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[Chehalis_Steel]

Ok so I've been fishing the Vedder and another system on the north side of the Fraser foe a few years now. In past year I would get the odd jack coho, especially at the start of the season. This year it's just ridiculous. I've gotten like 6 or 7 in only a few outings but only 2 mature fish. Does anyone know what could cause this?   

[Rodney]

Jacks are used as an indicator of the following year's return because they are from the same parents as the following year's adults. A high abundance of jacks this year may suggest another good year of adult coho return in 2013.

[bigblockfox]

i personally havent caught a jack coho all year, just adults.

[Bandit420]

Jacks are used as an indicator of the following year's return because they are from the same parents as the following year's adults. A high abundance of jacks this year may suggest another good year of adult coho return in 2013.

I never knew that Rodney, thanks for clarifying that for us and you learm something new everday!. I as well have caught many jacks this year.

[Brian the fisherman]

i have caught 5 coho jacks this season, and they were tasty!

[typhoon]

60% jacks on the fly this year. One little bugger jumped 8 times on Sunday.

[Dave]

Jacks are used as an indicator of the following year's return because they are from the same parents as the following year's adults. A high abundance of jacks this year may suggest another good year of adult coho return in 2013.

Damn fish farms lol!

[Every Day]

Damn fish farms lol!

Hahahahaha nice.

I also caught quite a few jacks this year, more than in past years.
Greedy little buggers, they eat spoons bigger than them 

[rhino]

i personally havent caught a jack coho all year, just adults.

i had the same experience, however i only fished 4 times this year and landed 2 adult coho! : It was still fun as I played a number of of them! beaching them was another story.

[Sterling C]

Didn't hit too many jacks this year myself.

However, I did notice that the average size of the coho this year has been disturbingly small, which doesn't bode well for the future 

[Rodney]

Didn't hit too many jacks this year myself.

However, I did notice that the average size of the coho this year has been disturbingly small, which doesn't bode well for the future 

I don't think that's much of a problem for future runs. The smaller average size of returning adults is most likely due to the lack of feed toward the end of their adult phase. As long as ocean productivity continues to be cyclic, we'll see bigger average size again.

[Sir Snag-A-Lot]

I too have caught way more jacks than normal this year.  Fortunately I have had a good year for adults too. 

The interesting thing is that 100% of the jacks that I have caught have been clipped hatchery fish, whereas in adults its been roughly 60% hatchery to 40% wild.  I don't know whether this is indicative of actual differences between habits of hatchery and wild fish, or if it is just a coincidence due to a statistically insignificant sample size.

[adriaticum]

Caught a bunch of jacks and adults.
I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary in terms of jack/adult ratio.

[Sterling C]

I don't think that's much of a problem for future runs. The smaller average size of returning adults is most likely due to the lack of feed toward the end of their adult phase. As long as ocean productivity continues to be cyclic, we'll see bigger average size again.

The majority of Fraser Valley coho return as 3 year olds. If there was a lack of feed at the end of their time spent out in the ocean then we could see smaller sizes and dimished returns for future runs.

[Rodney]

The majority of Fraser Valley coho return as 3 year olds. If there was a lack of feed at the end of their time spent out in the ocean then we could see smaller sizes and dimished returns for future runs.

If the amount of feed in the ocean increases again, which it most likely will, then we should see larger sizes in those future runs that intercept the feed. Smaller returns are possible, due to smaller fecundity in smaller fish, but I think the critical period that determines the adult return number is during smoltification when they first enter ocean, where abundance of food and presence of predation play a big role.