Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => General Discussion => Topic started by: ankey on October 30, 2017, 06:56:59 PM
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Is there anyone who has been in Squamish R. recently?
How's chum runs this year in that river compared to the one last year?
Thanks.
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Don't know about the Squamish, but the Stave is hot.
Why don't you go up to the Squamish and give us a report?
Retention (1 fish) opens November 1st.
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Its been OK. Very crowded even on weekdays
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Squamish chum run is awful .... again! Some fish around but not many for the Squish. It's nothing like the return that was last year which was more like the " normal " we used to have. Should not be open for retention in my opinion.
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Was there last Thursday. It was low and dirty at Judd road . Only seen 4 fishers there , 2 on the fly and 2 spoon chuckers. No hookups that I seen . Fished the Cheakamus that was low and clear , hooked a couple coho at first light , lost both. Landed a jack coho, then it was lights out , the bight was off soon as the sun hit .
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Your mileage may vary, but Squamish run this year seems to be about 1/4 of last year's run. It should not be open for retention. Please think about the ecosystem before you take a fish. And I am not saying this to keep people away. It is slow.
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Don't know about the Squamish, but the Stave is hot.
The Stave is hot if you are going for subprime meat and single eggs. Talked to many people on the river and there's very few fresh fish and no skeins of roe from the Doe's. Seems like the run has already peaked and is trending downwards.
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Squamish has been a disappointment for me on both the coho and chum fronts this season. Chum run especially seems small.
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Squamish chum run is awful .... again! Some fish around but not many for the Squish. It's nothing like the return that was last year which was more like the " normal " we used to have. Should not be open for retention in my opinion.
I fully agree. We were out on Sunday at a few spots in the area and there were WAAAAAAAYYYY less Chum around than the past 3 years. A couple dozen at the mouth of one tributary and that's about it. Quite a few more people out on the water than past years around this time, and nobody landing anything but Bulls from what I witnessed.
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Sounds like the locals dont want any mainland boys to make the trip north... :P
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The Stave is hot if you are going for subprime meat and single eggs. Talked to many people on the river and there's very few fresh fish and no skeins of roe from the Doe's. Seems like the run has already peaked and is trending downwards.
LOL where do I sign up please
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Fished this morning. A lot of old chums. No bite
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Sounds like the locals dont want any mainland boys to make the trip north... :P
If you guys want to nominate a representative to come north and find out how bad it has really been, feel free. Maybe get a pool together to pay for his gas and throw him a few fish from the Vedder to make up for lost time ;). I respect the need to hear it from a trusted source, but it would just be cruel to have someone make the drive without compensating him.
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it would just be cruel to have someone make the drive without compensating him.
asss, gas or grass (or Coho fillets)- nobody rides for free :P
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The Stave is hot if you are going for subprime meat and single eggs. Talked to many people on the river and there's very few fresh fish and no skeins of roe from the Doe's. Seems like the run has already peaked and is trending downwards.
What determines whether the eggs are in skeins or singles? Is it age of the fish?
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Yes; the older the fish the more likely the eggs are close to being released and are therefore no longer attached to the skein. In the past I have seen white bellies on does that look as though they should be good for a skein, however when you handle the fish they are soft fleshed and rough skinned and the eggs are completely loose.
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So in summary a Poor year for: Coho, Chums, Pinks, Springs and Sockeye. I think we can thank that west coast blob or those droughts we've been experiencing the last few years. Vedder Coho appears to be still available to those who put some time in and in the right conditions.
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So in summary a Poor year for: Coho, Chums, Pinks, Springs and Sockeye. I think we can thank that west coast blob or those droughts we've been experiencing the last few years. Vedder Coho appears to be still available to those who put some time in and in the right conditions.
Im an optimist - my bet is that they got tired of doing laps at the mouths waiting for rain and cooler temps - and decided to head back to open ocean for another year. Wait till you see the size of next years Coho... ;)
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Any sign of late fish?
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No.
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No.
Did enough spawners of pinks, chums, and cohos make it through this year for future generations?
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Was recently in some of the Squamish river tribs and saw huge amounts of Chums spawning
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The 1st half of November were once a hot time for chums in a number of rivers. When the chum populations crashed several years ago that segment of the run seemed to vanish. Once the Harrison was almost bank to bank with chums around Remembrance Day. Now the river seems all but empty.
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The 1st half of November were once a hot time for chums in a number of rivers. When the chum populations crashed several years ago that segment of the run seemed to vanish. Once the Harrison was almost bank to bank with chums around Remembrance Day. Now the river seems all but empty.
