Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => General Discussion => Topic started by: poper on October 31, 2021, 10:07:38 PM
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Is this Opening on the lower Fraser?
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No.
The tentative opening date of salmon fishing in the Tidal Fraser River was November 2nd, but the notice is not out yet. I sent in a reminder on Friday and they are looking at it...
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Thanks, it’s sad, we used to have the whole family out early October bar fishing, it takes away from people who can’t walk far, or the elderly that just want to get out.it’s really a joke, that’s it’s closed
Plus will never get it back!
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it's been over 20 years since the Interior Fraser coho window was closed and those stocks showed little or no sign of recovery in all that time. That closed what to my memory was often the best time for bar fishing on the tidal Fraser, the last 10 days of September and the first week or so of October. Not always the best fishing but consistent and jack springs were regular parts of our catch in some years. The weather was usually good! the old Albion bar was a nice walk and never crowded.
last fall after Thanksgiving my wife and I went to Fort Langley for lunch and then drove east on River Road to Duncan bar. In the fall her grandparents used to keep a trailer out there and she wanted to see it again. Despite the closure there were people obviously fishing for salmon as they had bar rigs with roe. even the classic pre-rigged bar set so when the bait was gone it was just a quick switch.
You can retain hatchery trout in the tidal section but not above Mission. It's a goofy situation. I am sure it will never reopen in what's left of my fishing lifetime.
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it's been over 20 years since the Interior Fraser coho window was closed and those stocks showed little or no sign of recovery in all that time. That closed what to my memory was often the best time for bar fishing on the tidal Fraser, the last 10 days of September and the first week or so of October. Not always the best fishing but consistent and jack springs were regular parts of our catch in some years. The weather was usually good! the old Albion bar was a nice walk and never crowded.
last fall after Thanksgiving my wife and I went to Fort Langley for lunch and then drove east on River Road to Duncan bar. In the fall her grandparents used to keep a trailer out there and she wanted to see it again. Despite the closure there were people obviously fishing for salmon as they had bar rigs with roe. even the classic pre-rigged bar set so when the bait was gone it was just a quick switch.
You can retain hatchery trout in the tidal section but not above Mission. It's a goofy situation. I am sure it will never reopen in what's left of my fishing lifetime.
I hope you document all the lost fishery's you know about seriously i would love reading the history of it. Most people don't even no what was once available.
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it's been over 20 years since the Interior Fraser coho window was closed and those stocks showed little or no sign of recovery in all that time. That closed what to my memory was often the best time for bar fishing on the tidal Fraser, the last 10 days of September and the first week or so of October. Not always the best fishing but consistent and jack springs were regular parts of our catch in some years. The weather was usually good! the old Albion bar was a nice walk and never crowded.
last fall after Thanksgiving my wife and I went to Fort Langley for lunch and then drove east on River Road to Duncan bar. In the fall her grandparents used to keep a trailer out there and she wanted to see it again. Despite the closure there were people obviously fishing for salmon as they had bar rigs with roe. even the classic pre-rigged bar set so when the bait was gone it was just a quick switch.
You can retain hatchery trout in the tidal section but not above Mission. It's a goofy situation. I am sure it will never reopen in what's left of my fishing lifetime.
Ah Duncan Bar- 1986 I turned 16 and drove my first car down to Duncan bar regularly to fish with "the old timers" I still remember them showing me the ropes. I can also remember catching my first large Cutthroat trout on a rig their, it was a 22" wild cutthroat. I will always remember my mentors arguing whether it could have been kept or had to be released. I did release it, and every other wild I ever caught there. At that time I do believe you could kill wild trout in the tidal portion but this fished sparked a debate between the "old timers" that I will never forget.
We would fish the tides and back then that also meant you could fish at night on the in coming which was a lot of fun. Beers, fire and faint sounds of bells ringing when you had a fish on. Most mornings you would wake up in your car or still by the coals of the fire.
I do not miss the lower river bar fishery as I feel the use of bait on a rig is pure suicide for the fish that make a decision to take it. I do however miss the upper river spin and glow fishery as it really did create a lot of fine memories I fear my eventual grandchildren will never know. My kids thankfully did get a taste of these fisheries but not enough to really have fond memories but at least they had been exposed.
