Tuesday, July 29, 2014

The Fraser River Panel met Tuesday, July 29 to receive an update on the migration of Fraser sockeye and review the status of migration conditions in the Fraser River watershed.

Assessments of Early Summer-run sockeye abundance are ongoing and run-size estimates should be available in early August after their peak migration through marine areas.

On July 28, the Fraser River water discharge at Hope was approximately 4,765 cms, which is average for this date. The temperature of the Fraser River at Qualark Creek on July 28 was 17.8 C, which is average for this date. Fraser River water temperatures are forecast to reach 20.5C over the next few days. Sustained water temperatures in this range can cause severe stress to migrating sockeye and may lead to significant en route mortality. Migration conditions for Fraser sockeye will be monitored closely over the next several weeks and appropriate management actions will be taken.

CANADIAN FRASER RIVER PANEL AREA WATERS:

Remain closed to fishing.

UNITED STATES FRASER RIVER PANEL AREA WATERS:

TREATY INDIAN FISHERY:

Areas 4B, 5 and 6C: Open to drift gillnets 12:00 p.m. (noon), Thursday, July31, 2014, to 12:00 p.m. (noon) Saturday, August 2, 2014.

NON INDIAN FISHERY:

Remains closed to fishing.

(Note: U. S. Non-Treaty fishers should check the U.S. hotline and WDFW regulations before fishing as there are additional State of Washington regulations, including time restrictions that may be in effect).
The next in-season meeting of the Panel is scheduled to occur on Friday, August 1, 2014.

http://www.psc.org/NewsRel/2014/Announcement08.pdf

The Fraser River Panel met Tuesday, July 29, 2014 to receive an update on the
migration of the Fraser sockeye runs and review the status of migration
conditions in the Fraser River watershed.   

The migration of sockeye past the Mission hydroacoustic site continues to be
modest to date.  Test fishing catches in the Area 12 and 13 seine fisheries
have increased in recent days, while Area 20 and gillnet fisheries in marine
areas and in river continue at modest levels.

Recent stock identification analyses indicate a low proportion of Early Stuart
sockeye remaining in the samples from some marine test fisheries.  In the
Fraser River, the proportions of each stock in the most recent samples are 5%
Early Stuart, 45% Early Summers and 50% Summers (mostly Harrison River).

The estimated upriver migration of sockeye past Mission through July 28th is
482,200 fish in total of which 211,400 are estimated to be Early Stuart
sockeye, 131,600 Early Summer run, 134,200 Summer run and 5,000 Late Run.

River discharge levels have decreased slightly over the past week to a level of
4,765 cms for July 28, which is very near the historical average discharge for
this date (4,755 cms). Water temperature at Qualark is 17.8 degrees Celsius,
which is 0.3 degrees Celsius above the average temperature for this date. 
Water temperatures are forecast to increase over the coming days and discharge
levels are expected to remain slightly below average for this period.

At today's meeting, the Fraser River Panel made no changes to the adopted run
size or management adjustments for Early Stuart sockeye.  Management
adjustments are additional fish that are allowed to escape upstream to help
achieve spawning escapement targets for Fraser River sockeye.

Based on current assessments, the migration of Early Stuart sockeye is nearly
completed through the marine areas and the lower river and FSC fisheries
targeting Early Summer and Summer run sockeye are being planned.  Fishers are
requested to check updated times and restrictions for their local area.

Commercial fishery planning is ongoing for Area B, D and H to begin fisheries
targeting Early Summer and Summer run sockeye.  The earliest possible fishery
for Area D gillnet would be Saturday, August 2 and the earliest possible
fisheries for Areas B and H would be Monday August 4.  Decisions on fishing
plans will be confirmed following the next Fraser Panel meeting on Friday,
August 1.
 
Retention of sockeye in Marine recreational fisheries is expected to begin as
early as Friday, August 1.  A separate fishery notice will be issued to confirm
details.

The next in-season meeting of the Panel is scheduled to occur on Friday, August
1, 2014.


FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Jennifer Nener 604-666-6478

Fisheries & Oceans Operations Center - FN0711
Sent July 29, 2014 at 1613

I agree with Ralph on this one, side pressure and control.

I feel the same way, refine it here and reduces our costs.

Those fish look bright considering they are stacked up at the hatchery.

This is reportedly the Quinsam river near the hatchery. To say there are a lot of Pinks in the system is an understatement!

here i found the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKXgGT1WVMc

i wonder what the run size is? 30,000? 300,000?

marine area might open Friday .dfo news release says.

I was in the Langley area on the weekend and FYI the current is quite slow down there. There was enough to give a spin-n-glo some rotation but definitely wasn’t causing much of a buzz in the water. If fishing down in that area, I think you’d definitely need to add some sort of scent or bait to maximize your chances. Also visibility was 1-2 inches max, so a plain spin-n-glo would require some real luck to get into anything, I would imagine.

Isn't the visibility in between Chilliwack and Hope the same as the Tidal portion of the Fraser? I was under the impression that the main difference was the rivers current being faster and the river being more narrow in that area. Meaning proper spin on a spin n glow, and more fish in less water (narrower river) = better catch rates?

In October it's one thing to bar fish in the Tidal, I catch Coho doing that during the right tides but, not sure right now as the course fish eat the roe quicker than you can say fish on. Those course fish seem to leave the roe alone during Oct.

You said it VAGAbond! That's first thing I thought of - dad actually telling a believable fish story haha but on all rivers with all runs - that must have been abundance. I never saw the quinsam like that. Wild.

When the old timers talked about so many salmon "you could walk across the river on their backs", that is what they were talking about.  The abundance that used to be common here was phenomenal compared to now,