Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => Fishing-related Issues & News => Topic started by: Dave on April 08, 2019, 01:48:48 PM
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Today, Buck, Emmathedeog and I started year nine of our annual steelhead enumerations in the upper Chilliwack River. These counts are done at approximately the same dates and at the same locations; the outlet of Chilliwack Lake, Centennial Channel, and at the Middle Creek (Third) bridge. The first week in all previous years have had low numbers but in 2015, we saw a total of 7 fish, and in 2016 we saw 10.
Today we saw none. Visibility conditions were poor at the bridge site, but the holding/staging area at Chilliwack Lake, and at Centennial Channel, was ideal. Water temperature at the lake and CC was 6°C.
Recent snorkel counts in the area near the hatchery showed over 250 fish ... we expect to see some of those over the next few weeks.
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looking forward to hear about your sightings to come!
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The 3 of us made our second trip up river this morning, starting as usual at Chilliwack Lake. Still winter here, buds just starting to come out and fresh snow 500 above us. Gate is closed. Water level is very low but still lots of perfect gravel available, with lots more when the lake rises. Water temp 6° C. We couldnt decide if we saw 4 or 5, they were so active, so decided on 4, all staging. Some past years numbers from app the same date ..
2014 1, 2015 14, 2016 - 4, 2017 1, 2018 0
On to Centennial Channel, the enigma of the upper river. Such fantastic habitat that steelhead either cant find, or simply dont like. After close to 25 years of watching this place grow I still havent decided which it is. Today we saw no fish or redds. Conditions for observations were perfect; water temp was 5 ° C Other years ..
2012 0, 2014 0, 2015 0, 2016 9, 2017 1, 2018- 3
The gravel pad below the 3rd bridge had 2 fish spawning but the holding water where fish usually stage was in shadows. Interestingly, this site has consistently had the first spawners, visible to us, from the 3 sites. Other years ..
2016 9, 2017 4, 2018 -0
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On to Centennial Channel, the enigma of the upper river. Such fantastic habitat that steelhead either cant find, or simply dont like. After close to 25 years of watching this place grow I still havent decided which it is. Today we saw no fish or redds. Conditions for observations were perfect; water temp was 5 ° C Other years ..
2012 0, 2014 0, 2015 0, 2016 9, 2017 1, 2018- 3
Probably not genetically programmed to use it, Its crazy how salmon and steel head are programmed. Chilliwack Chinook each year show up in the ocean just of the Fraser this time of year to feed on Sticklebacks, Like clock work. The brown algae bloom starts, the bait moves offshore to feed on it and the Chinooks show up.
The amount of information salmon and steel hold in their genetics about where, when to feed and spawn is crazy.
Probably no steelhead genetics left programmed to use it.
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Probably not genetically programmed to use it, Its crazy how salmon and steel head are programmed. Chilliwack Chinook each year show up in the ocean just of the Fraser this time of year to feed on Sticklebacks, Like clock work. The brown algae bloom starts, the bait moves offshore to feed on it and the Chinooks show up.
The amount of information salmon and steel hold in their genetics about where, when to feed and spawn is crazy.
Probably no steelhead genetics left programmed to use it.
Some interesting points M. It is so frustrating to see so much quality spawning gravel not being used in an area of river that has virtually no suitable sized gravel. Steelhead have spawned historically in this area, pinks and coho love it. My best guess is there are so few steelhead up this far, they simply can't find the entrance.
Curious, as both Chilliwack chinook stocks are transplants, which one feeds on sticklebacks?
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Probably not genetically programmed to use it, Its crazy how salmon and steel head are programmed. Chilliwack Chinook each year show up in the ocean just of the Fraser this time of year to feed on Sticklebacks, Like clock work. The brown algae bloom starts, the bait moves offshore to feed on it and the Chinooks show up.
It's crazy how what you wrote was similarly posted by Bon Chovy on this site that day before. Crazy uncanny.
