Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => General Discussion => Topic started by: chris gadsden on March 08, 2007, 12:38:02 PM
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I was told last night that the Chehalis River diverson project in the vicinity of Easter Seal Run is now underway and the river is running through the original channel, past the hatchery.
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THAT'S EXCELLENT, ABOUT TIME ! HOPEFULLY IT STAYS THIS WAY !
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THAT'S EXCELLENT, ABOUT TIME ! HOPEFULLY IT STAYS THIS WAY !
I think so as they are spending lots of money on this project.
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WHAT TOOK THEM SO LONG ?
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Love to hear a first hand report of the work...is any water going down the old channel or is 100% towards the hatchery?
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Is there any concern over fish that may have been holding in the lower river before the water was diverted? Hopefully they would get out of there as the water dropped, but do you think that might be a valid concern Chris?
thx,
rib
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Whooo Hoo!!!!
:D
Nicole
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WHAT TOOK THEM SO LONG ?
Native Healing Centre threatened so that got things going.
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THREATENED TO DO WHAT ?
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Is there any concern over fish that may have been holding in the lower river before the water was diverted? Hopefully they would get out of there as the water dropped, but do you think that might be a valid concern Chris?
thx,
rib
I expressed my concern to the chap that told me about this. I was concerned about the eggs that may have been deposited during the spawning time frame in this area. As well the steelhead, smolts etc. that could be in this area during the diverson. His thoughts on this was that the fish would drop back as the water levels dropped but I wondered if they would hold up in pools left behind as the water receded. It could be similar to what happened when we rescued all the trapped chum out of the Vedder after the November flood.
Hopefully this did not happen and those involved in this project took care and checked the old channel as the water dropped and moved any trapped fish. I guess we can not judge what happened as we were not there.
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THREATENED TO DO WHAT ?
I guess I should have worded it differently. I believe the high water nearly breached the dyke during the flood and the building were in danger of being flooded. As well the Chehalis Reserve I have been told was getting close to being flooded by the direction the channel was cutting through the bush.
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I HEARD THAT WHEN THE WATER STARTED COMING THROUGH THEIR GRAVE YARDS, THEY FINALLY GOT UP AND R NOW ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING ABOUT THIS PROBLEM, IT'S A SHAME IT'S TAKEN THEM THIS LONG THOUGH !
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I agree. Too bad it took this long.
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I suppose it would be easy for DFO to send an electroshock crew through the old channel and collect up the stragglers... That channel can't be more than 2km in length, and you could walk the dry riverbed.
Of course this does not help the fact that the river does still run into the bush right below the hatchery, the brush is still quite dense, but at least the fish can get to the hatchery now.
I still miss the old stretch through pretty's, and the nineties pool... And grassy. It was one nice long walk!
Cheers,
nicole
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good luck collecting any fry that are zapped by electroshocking. Speaking from experience, you're very lucky to catch them when the substrate is as large as it is. They dart straight into crevises/voids and don't come out. Plus, once you've shocked a fish, you shouldn't do it again unless you are planning on eating it.
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If they're going to go through all the trouble to re-locate the river, why not finish the job and work on cleaning up some of the brush below the hatchery?
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Whats wrong with the river running through the brush ??? I know the obvious answer would be so that we get more opportunity to fish, but I can't help but think of how much benefit there is to having the river like this. Those log jams make for excellent parr habitat, and do a heck of a good job containing the chum carcasses rather than having them all wash downstream in high water. Plus, if you knew where to look some of stagant ponds off to the side of the log jams stacked up with coho in the fall.
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I still miss the old stretch through pretty's, and the nineties pool... And grassy. It was one nice long walk!
Cheers,
nicole
That was my favorite and most productive part of the river. I hope it comes back even a little bit.
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Good point, I've never seen it, but by the way it was described, it sounded like it was an obstruction.
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There still could be time to save the steelhead/smolts in those pools (hopefully) if there is any pools....I went for a hike below es in feb and man there was a few nice runs way back in there....although there was fish carcasses/skeletons way into the trees from the high water we had in there :-\...but ya...if anyone knows if there is any pools...I wouldn't mind going for a walk way back in there and reviving some steel if there is any.....but...they should have done the job right the 1st time!!! they put the high side of the dug out on the wrong side of the new channel last time resulting in the blow out of ES! So is it official that 100% of the flow is heading back through the hatchery run now?
Mike <"))))))><
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So is it official that 100% of the flow is heading back through the hatchery run now?
Mike <"))))))><
That is what I have been told but they are still working on the dyke.
