that run through the tree's intrigues me... ;D
any info would be great,
thx,
rib
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Hey Chris...or anyone else for that matter...do you know how good the access down through the forest at the bottom of easter seal run is now?
I'm possibly going up there tomorrow, and am wondering if the river has cleared out much of the debris that was strewn through there? I'm trying to decide where exactly I will fish on the chehalis tomorrow...maybe canyon, maybe lower river, but the accessibility on the lower river is a concern...I might just go down past the hatchery, through purdy's etc...but that run through the tree's intrigues me... ;D
any info would be great,
thx,
rib
Was over there this afternoon but did not get near the area you are asking about, sorry can not help you.
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Thx anyways chris, worth a try...I'm heading up there tomorrow. May stick with the canyon, but we'll see.
Thanks again for the info,
rib
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i'm trying to show my dad the photos but he's like those could be from 2 years ago how do u know they are real! SO he doesn't want to go, he thinks the river is low with no fish and i'm like lets go so, i dont know some one help me out here!
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The water conditions were perfect this afternoon and should be as good tomorrow, it seems like the Vedder, not may coho but thousands of chum. However I did hook one coho and The Master fishing below me saw it also but it broke off. ??? He said it was only 4 to 5 ponds, must have been the tiger sharks teeth working on my line.
After no coho so far this season I would have been happy with it, maybe tomorrow as hope springs eternal in the world of fishing.
Today I was told by the previous hatchery manager there used to be coho returns to the Chilliwack Vedder River system of around 110,000, this year it is presently around 2,000 to 3,000. ???
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That's depressing... :( I remember some of those years when the coho were thick...what happened?
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They say ocean survival. However saying that why are the chum and chinook numbers so strong in the Chilliwack Vedder. As well the Chehalis has thosands and thousands of chum in now.
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It was crazy in the Chehalis back when there was more flow, almost solid chum, bank to bank below the hatchery.
You'd see one coho mixed in, and there was no way to fish for it, as you'd snag into 100 chum before getting the coho's attention...
It's a real shame the two hatcheries don't increase coho and decrease chum and chinook, it seems the coho need a bit of help...
Cheers,
Nicole
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I'm doing some courses out at ubc regarding populations, harvest management, juvenile survival etc...biffchan touched on this somewhat in another thread...coho juveniles stay in freshwater much longer...each little coho fry needs a certain amount of space, not sure exactly but I think it's about 1 meter squared area, otherwise they will compete and drive other coho out...so I think that there is a much more restricted limit to how much a hatchery can supplement a river, with coho anyways...as for spring and chum, they migrate right away, so habitat availablitly doesn't limit survival rates as much...
That's how I understand it anyways...
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i agree Nicole,the coho stocks should be a priority on all mainland systems,we could do with allot fewer chums and chinook,the declining coho stocks seems to be an ongoing trend the last several years,i don't know how much hatchery funding goes to wards the chinook and chums but some of it should be used to enhance the coho runs and find out why the coho stocks are on a downward spiral.
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Apparently coho are more expensive to raise, and there were some production cuts done at chillwack, not sure about chehalis...
I sure miss those days in the 80s when you'd see 60,000 coho coming back to the hatchery, can you imagine how packed the vedder would be!
Ok maybe it is better this way :)
lol
Nicole
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They say ocean survival.
Ive heard that also...too much of an uncertain variable...but the springs and the chum swim in the same ocean...? Maybe migration routes are different? anyone know?
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Yes, ocean survival does not hold much water to explain the lack of coho. We can blame that to DFO & the people responsible for managing fishery. They have increased our license fees by $$ compared to the 80s & the 90s, and yet they cut funding for fishery enhancement so much so that we are now having nothing much to fish due to coho stocking cut. If not because of the sockeye, salmon anglers don't have much to fish unless they like white springs & chums also. It makes you wonder where all our money has gone if not spent to enhance our fishing opportunites? Probably into the operating budgets & wages of DFO staffs. >:(
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I camped at the river from Tuesday of last week untill Saturday evening. Fished up at the intake on the fly and hooked into a nice summer run steelie . Fished the easter seal run ,the water pretty low and no coho around . Then she poured Wednesday eve , blew out a bit for Thursday , the water was brown and high . Friday the coho showed and bingo :o I hooked into a beauty 10 pounder down below the hatchery ( wild ) . There were four coho or more taken within the two hours fishing down by the hatch. Saturday mornin was at the easter seal again with T-Roy my bud and he landed a beauty 11 -1/2 pound coho . There were a couple more taken that mornin and it seemed to be all for that day . You could see the coho shooting by all day but coudn't get them to take . The water was dropping inch for inch every hour or so . The river droppped at least a foot from first light untill dusk saturday. need the rain to keep it up ::)
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Fished various parts of the river today...1 Hatchery buck to the beach...several wild fish also...silver colorado's got most of the fish, but I did get a couple on tiny roe bags, and one on an anise oil soaked tiny peice of peach wool...
I had spoken with someone I knew that told me the river was already down almost a foot from saturday....but the river was still in great shape, excellent visibility and flow.
If the river is dropping that quickly however, it likely won't be long before we're in dire need of rain again... :( 8)
I Met a few people out there today: Riverman and his friend Keith, (I guess he's a friend of yours Chris...), They were both a pleasure to fish with...all in all a great day on the river and away from the crowds...hardly any people, and perfect weather, well ok, it was a bit cold, but a beautiful day nonetheless...
Here are a couple pics...
My buddy vic holding one of the wild fish I brought in just before release...
(http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/ribwart/IMG_1314_edited.jpg)
Me, with a hatchery buck from earlier in the day...
(http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f149/ribwart/IMG_1313.jpg)
cheers,
rib
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Wow Rib, looks like you and me fish a lot of the same spots ;D
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Wow Biff, you can cast always from the flat land to the Chehalis, you are good ;D ;D
It's all about the calcutta :D