"Like every April around this time, the longer, warmer days trigger a plankton bloom in local waters. This change in the food web, causes the herring, anchovies and sticklebacks to push offshore. Where the bait fish go, the chinook will go and that is exactly what has happened!"
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It's crazy how what you wrote was similarly posted by Bon Chovy on this site that day before. Crazy uncanny.
"Like every April around this time, the longer, warmer days trigger a plankton bloom in local waters. This change in the food web, causes the herring, anchovies and sticklebacks to push offshore. Where the bait fish go, the chinook will go and that is exactly what has happened!"
I wrote about it last year and the year before, its no secret the feast happens with a Diatom bloom. Also had pictures in a report in 2017 in the fishing report section about it.
http://www.fishingwithrod.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=41004.0
As far as the harrison transplants go, They have took them from the chilliwack hatchery, placed them in net pen out front the CAP and they still have high survivability and show up and feed in the same area and times as the Chilliwack harrison but they return to where they were released.
These fish are programmed genetically
I bet if the hatchery took steelhead smolts and released them into the Centennial Channel in 4 years those same fish would be using it
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Buck, Emmathedog and I made our third trip up river this morning, starting as usual at the lake. Thankfully the gate was open, saving us a walk of a few km, all good at our ages. Quite a few campers, boat launch in good shape. At the outlet we saw 5 on the gravel pad, none staging. Good viewing conditions, water temp again at 6°C. These fish may be the ones we saw last week, but the amount of gravel disturbance suggests other fish have recently spawned here.
Past numbers on this app date: 2013 20, 2014 3, 2015 20, 2016 10, 2018 0
Centennial Channel also had campers and, no fish or redds. Emma into the dried out fish bones again .. Water temp was also 6° 0.
Past years: 2012- 4, 2013 3, 2014 0, 2015 5, 2016 8, 2017 0, and 2018 1
Third bridge had 2 fish staging, none on the gravel pad.
Past years: 2013 4, 2016 6, 2017 5, 2018 - 1
Hope you are updating your graphs to include this new data WMY ;)
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Thank you for your efforts. Enjoy reading your reports.
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So far looks better then last year, but the bar was set pretty low, was hoping you would see close to 2015 numbers but it looks like a decline
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Trip 4 this morning, starting at the lake. What a pleasure to have the gate open! Conditions for viewing were great we saw 6 fish on the gravel and 7 staging. All fish were larger than average and 2 were close enough to see adipose fins. Water temperature 8° C Previous numbers on app same date:
2011 5, 2013 20, 2014 7, 2015 21, 2016 7, 2018 0
Centennial channel was also 8° C, and as is becoming usual, empty of fish. No signs of gravel disturbance, no coho fry, no mergansers, both of which were seen frequently in earlier years. But some good news, last weeks campers left the area spotless ..
In 2011 0, 2012 7, 2013 3, 2014 1, 2015 2, 2016 6, 2018 0
Conditions for viewing the gravel pad at the 3rd bridge was good, but the staging area was poor. No fish were seen. In 2011 2, 2013 4, 2014 5, 2016 6, 2017 5, 2018 0.
Pete and I and Emmathedog will continue for a few more weeks and finish out the season but are thinking this will be our last year of doing these counts. Were hopeful a few others a bit younger will consider carrying on with these enumerations and adding to this unique data set. If interested contact either of us.
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Like they say, Dave thank you for your service. Your efforts will be missed. Gord
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Thanks Dave! Your efforts are hugely appreciated.
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Thanks for the kind words GordJ and typhoon we posted the fact this was our last year doing these counts in the hopes others would volunteer to continue these enumerations .. so far we are still waiting.
Trip 5 this morning, starting as usual at the lake outlet. Water temperature was down to 7° C, and viewing conditions were good, but you cant count what isnt there. Zero fish seen and periphyton already growing on last weeks redds, indicating no spawning since last week. Very, very disappointing. Other years on app the same date: 2012 30, 2013 -21, 2014- 14, 2015 16, 2016 12, 2017 8, 2018 not counted. You dont need a graph to see the trend here.