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Strange time to start with an in-stream project.........but I guess if you are the ones who issue the permits anything is possible. I assume that the de-watering of the old channel will be taking place slowly and hopefully as many fish as possible will be salvaged before it is completed.
Good point about the electo-fishing difficulties with fry in large substrate bentrod, I do not agree with removing the brush below the hatchery though. I have salvaged suicide and coldwater before dewatering for pipeline crossings or gravel removal and the fry are very hard to get out. Many will be lost on the Chehalis if the old channel is completely dried up no matter what the salvage efforts are.
As for the folks who are saying "about time" etc, they have dug a new channel several times over the past few years to divert the water but it always re-routs itself. If they do a good job with the rip-rap dyking this diversion will probably last more than 1 high water unlike previous attempts.
As for the way the river was back when you could drive right in to Pretty's, I miss it very much as well. I caught my first settlie in that area 16 years ago and can still remember many of the old runs....
Any river fisher has to have a long memory to keep track of all the "Favorite Holes" they have loved and lost over the years...... All the more reason to keep exploring I guess!
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They are spending big dollars this time to make sure it stays where they put it but of course a river has a mind of its own.
The reason they have decided to do it now on the Chehalis as well as doing the gravel excavation at Vedder Crossing on the Chilliwack is they are forcasting a huge freshet this year. This is what the powers to be are telling us anyway.
Work supposedly is being done to prevent flooding of the two FN Reserves at these two sites.
Of course we will see the same large runoff on the Fraser River because of the above average snow pack this year and still building. This will mean a lot less fishing this year on the Fraser as well but that discussion should be on another thread.
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Well if they engineered the channel going back to the Hatchery properly they would of saved a lot of grief for everyone...over the past years...
When they did the "diversion" process previous times they built the high side of the "new hatch channel" @ ES on the wrong side.....so when the river came roaring down...it did not have a strong high side for the river to hit and carve....it just blew out the low side! Like I don't get it sometimes.....all of these no brainer things just get messed up somehow....nowI would expect that the 3rd time will be the charm! I might have to go for a little peek a boo up there this weekend or next to see how things are.....
Maybe with a little luck with a big blow out all those old school spots (pretty etc) will come back! My only concern is for the fish populations to improve on the chehalis....there seemed to be quite a downfall for coho over the past 2-3 years...
Mike <"))))))><
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I spoke with a hatchery worker at the capilano and he said that juvenile escapes from Georgia straight were very low for a 2 year period and that DFO expected low coho returns in 2005 and 2006. I guarantee you these 2 years were my worst coho years ever. On the good side, when this conversation happened earlier this winter, he said the following 2 runs looked much more healthy in terms of the numbers. Hopefully there will be lots of coho for everyone and more elbow room on the chehalis to get them!
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Chris, during the years you have lived in Chilliwack have you ever seen a spring flood ? I haven't. Spring freshets tend to be long drawn out events that last until mid July depending on temperatures. This is just another example of the destruction of potential fish habitat for profit. Who is standing up for the protection of our resource?
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Having the hatchery channel cut off from all returning species can't have made the hatcheries job any easier. Keep in mind that from the hatchery down to the mouth represents only a fraction of the river...mayber 20%, which means 80% of the river is absolutely unaffected by this change.
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Chris, during the years you have lived in Chilliwack have you ever seen a spring flood ? I haven't. Spring freshets tend to be long drawn out events that last until mid July depending on temperatures. This is just another example of the destruction of potential fish habitat for profit. Who is standing up for the protection of our resource?
You have got that correct on all counts. We tackled this issue on the Fraser River last year as most readers know, it was a lot of hard work and some people have said if we have a flood this year it will because gravel was not taken off. However a number of Politicians have retracted that position now as I think it would be hard to take enough gravel off to prevent a flood if one is going to happen. Look what happened on the Vedder this year were a record amount was taken off, did it prevent a flood in November and as well is there any sign of these massive holes now? I do not see any as all that happened more gravel from above got washed down from above
Maybe in certain places if you take gravel off it could redirect the flow but I am no authority on this.
The answer in my mind is to raise and strenghten the dikes in certain area's. I had a meeting with Solicitor General John Les this afternoon and will report on another thread in what the Province is going to do re the situation on the Fraser.
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THIS IS A GOOD CHANGE PEOPLE !
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thank god, just saw the post. I love hearing stories and seeing pics of when my dad used to fish the chehalis when it was on its original flow. So many nice runs in the pics. Hope fishing will pick up.
