Yikes, suddenly the Chilliwack/Vedder River is a poop show after one incident is being reported, a couple of days of limiting out and some garbage is found. 
Best to avoid it! 
For the most part, I'd have to say that I have seen a significant improvement on the quality of the fishery and behaviours of anglers in the past two decades. Saturday I popped down to the canal briefly and accessed a run that had at least 40 people along it. I "squeezed in between a couple of people who I knew, and someone else then came in ten feet above me. I wasn't going to get offended, but realizing that it is what it is, most of the people do not have the luxury to fish all the time so they are just trying to enjoy the day and catch some fish. Everyone in that run was fishing properly and just about everyone was hauling in coho salmon. Unmarked fish were released right away in the water, the atmosphere was great!
Certainly it isn't for everyone, the ideal scenario would be to fish in solitude when enjoying the outdoors but this is one of the few put and take fisheries left next to Metro Vancouver where over 2 million people call home. It is going to get busy during the peak of the season. This also does not condone what Gil_Tea experienced on the weekend. The point is that not all crowds are bad, majority of the anglers are out there doing the right thing but a few bad apples can ruin the day for sure. While I was having a great time fishing last week, I saw more experienced anglers helping out people who obviously had no idea what they were doing and they ended up catching coho because of that. I saw female anglers fishing and catching fishing in the crowd with their space being respected. I think the Vedder River is how you want it to be. If you come out here to fish and focus on the negatives, you undoubtedly will find it. If you approach it with a positive mindset and intend to also help others, then you'll have a great day.
Regarding garbage, I think the Chilliwack/Vedder River Cleanup Society has done an amazing job. Imagine if this organization was not started back in 2001 by anglers, how much more garbage would have accumulated in this watershed. We need to keep having these cleanups, keep educating the young minds so their behaviours are correct from the start, keep being vigilant and report all violations to weed out those who are ruining it for the rest of us.
Back to river conditions, it's slowly on the rise now after last night's rain, but it should hold... hopefully! The weather forecast for the rest of the week looks great, which should lead up to a good Thanksgiving weekend of fishing for everyone.
Went to this run this afternoon and cleaned up some garbage, was not to bad. When out on the sandbar only got one or two pieces of garbage, maybe it got washed away as the tidal effect covers the bar at high tide. A fellow there was catching a few jack coho salmon. The down part I found a dead chinook doe some one had tossed in the grass with the roe all gone, slit open. I wonder who did this will see this post?
Also while on the last hunting trip I found a cooler full of rotting trout, will send picture off to the CO sevice.
It is amazing what one finds when cleaning up garbage. I also found a nice filiting knife but it was at another site away from th Vedder, also a pile of needles, most unopened.
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Topic: 2019 Chilliwack River fall salmon fishery information & water condition updates (Read 160887 times)