On to Centennial channel where the temperature was also 7°C, and again no fish observed, no gravel disturbances. Just for the hell of it we turned over a few rocks looking for invertebrates, and saw nothing. Other years: 2011- 32, 2012 7, 2013 18, 2014 13, 2015 4, 2016 1, 2017 8, 2018 5
The third bridge had excellent viewing conditions and one was seen, a moribund wild (adipose intact) male. Other years: 2011 3, 2014 2, 2015 -4, 2016 0, 2017 2. Years not listed were not counted due to high water.
Stopped at the hatchery where no fish were seen. We were told 160K eggs were taken from 31 females, and this years parr will be released this week should make for some happy mergansers.
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Just for the hell of it we turned over a few rocks looking for invertebrates, and saw nothing.
;D
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Trip #6 this morning, with slightly better results. 6 fish were seen at Chilliwack Lake, all on the gravel. Conditions for observations were poor for counting staging fish, due to higher water from snow melt, but any spawning fish were easy to spot. Water temperature 9° C. In past years:
2012 30, 2015 15, 2017 16, in other years water was too high for accurate observations.
Centennial channel had its usual nothing
we found this even more disturbing as the river level was up considerably, making the entrance to this channel much more fish friendly. Again, we saw no evidence of steelhead using this habitat. Water temperature was 8° C. Past years counts:
2011 -19, 2012 4, 2013 -18, 2015 2, 2017 4, 2018 0
The third bridge was too high to count but past years:
2011 3, 2012 3, 2013 2015 2, all other years the river was in freshet.
We will do at least one more count next week.
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is there not stream keeper organization that would be able to continue these counts. steelhead society members? steelhead derby members?
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is there not stream keeper organization that would be able to continue these counts. steelhead society members? steelhead derby members?
So far we have had no volunteers to continue these counts.
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Pete, Emmathedog, and I made our last trip into the upper river this morning. We got an early start, but the rain increased the further we went. 2 fish were seen on the gravel at Chilliwack Lake but viewing conditions were very poor. Water temperature had risen considerably, up to 12° C. Past numbers on comparable dates: 2015 1, 2017 18. In all other years counts were not done due to poor viewing conditions.
We decided not to attempt counting Centennial channel because the rain was too heavy, and bush has grown to the point where the channel is not that easy to see now. In past years: 2011 19, 2012 -4, 2013 18, 2014 1, 2017 -5, 2018 -0.
The third bridge was too high for observations.
So, over nine years, 63 daily observations, and viewing 791 steelhead, we have documented what many already knew; the numbers of early run steelhead, those that migrate from late November till app. the end of January, are declining. Considering there is virtually no interception of these fish from commercial or FN fisheries, habitat in the upper river is acceptable and often exceptional, and limited seal/otter predation, the reasons for this decline can be narrowed down somewhat. We think its likely a combination of issues, including:
1. Overharvesting by sports fishers back in the days of plenty. Remember, c&r wasnt often practiced , and near full punch cards by the end of February, when nearly everyone stopped fishing, was normal for decent anglers. A very common sight was a full box of fish at Riverside Resort (anglers would leave their first fish there, while out catching the next). Both Pete and I remember seeing hundreds of fish holding in the Box canyon back in the early 70s, and recall seeing up to 30 fish hooked in one run more than occasionally.
2. Climate/ocean change resulting in poorer survivals. What used to be 10% survival from smolt to adult is now just a fraction of that.
3. Influence of hatchery fish on wild genetics and, fish interactions. Removing up to 75 wild fish annually from a population we believe is now in the low hundreds is simply not sustainable. As well, returning hatchery fish tend to congregate near the hatchery this entices wild fish to hang out with them, delaying upstream migration resulting in more exposure to angler pressure.
The decline in numbers of these fish from when we were young is massive; the decline of these fish in the roughly two cycles we have been counting is, in our opinion, possibly irreversible.