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I took drive up to the chehalis just got back... River is in the trees, and running brown... I took some photos of the work they are doing at easter seal, and the diversion project has not yet started... Don't waste your time.
To add to this, I thought i'd take a walk downstream to see where the future path will go, and It's obvious the river will run right into the trees below the hatchery pool, and is almost impenetrable with the deadfall, log jams, etc. It may split off and run half into the bush, and half down the old channel, but it's really hard to say at this point.
I thrashed through the bush for an hour before I came to the conclusion i'm never going down there again; once the water volume slams in there at full force, maybe some of that crap will be blown out, and some new runs will be formed.
The first 100 yards will likely be whitewater. I was literally wading in the middle of the channel under huge hemlocks to get downstream, and there's one stretch of at least 50 downed trees, many of them will be across the new channel when the change happens.
I'll post some easter seal pics in a bit, once Tomas gets them off the camera!
Cheers,
Nicole
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Ok here are the photos, I made some panoramas:
(http://www.nicolegoodman.com/albums/Miscellaneous/easterseal2.sized.jpg)
(http://www.nicolegoodman.com/albums/Miscellaneous/easterseal1.sized.jpg)
(http://www.nicolegoodman.com/albums/Miscellaneous/hatchery.jpg)
There you go.
Nicole
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once that water calms down and isn't so coloured, i'm gonna be out there
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Well than....they haven't even started diverting yet....its been 100% approved most likely...as what your pics show nicole, is what I saw when I was up there a couple weeks ago....it hasn't changed yet....to bad they didn't start diverting it yet...as the river will blow out for sure tomorrow...would of been a great time to see the new channel get blown in there....and no matter what this time it will be diverted as the "aboriginal" people are getting annoyed with the loss of their land! I would figure that when the water gets lower they will try to block off the channel going through the trees with big rocks, and logs etc. and it will direct through to the channel they started digging last yr....did u notice how the highside was on the CG side and not the forest side?
Mike <"))))))><
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After thinking it over a little longer I'm not convinced that the river is being diverted back to the hatchery. Count me in the category of I'll believe it when I see it.
As was mentioned earlier by Pat AV, why would they be doing in stream work at this time of year. They wouldn't.
The last time I was back in that area (a few weeks ago) they had two excavators working. What they were working on looked to be a new dike system that connected with what is remaining of the old dike. Unfortunately, it started at the bottom of the old dike and gradually receded further and further from the river. Believe me, the dike they were working on was not to divert the river but rather to protect the buildings in the area. In fact if you look at the first picture that Nicole posted you can see the clearing on the far side of the river where the new dike is being put in. It continues onward in the same direction. Perhaps, it is just a part of a multi dike system, with the actual in stream work to come in the summer, but so far no diversion work has been done.
This sounds far too much like internet hearsay, that starts out as rumor and eventually gets passed along as fact. Thanks for actually going in checking this out Nicole.
Sorry to disappoint everyone. I would be more than happy to eat my words if it does in fact get diverted come summer time.
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$10,000 wouldn't even cover lunch expenses for one of the ministers.
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^ AGREED !
If you are caught down there, you are fishing on the reserve and will be treated by the band as trespassers and you will be harrased
^ I'VE NEVER HAD A PROBLEM WITH INDIANS DOWN THERE, BUT DO WATCH OUT FOR FLYING BULLETS, SINCE THEY 'VE BEEN BLASTING SEAGULLS, AND EAGLES ! >:(
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Is there any programs or projects that concerned anglers like myself can join for to help out fish stocks on the chehalis? Like maybe a fry raising/hatching program.....or something....because I have a hunch that one of my favorite rivers is about to go down the drain forever! >:( I also am renewing my membership with the FVSS......gotta look out for the next generation of anglers like myself!
Mike <"))))))><
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Why shoot bald eagles? Are they doing it because of the black market or just because they can?
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the best thing you can do for the Chehalis will be to let the DFO know that you wont stand for idleness this year and want the work done correctly so we can have continous brood stock requirements met and excellent fishing opportunity for a lot of fishermen
Alrighty than....I have a plan ;D
Why shoot bald eagles? Are they doing it because of the black market or just because they can?
Blackmarket!
Mike <"))))))))><
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Why shoot bald eagles? Are they doing it because of the black market or just because they can?
$$$$
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Cam,
Is there a problem with the hatchery getting brood stock or is a concern of areas to fish in?
These are two radically different concerns and only one will be dealt with by the hatchery.
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Those where the good ole days