Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum
Fishing in British Columbia => General Discussion => Topic started by: redlad on October 04, 2011, 05:45:24 PM
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I am sitting back thinking on the 2011 Pink Run and I can't help but feel something went wrong. I ilke to fly fish the non tidal fraser in the Aggassiz area (both sides of the river). I has some very good days, but also a couple of days where I worked pretty hard by Pink standards. W
What struck me the most was late in the season when I went to check out spots where pinks traditionally spawn in Fraser main stem and in side channels. There was a fraction of the fish you would normally see. In fact a fraction of the fish even from 4 years ago when it was a relatlively poor run. I know the claim is there 17.5 million fish, but obviously not that many came through. Has there been any changes to the numbers?
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Wonder if the two week commercial opening at the mouth had anything to do it ? ???
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the seiners took way to many in my eye ! thanks Jimmy Pattison! >:(
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That was my thought as well. It just seems like way too much. I am concerned about 2 years from now.
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Well wasnt the numbers 17.x return, with 11 million going to commercial, and another 2 to FN? I dont know the exact numbers, but I know that there were nets, and it was slow! Out of about, id say 15-20 trips out, I had 3 with fishies. 2 Good days, lots of action, bites, and fights, and 1 with only a couple. Chalk it up to low numbers, inexperience and bad luck, id say it was a damn fine run! It wasnt nearly as insane as everyone made it out to be, my expectations where not met, and I had some of the best times of my life!
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it is definitely way lesser fish than last run
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I had a solid two weeks of pink fishing. Limit out on every trip. And a spring to boot. The commercial fishery did slow things down; however, being at the right place at the right time was the key.
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it is definitely way lesser fish than last run
Sad thing is we will never know what the Fraser pink salmon population (or for that matter any tributary stream) was in 2011 due to DFO funding constraints. One hopes a recommendation of the multimilliondollar Cohen enquiry would be to fund stock assessments for all salmonids.
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That was my thought as well. It just seems like way too much. I am concerned about 2 years from now.
They probably nailed a very high percentage of females in the last 2 weeks.
I too hope it doesn't cause problems 2 years from now.
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deffinatly wasnt as good of a run this year, and i noticed on the vedder alot less females then previous years, previous years i found about 1/4 they were females but this year maybe 1 out of every 12 were females. hopefully this isnt the end of the epic fraser pink runs...
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I had the worst pink run year this year...2 for 20 :'(
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deffinatly wasnt as good of a run this year, and i noticed on the vedder alot less females then previous years, previous years i found about 1/4 they were females but this year maybe 1 out of every 12 were females.
Really? Thats interesting, I have not noticed skewed ratios at all. From the Squamish to the Fraser to the Vedder, all the pinks I have hooked have been about equal numbers males to females, or probably actually closer to 60% does, if anything...
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Really? Thats interesting, I have not noticed skewed ratios at all. From the Squamish to the Fraser to the Vedder, all the pinks I have hooked have been about equal numbers males to females, or probably actually closer to 60% does, if anything...
The majority of mine were females as well, especially the earlier fish. I did catch a few males near the end of September.
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Think once they're in there and getting stale the males are just more aggressive, most of the fresh ones I was getting moving through in the canal were does, most of the incidental catch looking for coho with roe were males.
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well now that i think about it there was a lota does swimming by just not stopping while the males like mentioned bit more, the does just kinda bumped things instead of biting. and no these were decent pinks not really humped males
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I have nothing to compare it to since this was my first pink season, although I was able to get into a fair bit of action as I went out at least a dozen times .... it did not really live up to the hype. I think a lot of it was the commercial openings, when I was out and there were openings, boy was it ever quiet.
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Are there not commercial openings for every pink run? Is there some particular reason why this year's commercial fishery would impact sport fishing more than previous years (ie catch quotas or timings)?
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With no scientific basis at all I would have to agree that the commercial opening had a big impact. The runs on the Washington puget sound rivers were very plentiful (i.e. the Snohomish and Skagit). But I also wonder how many Fraser fish strayed to other rivers - I know pinks do this far more than sockeye. The high water level/turbidity and or water temperature could always be factors.
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Are there not commercial openings for every pink run? Is there some particular reason why this year's commercial fishery would impact sport fishing more than previous years (ie catch quotas or timings)?
Canada used most of their TAC on Pinks this year rather than targetting Sockeye.
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My own experience on the Fraser this year was as good or better than two years ago. I fish mostly around Crescent Island and the water quality was not as good this year and I did not see as many fish (especially on the north side of the island), but I still caught as many fish as I did during the previous run.
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last numbers i saw were 7.5 million taken from 17 million run, i spoke to a commercial fisherman and he said catches were poor in area 29 seiners and gillnetters. most were taken in area 12 johnstone straits and u.s. waters. in 2009 the run was 19.5 million, catch only 2.8 million so escapement was 16.5 million compared to 9.5 mil this year thats why it was not so easy this year.
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It was abysmal compared to '09.
This season I landed 4 in about 12 outings.
'09 season I landed about 40 of them.
From talking to others I think it was much the same for most out there.
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It was abysmal compared to '09.
This season I landed 4 in about 12 outings.
'09 season I landed about 40 of them in the same number of outings.
From talking to others I think it was much the same for most out there.
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I was overeager and started too early, though I did manage to get a very large chrome doe on Aug. 21st.
I didn't fish much after Sept. 1st (I was stillwater fishing), but I averaged a fish per half hour of effort in 4 outings in the Fort Langley area using flies and spoons.
I saw no illegal activity in any of my trips and everyone seemed relatively happy even with fewer fish. Overall I'm more than pleased with the Pink season.
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i think the lower fraser water clarity was just dismall. i have never seen the freshet last so long into september leaving the water so turbid. the go to lures did not generate many bites. most of the pinks probably never saw lures go past them it was that cloudy sometimes. i think july wasn't hot enough to clean the fraser river enough for good fishing conditions. been fishing for pinks since 1995 and this is the worst year 3 total landed. saw many fisherman every outing leave empty handed as well. maybe 2013 will be better. i give the 2011 pink run a thumbs down. :(
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Thought the pink season was very good, was into pinks every location I went to, timing is everything
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I didn't know what to expect going in to the season, but overall I was very impressed. Lots of fish to catch, but like others have said, you had to be at the right place at the right time (tides) to really have good time.
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i agree with the guy/gal who pointed out that for at least the first 10 days of September or so, the water clarity was brutal - there was no visibility! It definitely made things a little tougher, and the first 10 days of Sept. were when I saw the most fish, by far (like fish jumping everywhere during high tide). But the second and third week of September, i didn't see nearly as many fish jumping/rolling; and compared to 2009, I saw tons of fish jumping/rolling everywhere during the high tides well into the 3rd week of September.
All that being said, this was by far my best year for pinks. I caught fish on every outing except for 2 days, and I probably went out at least 15 - 20 days. Mostly because i didn't find my spot until about half-way through the previous pink run. But this year I knew exactly where to go, when to go, what to use, and how to use it! (my hooking - vs. - landing ratio was pretty bad this year too)
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Timing was very important this year, much more so than other years. Trust me far fewer fish made it through to spawn than in years past. :'(