Our 2 recommendations are to have the river closed to angling April 1 upstream of Tamihi Creek, protecting staging wild fish from constant catch and release, and allowing them to spawn unmolested. And, the Province and DFO have to sit down and hammer out a steelhead hatchery program, designed specifically for these fish and this river. To do this right of course would require both time and money. At the speed government makes decisions, and the fact neither the Feds nor the Province really cares about these fish makes us a bit pessimistic.
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Thanks for these courts, It's hard not to be pessimistic.People tend not to care till they are all gone or closed. Then it will be all fingers pointed at "DFO Mismanagement" with no acknowledgement from the industry in how we got here.
I believe if the Chilliwack SFAC came up with some recommendations and put in a motion for DFO and sent it also to the provence in a letter that it would probably get some traction.
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I stumbled upon this looking for something else. Dave/Buck is it your opinion that the entire Chilliwack River Wild steelhead population is in the low hundreds, or just the early run that returns in December/January? If were talking about early run fish I would agree but I would have to disagree if you believe thats the entire population size.
Also I would strongly disagree with your reasoning for fish congregating near the hatchery. Yes the hatchery and wild fish will hold and stage in limit hole and the few runs above but the main reason for that is the fact there isnt angling pressure. They are holding there because its closed. The few runs below the boundary have lost too much depth over the last 10 years and simply dont hold fish like they used to. They move out pretty quickly with the angling pressure. If you moved the boundary down to pretty much anywhere you would see the same large congregation of fish in the first decent piece of holding water in the closed section.
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1. Overharvesting by sports fishers back in the days of plenty. Remember, c&r wasnt often practiced , and near full punch cards by the end of February, when nearly everyone stopped fishing, was normal for decent anglers. A very common sight was a full box of fish at Riverside Resort (anglers would leave their first fish there, while out catching the next). Both Pete and I remember seeing hundreds of fish holding in the Box canyon back in the early 70s, and recall seeing up to 30 fish hooked in one run more than occasionally.
2. Climate/ocean change resulting in poorer survivals. What used to be 10% survival from smolt to adult is now just a fraction of that.
3. Influence of hatchery fish on wild genetics and, fish interactions. Removing up to 75 wild fish annually from a population we believe is now in the low hundreds is simply not sustainable. As well, returning hatchery fish tend to congregate near the hatchery this entices wild fish to hang out with them, delaying upstream migration resulting in more exposure to angler pressure.
... At the speed government makes decisions, and the fact neither the Feds nor the Province really cares about these fish makes us a bit pessimistic.
Your efforts are much appreciated Dave and Buck. Further to your point number 1, even though there is no longer an allowable harvest of wild fish, the earlier arrivals are exposed to the catch and release fishery over a longer period and thus many are caught and released several (many?) times over the course of their river residency. This results in a higher mortality rate and possibly lower spawning success for the early fish. So, perhaps the only way to rebuild the earlier component would be a complete closure of the steelhead fishery for a couple of generations. Given your last comment about the government folk, we obviously don't need to worry about that happening ;) ;) ;D
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Your efforts are much appreciated Dave and Buck. Further to your point number 1, even though there is no longer an allowable harvest of wild fish, the earlier arrivals are exposed to the catch and release fishery over a longer period and thus many are caught and released several (many?) times over the course of their river residency. This results in a higher mortality rate and possibly lower spawning success for the early fish. So, perhaps the only way to rebuild the earlier component would be a complete closure of the steelhead fishery for a couple of generations. Given your last comment about the government folk, we obviously don't need to worry about that happening ;) ;) ;D
Or is the issue more that the early fish are more likely to end up as hatchery brood stock? Maybe they should stop collecting brood stock before March or so for a few generations and see if that makes a difference.
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Did the provence put out a run size estimate or a final document for their floats?
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Did the provence put out a run size estimate or a final document for their floats?
It's in prep. Will be available online (EcoCat) when complete.