I did notice the Stave has fewer fish this year compared to last year. It started tailing off in late October... last year it didn't do that until after the 1st week of November.
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When I was in Berrys Bait they were promoting squamish saying lots of people doing really well, There was also two guys in there that were heading up their. I was also fishing Mike lake on saturday and two of the fishermen there were heading up to fish Squamish this week and there buddies had been doing good there.
Seems most on the forums tho has said its bad up their.
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Any change on this topic? Fresh chum rollin in yet? ;)
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Was recently in some of the Squamish river tribs and saw huge amounts of Chums spawning
I doubt that as the Squamish is just awful for chum. You would have been on the Cheakamus but it is far from being full of chum. Have spent the last 5 weeks on the river almost daily and I can tell you in the 32 years I have lived in Squamish this is one of the worst returns seen. The Ashlu has a few hundred chum at best, the upper Squamish has localized groups in several of the tributary streams and side channels but the main river is virtually barren of spawners. The Mamquam has at best a couple of thousand fish and the groundwater spawning channels have generally less that a couple hundred each and in several of the channels significantly less that that.
The lower Squamish has fish but not lots of them but enough to catch if you put in your time. You do get fish staging of the mouth of the Cheakamus but this is to be expected. The Cheakamus has the most fish but still not huge amounts of chum. The chum channels have few fish in them except for the Upper Paradise channel which has 1000 fish or so. Big deal. At this time of year spawning should be in full swing with the spawning areas ram jamb full. Not happening. This rain this weekend will be the telling tail. If they don't come now then their not coming.
People who have not experienced what the Squamish chum run was like have no concept of how many fish were here. That was what brought the eagles here and what generated a world record eagle count. Those days are over. The Squamish system should have 300 000+ chum and look like the Stave River. There are may people who can remember trying to fish the Frog Pond on the Cheakamus or Judd Road on the Squamish with lures and just had to give up because of all the foul hooked chum you would encounter. Friends of mine live on Judd Slough and we can all remember the whole neighbourhood smelling like rotten chum salmon for weeks on end. That is also a thing of the past. The chum used to arrive by the first week of October and continue well into mid December with the peak around mid November. The late fish are now for the most part all gone as well. When was the last time anyone has seen January chum?
So what happened? About the time sockeye took their first big crash commercial fishing effort was shifted over to the Johnstone Straight chum fishery which allowed them to plunder as per normal. It's is exactly the same timing as the Squamish chum collapse. The Fraser chum have been able to whether this effort due to a large run size as well as chum enhancement. The Squamish has not and know one in power seems to care.
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Good post bkk. I totally agree about the disregard for chum salmon by the decision makers.
I have always said chums are the lifeblood of coastal watersheds and am thankful the Chilliwack-Vedder has considerable off channel habitat for these vital fish.
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I agree Dave.
We also have lot's of those off channel groundwater channels that the chum love. Thank goodness for the foresight of biologists such as Dave Marshall and Matt Foy for having the vision for designing, constructing and adapting this form of fish enhancement. The Squamish was where a lot of these designs originated. We need more field biologists of that yolk and less of the ones who like to sit at the computer and never get out into the streams and bush.
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Great posts bkk, thank you.
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while local commercial harvests may have had an effect, people have to consider that several years ago chum populations collapsed all over the coast. That could not have been caused by a localized fishery no matter how intense.
Stocks have been rebuilding since then. South of us many Oregon rivers were all but depopulated of chum for reasons that aren't clear.
this year was supposed to be a big return - something well over a million & perhaps 2. But where are they? Most of the rivers I have been on this fall certainly are not crowded with chum. The Harrison the last few weeks has been all but empty of them, just as it has been the last several years.
My guess is that most of the chum abundance is solely due to artificial production and natural stocks are still not in any kind of shape.
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Absolutely the commercial roe harvest has had a very large effect. When other species were declining they bumped up the chum harvest to create more revenue.
The Harrison is a generally a bit later than most rivers for chum so no need to worry just yet.
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could be but I have been fishing it for over 30 years and know the timing. Since the 'chum crash' what fish do come are earlier - often there are chum by late September and the peak is mid October. Then it drops off to close to nothing by November. I think I more or less made this observation above, that the big push of chum in the first half of November I once saw, has vanished.
Chum egg fisheries are not a new phenomena and the eggs have been in big demand for the sushi market for decades. Some harvest areas like Nitnat were curtailed to protect Thompson steelhead and that may be less so these days. Loss of revenue from the sockeye net fishery may indeed put more boats out there when in the past few part timers were interested in dealing with heavy rain and wind when they'd already made big bucks in the summer.
