Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

Author Topic: 2019 Upper Chilliwack River steelhead enumerations  (Read 9871 times)

Dave

  • Old Timer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3377
Re: 2019 Upper Chilliwack River steelhead enumerations
« Reply #15 on: May 13, 2019, 11:03:12 AM »

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.



Logged

wildmanyeah

  • Old Timer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2017
Re: 2019 Upper Chilliwack River steelhead enumerations
« Reply #16 on: May 13, 2019, 12:50:10 PM »

is there not stream keeper organization that would be able to continue these counts. steelhead society members? steelhead derby members?

« Last Edit: May 13, 2019, 01:01:55 PM by wildmanyeah »
Logged

Dave

  • Old Timer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3377
Re: 2019 Upper Chilliwack River steelhead enumerations
« Reply #17 on: May 20, 2019, 09:45:58 AM »

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.
Logged

Dave

  • Old Timer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3377
Re: 2019 Upper Chilliwack River steelhead enumerations
« Reply #18 on: May 20, 2019, 09:52:54 AM »

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 it’s likely a combination of issues, including:
1.   Overharvesting by sports fishers back in the days of plenty. Remember, c&r wasn’t 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 70’s, 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.
Logged

wildmanyeah

  • Old Timer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2017
Re: 2019 Upper Chilliwack River steelhead enumerations
« Reply #19 on: May 20, 2019, 01:15:33 PM »

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.
« Last Edit: May 20, 2019, 01:17:51 PM by wildmanyeah »
Logged

avid angler

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 370
Re: 2019 Upper Chilliwack River steelhead enumerations
« Reply #20 on: June 30, 2019, 08:39:56 PM »

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 we’re 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 isn’t angling pressure. They are holding there because it’s closed. The few runs below the boundary have lost too much depth over the last 10 years and simply don’t 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.
« Last Edit: June 30, 2019, 08:47:38 PM by avid angler »
Logged

firebird

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 222
Re: 2019 Upper Chilliwack River steelhead enumerations
« Reply #21 on: July 04, 2019, 07:27:41 AM »

1.   Overharvesting by sports fishers back in the days of plenty. Remember, c&r wasn’t 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 70’s, 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
Logged

CohoJake

  • Old Timer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 727
Re: 2019 Upper Chilliwack River steelhead enumerations
« Reply #22 on: July 04, 2019, 11:33:23 AM »

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.
Logged

wildmanyeah

  • Old Timer
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2017
Re: 2019 Upper Chilliwack River steelhead enumerations
« Reply #23 on: July 04, 2019, 07:00:14 PM »

Did the provence put out a run size estimate or a final document for their floats?
 
Logged

firebird

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 222
Re: 2019 Upper Chilliwack River steelhead enumerations
« Reply #24 on: July 04, 2019, 08:32:31 PM »

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.
Logged