Hopefully one day.................
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Growing up in Surrey near Brownsville bar and Ritchie brothers bar my dad introduced me to bar rigging for coho at a very young age. Everyone knew each other and what a cast of colourful characters that fished there. I fished there every October for many yrs into my adulthood catching adult coho and jacks on fresh cured chum roe we bought from Ivan Berry of Berrys baits. The outgoing tide was the time to fish there right till low tide. When the tide starting coming back in it was time to pack up and go home. Great memories that I will carry with me for the rest of what I have to live.
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Growing up in Surrey near Brownsville bar and Ritchie brothers bar my dad introduced me to bar rigging for coho at a very young age. Everyone knew each other and what a cast of colourful characters that fished there. I fished there every October for many yrs into my adulthood catching adult coho and jacks on fresh cured chum roe we bought from Ivan Berry of Berrys baits. The outgoing tide was the time to fish there right till low tide. When the tide starting coming back in it was time to pack up and go home. Great memories that I will carry with me for the rest of what I have to live.
I saw people bar fish there since this salmon season start whenever I went there. looks you don't have to keep in memories.
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Remembered crossing the Patullo bridge after my shift at BC Pen and fishing the Brownsville Bar. There used to be a dilapidated dock there where we fished from. Used to catch cutthroats 2 at a time on our bar rigs. Caught my first salmon bar fishing.
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Remembered crossing the Patullo bridge after my shift at BC Pen and fishing the Brownsville Bar. There used to be a dilapidated dock there where we fished from. Used to catch cutthroats 2 at a time on our bar rigs. Caught my first salmon bar fishing.
Yup. I remember the old wharf at Brownsville. You had to watch where you stepped before they tore it down as there was holes in the deck. People fished from the old wharf and I remember hearing stories of people getting thrown off the wharf and into the river as a way of settling an argument.
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Remembered crossing the Patullo bridge after my shift at BC Pen and fishing the Brownsville Bar. There used to be a dilapidated dock there where we fished from. Used to catch cutthroats 2 at a time on our bar rigs. Caught my first salmon bar fishing.
Bar fished there to back in the day. We backed the truck up to the river and tossed the bar rig out , set the rod in the truck box pockets. Lawn chairs in the back of the truck , beers and dogs (pets) . Lots of coho , springs . Good times 🤠. See what the future holds , maybe get back to the basics one day .
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Spent many days down at Brownsville Bar in the early 80's before the sky train. Some of the best years of my teenage years. Whether it was Fred, Mike, Curly, Joe, Mr Gibson or Barnacle Bill, they always made room for me to fish. Good memories. Took those days for granted, when it came to fishing. Things have changed and it is sad to see. Maybe one day we will be able to fish again on the lower a bit earlier than Nov. I don't see a notice out yet, does anyone know whether it is open or not? Tightlines
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Spent many days down at Brownsville Bar in the early 80's before the sky train. Some of the best years of my teenage years. Whether it was Fred, Mike, Curly, Joe, Mr Gibson or Barnacle Bill, they always made room for me to fish. Good memories. Took those days for granted, when it came to fishing. Things have changed and it is sad to see. Maybe one day we will be able to fish again on the lower a bit earlier than Nov. I don't see a notice out yet, does anyone know whether it is open or not? Tightlines
I remember Curly and Barnacle Bill! Curly was good buddies with my Dad. I remember my Dad bringing a drunk Curly over to our house to meet my mom. She was not impressed! Lol. Little Paul, Ernie and Bulll Sh*t Larry were part of that gang as well. Good times and like you say we took the great fishing and fun times for granted. Those were the days…
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Emails were sent out by me as well as Dean Werk on behalf of the Fraser Valley Salmon Society to press for the opening, no updates since unfortunately.
