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[RalphH]

Has an entire run of any salmon or steelhead ever arrived late or early? I’ve heard people say they’re late when the run is simply just poor. Never seen a rivers entire run shift though

Back in the 90s the Adams River sockeye run arrived 3 to 4 weeks early and then held in the lower Fraser for quite some time. Many of those fish died of disease. Same thing happened to the Harrison/Weaver run around the same time. Those fish moved into the Harrison. Water temperatures were high and a large % died. I remember fishing the river in Sept for trout and the banks and river floor was covered with dead rotted salmon. In both cases this behaviour lasted 3 or 4 years then the runs shifted back to their historical timing.

Interesting to note the Harrison has been opened for sockeye for the first time since then. Prior to that event they were caught on 'krill', just the small cocktail shrimp you can buy at Safeway etc. No need to floss.

[leadbelly]

Stopped at  busy spot late this morning after yoga, my buddies had been there all morning, saw not even one fish caught in the crowd or even risers

nets out again

fished last eve mid river and got a couple pinks, hoping it either gets better or it rains and gets the mushrooms up so I have something to do till coho season

[vancook]

I went out this morning to a popular spot as well as its close to home and had both kids with me. Counted 12 boats with nets in front. Didn't expect much when I saw them. Didn't see anyone hook up.
Found a disoriented pink doe swimming on its side by the shore, clearly had wiggled through a gill net. Tailed her and helped her recover and swam off.

[fic]

Fished the lower in the morning. Nobody on shore had fish on. The occasional fish swam by without biting.  There were way more fish on Tuesday.

[Jamier]

Fished Langley on incoming today. Caught 1 fish. A few risers around, but really slow.
How long are the nets in the lower Fraser for? 

[wildmanyeah]

https://www-ops2.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fraserriver/firstnations/PDFs/CommunalOpeningTimes.pdf

[canucksfan233]

fished richmond this afternoon from 1030-3. landed 1, lost 1. Couple of people around me landed/lost some but was about 1-3 bites per person form what I saw. Been hearing its been spotty from the fraser mouth to langley despite a good chunk of the run already pass mission.

[RalphH]

Back in the 90s the Adams River sockeye run arrived 3 to 4 weeks early and then held in the lower Fraser for quite some time. Many of those fish died of disease. Same thing happened to the Harrison/Weaver run around the same time. Those fish moved into the Harrison. Water temperatures were high and a large % died. I remember fishing the river in Sept for trout and the banks and river floor was covered with dead rotted salmon. In both cases this behaviour lasted 3 or 4 years then the runs shifted back to their historical timing.

Interesting to note the Harrison has been opened for sockeye for the first time since then. Prior to that event they were caught on 'krill', just the small cocktail shrimp you can buy at Safeway etc. No need to floss.

Below is a link to a paper on the phenomena I mentioned above. It lasted at least 7 years ('95 to 2002) and lead to very high mortalities of over 90% in some cases. At least at the time the catastrophic decline of Cultus Lake sockeye was attributed to this delay:

Abstract:


Late-run stocks are unique among Fraser River sockeye salmon populations in that they typically delay in Georgia Strait4 to 6 weeks prior to migrating upstream to spawn. Beginning in 1995, and continuing through 2002, this delay period to 6 weeks earlier than normal. Each year, the early river entry has been associated with high rates of en-route and prespawning mortality (>90% in 2000 and 2001). The abnormal behavior and mortality was less extreme in 2002 than the prior two years and results from a radio tagging program indicated that individual late-run sockeye exhibited a range of behaviors from little or no delay to near normal delay. The abnormal behavior and subsequent mortality is already threatening the viability of small populations (e.g. Cultus Lake sockeye). The Pacific Salmon Commission has held workshops and funded several studies to begin investigating the causes of this behavior. Many competing hypotheses have been proposed (e.g. involving physiology, environmental conditions, contaminants, parasites, and predators) regarding the reason(s) for early migration and high mortality. However, the cause of the behavior and mortality remain unknown. Precautionary management actions have resulted in large foregone catches of late-run and summer-run sockeye populations that co-migrate with late-run stocks in the fishing areas (e.g. Adams and Horsefly River sockeye). Similar behavior has been observed in other Fraser River salmon species, but the high mortality rates have not yet been observed

https://www.watershedwatch.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Exh-72-NonRT.pdf

[leadbelly]

Fished Langley on incoming today. Caught 1 fish. A few risers around, but really slow.
How long are the nets in the lower Fraser for?

Monday is the last day if I read things right

[leadbelly]

fished mid river for 3 hrs on the incoming tide, caught dozens on the old pink jig, had some rain, some lightening, no one else around it was pretty epic

[fic]

Lower Fraser hooked 3, landed 2. Most People around me were catching too. A few double headers.

[canucksfan233]

Monday is the last day if I read things right

pink till the 18th i think, sockeye last day is monday (9/1)

[Aurora]

Fished evening tide at Mission.  Saw only two fish rise.  There must have been close to a hundred rods on the beach.  Only one caught two and he packed up. 

Also saw one guy bottom bouncing.  Big betty with leader saver connected to > 2meter leader and a hook with some fluff.  Tried to explain that it was a drift setup and cast way upstream.  Got upset if people were close to his right.  Sad.

[Wiseguy]

Fished evening tide at Mission.  Saw only two fish rise.  There must have been close to a hundred rods on the beach.  Only one caught two and he packed up. 

Also saw one guy bottom bouncing.  Big betty with leader saver connected to > 2meter leader and a hook with some fluff.  Tried to explain that it was a drift setup and cast way upstream.  Got upset if people were close to his right.  Sad.

Idiots abound all over the river. Check out the brawl at Gill rd Sunday that’s posted all over the social media pages.

[clarki]

I am pleased that my little padawan caught his first salmon yesterday, in fact he caught his first three!

Last fall, I started mentoring a co-worker's early 20's son in the ways of the salmon. Spent an evening with he and his brother talking about salmon fishing and showing them the gear I use for coho. Also took him out late in the season to show him some spots other than the crowded tidal canal he had been fishing unsuccessfully.

In the last week of August, I took him out for pinks. We got skunked but I showed him a couple of spots and he got an idea how the fishery works and the importance of tides.

I'm out of town this week so he and his brother went pink fishing on Saturday. His bother hooked and lost one. Yesterday little padawan landed three pinks, but broke his POS rod. He's young and got a good job; now's the time to buy quality gear before he has a wife and family!