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Is the mud creek crossing still out?
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What determines whether the eggs are in skeins or singles? Is it age of the fish?
yes as the fish gets closer to spawning the eggs loosen up and eventually single out as the fish gets ready to drop them
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If you guys want to nominate a representative to come north and find out how bad it has really been, feel free. Maybe get a pool together to pay for his gas and throw him a few fish from the Vedder to make up for lost time ;). I respect the need to hear it from a trusted source, but it would just be cruel to have someone make the drive without compensating him.
had to see for myself...
(http://i68.tinypic.com/2niz8ep.jpg)
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I was there with my buddies yesterday. In the first light, a friend of mine
got a wild chrom ho in the lower river and one chum. We moved to the middle river and
found 1 spot where fresh chums were stacked and hooked one after another for 3 hours.
Chum jigs were the tickets. Everybody had sore arms.
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had to see for myself...
(http://i68.tinypic.com/2niz8ep.jpg)
Nice fish! Glad the drive was worth it.
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That's a nice chum!
What are the chances of catching a hatch coho in the Squaw these days? I've had trouble finding the number released from the tenderfoot hatchery.
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Tenderfoot releases 150 000 adipose clipped coho smolts per year.
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Tenderfoot releases 150 000 adipose clipped coho smolts per year.
Awesome. Thank you :). BTW where did you find that? I looked everywhere. Seems as though the DFO link is broken. :(
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was up there targeting bulls on sunday. first time being that far up the valley. beautiful area.
(http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g365/bigblockfox545/20171112_1526391_zpslgvnvhio.jpg) (http://s1098.photobucket.com/user/bigblockfox545/media/20171112_1526391_zpslgvnvhio.jpg.html)
(http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g365/bigblockfox545/20171112_1526351_zps8shdivhx.jpg) (http://s1098.photobucket.com/user/bigblockfox545/media/20171112_1526351_zps8shdivhx.jpg.html)
(http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g365/bigblockfox545/20171112_133135_zpsmnvkmxcq.jpg) (http://s1098.photobucket.com/user/bigblockfox545/media/20171112_133135_zpsmnvkmxcq.jpg.html)
(http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g365/bigblockfox545/20170317_120618_zps6fydfu32.jpg) (http://s1098.photobucket.com/user/bigblockfox545/media/20170317_120618_zps6fydfu32.jpg.html)
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Had a double digit coho day on the weekend between my friend and I. All wilds but wow what a day.
Double digit chums the day before. Pretty darn good weekend.
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was up there targeting bulls on sunday. first time being that far up the valley. beautiful area.
Nice pictures, thanks for sharing.
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Had a double digit coho day on the weekend between my friend and I. All wilds but wow what a day.
Double digit chums the day before. Pretty darn good weekend.
This must be why there was nobody at the stave today :-\ :-\
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This must be why there was nobody at the stave today :-\ :-\
No, it's not. It was more about the weather.
Not to mention that most people who fish the Stave and those fishing the Upper Squamish and its tribs are two completely different classes of anglers.
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the only way i go to stave is in my jet boat. not trying to sound like an elitist but man fishing the banks by the road is tuff. you got one guy bottom bouncing, another guy fly fishing, while another fellow is drift fishing all within 10 feet of each other. dont know how they do it.
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We need more field biologists of that yolk and less of the ones who like to sit at the computer and never get out into the streams and bush.
:(
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most people who fish the Stave and those fishing the Upper Squamish and its tribs are two completely different classes of anglers.
That's a true statement.
I have also run into the same people in both systems and they just act differently in their behavior.......peer pressure?
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I always considered myself in a "different class" when I go angling. Maybe its the tweed hat and tie ::)
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I always considered myself in a "different class" when I go angling. Maybe its the tweed hat and tie ::)
Do you also carry 3 rods 2 tackle boxes and a cooler with you? Oh and a backpack? A kitchen sink?
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That's a true statement.
I have also run into the same people in both systems and they just act differently in their behavior.......peer pressure?
Only when they succumb to it. Peer pressure is for pussies.
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Do you also carry 3 rods 2 tackle boxes and a cooler with you? Oh and a backpack? A kitchen sink?
The kitchen sink is my secret weapon...
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The kitchen sink is my secret weapon...
One of my fav spoons
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Pretty slow wet day today .water is low a slowly rising . A few chum around but no takers . Cheakamus is low and clear , no takers there either .
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The Squamish FSR was reportedly closed at the 0 km mark on Nov 23 when there was the big spike in water levels. Has anyone been up recently. Is the FSR open or closed?