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Emails were sent out by me as well as Dean Werk on behalf of the Fraser Valley Salmon Society to press for the opening, no updates since unfortunately.
hopefully, they open it while there are still some fish in the river :-\
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My Dad was a staple down at Brownsville , i grew up up the hill from there , his picture was in the local paper one week when they had an article about fishing there , i didn't fish much back then , i was usually up way to late to get up to fish ... , different priorities back then i guess
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My Dad was a staple down at Brownsville , i grew up up the hill from there , his picture was in the local paper one week when they had an article about fishing there , i didn't fish much back then , i was usually up way to late to get up to fish ... , different priorities back then i guess
Nice! Same with my old man. They probally knew each other. He was in the Surrey Leader. The article was entitled 50 yrs fishing the Fraser. I have it framed and it sits on my mantle.
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Ya i'm sure they would have known each other , my Dad was in either the Now or the Leader , my Mom has the pic in a frame , those were good days , fishing for early jack springs with salted roe , everyone in lawn chairs watching the odd sturgeon jump and bs'ing
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This must be some kind of bad joke.
Nov 4th and we are waiting for an opening.
The fish are gone upstream already.
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I have just been told that this opening is not going to happen until November 15th.
A lot will be discussed at the post-season meeting I'm sure.
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I have just been told that this opening is not going to happen until November 15th.
A lot will be discussed at the post-season meeting I'm sure.
Thanks for keeping us up to date Rodney.
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I have just been told that this opening is not going to happen until November 15th.
A lot will be discussed at the post-season meeting I'm sure.
Thanks for the update Rodney. I can stop checking for update several times a day until Nov 15th.
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I have just been told that this opening is not going to happen until November 15th.
A lot will be discussed at the post-season meeting I'm sure.
Nov 15th corresponds to the trout closure in the Fraser above Mission. The Province put this in place to stop people from trout fishing when their real target was salmon or steelhead. Frustrating given that below Mission trout are open and hatchery fish can be retained.
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If I live in the area and still want to fish the Tidal Fraser River for salmon then I'd be a lot more vocal about this, but I am pretty content with what I have in my backyard now. The reality is that there's basically no one advocating for this lost fishery by coming up with compromised solutions to make an opening work, so I'm at the point that if it opens, great, if not, I'm not missing it and it's good news for the fish.
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DFO style of fish management. Wait til the fish have moved through and then open it for retention. Wouldn't surprise me if they open the Fraser for sockeye retention Dec. 1 til May 31 ;)
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oh so then if it's good news for the fish then this sport fishery isn't as low impact as some anglers would have us believe?
I seem to remember 2 years ago I got a lot of grief when I said we can't advocate for closures to protect IFS and then protest this closure because "bar fishing has little or no impact on IFS".
Managing these fisheries with 3 distinct user groups, particularly when 1 group has both constitutional and legal priority access to the resource, is messy and we make it more so. The current low return of chum is being heralded as perhaps the worst collapse in returns in it's history. It's not. Not by a long shot.
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oh so then if it's good news for the fish then this sport fishery isn't as low impact as some anglers would have us believe?
I seem to remember 2 years ago I got a lot of grief when I said we can't advocate for closures to protect IFS and then protest this closure because "bar fishing has little or no impact on IFS".
Managing these fisheries with 3 distinct user groups, particularly when 1 group has both constitutional and legal priority access to the resource, is messy and we make it more so. The current low return of chum is being heralded as perhaps the worst collapse in returns in it's history. It's not. Not by a long shot.
How Much is from hatcheries tho,
Are we talking wild chum vs wild chum or are we talking hatchery chum now vs wild chum then.
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Do you guys think it will be worth it to try after the opening on the 15th? Aprrox what % of the fish would have already passed?
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Do you guys think it will be worth it to try after the opening on the 15th? Aprrox what % of the fish would have already passed?
If you aint fishin, you ain't livin
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How Much is from hatcheries tho,
Are we talking wild chum vs wild chum or are we talking hatchery chum now vs wild chum then.
According to the Fraser river Action Plan Group report published by Fisheries and Oceans in 1996, total mean chum returns to the Fraser pretty much doubled between 1983 (pre-enhancement which was mostly via hatcheries) and 1993 from about 630k to 1.226 million. Of course in hind sight we know a good part of this had to do with ocean survival rates. Returns actually exceeded 3 million after 1993 with close to 3 million being returns to the Harrison River in one year. Currently returns to that river appear dismal.
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If you aint fishin, you ain't livin
:P 8)
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I feel like by the 15th 99% of the fish have gone through lol.