Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum

Fishing in British Columbia => General Discussion => Topic started by: yakideath12 on September 26, 2008, 12:03:47 PM

Title: Coquitlam river chum
Post by: yakideath12 on September 26, 2008, 12:03:47 PM
I just came back from coquitlam river, saw four chums under the kingsway bridge. yay! ;D
Title: Re: Coquitlam river chum
Post by: fishseeker on September 26, 2008, 12:57:02 PM
Very interesting - I did not know there was much left in that river.  Is is possible to fish there?
Title: Re: Coquitlam river chum
Post by: Coho Cody on September 26, 2008, 01:33:36 PM
 :-X :P :-[
Title: Re: Coquitlam river chum
Post by: Jonny 5 on September 26, 2008, 02:27:00 PM
http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/recfish/Freshwater/region2_e.htm (http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/recfish/Freshwater/region2_e.htm)

Guess I will post one here since that is such a nice river...  No retention of chums, pinks or chinook at all.  One hatchery coho per day. between oct 1 and dec 31...

No retention of WILD trout either just in case you hook one.

Have fun!  ;)

Oh yeah, since there will now be 10 people fishing under that bridge till the end of the season, here is a link to help you identify your catch.  PS, hatchery fish are missing the little fin on their back between the dorsal and tail.

http://www.ecosystems.bc.ca/Clay%20Valley/CD-ROM%20project/Assets/salmon/salmon_id.htm (http://www.ecosystems.bc.ca/Clay%20Valley/CD-ROM%20project/Assets/salmon/salmon_id.htm)
Title: Re: Coquitlam river chum
Post by: milo on September 26, 2008, 02:43:25 PM
Oh yeah, since there will now be 10 people fishing under that bridge till the end of the season, here is a link to help you identify your catch.  PS, hatchery fish are missing the little fin on their back between the dorsal and tail.


That's ten fewer people on the Vedder, Stave or Chehalis.  ;D
Title: Re: Coquitlam river chum
Post by: DionJL on September 26, 2008, 04:15:10 PM
KWB = Kingsway Bridge on the Coquitlam River.
Title: Re: Coquitlam river chum
Post by: Coho Cody on September 26, 2008, 05:04:55 PM
you want to reconsider about harming the fish in that river after reading the following:

http://www.savecoquitlamriver.com/

(http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c273/CohoCody/river01.jpg)
(http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c273/CohoCody/river03.jpg)

...yummy.............

Its funny because some people do not have the slightest clue about what goes on in this river. Just absolutely sickening and disgusting what the gravel mines dump into that river every single day. Makes you wonder how they get away with it.

also is #5 on b.c.'s most endangered list
Title: Re: Coquitlam river chum
Post by: yakideath12 on September 26, 2008, 05:18:22 PM
is this post going to  affect the river?  ??? you dont have to send me the email to delete the post.   ;D
Title: Re: Coquitlam river chum
Post by: ~IvAn~ on September 26, 2008, 05:23:18 PM
is this post going to  affect the river? 

Depends how you look at it..
Title: Re: Coquitlam river chum
Post by: Coho Cody on September 26, 2008, 05:36:47 PM
Well let's talk about more problems of the Coquitlam. We are lucky to even see chum in the river....any fish at all. Last year, BC hydro was working on the Buntzen/Coquitlam Line, releasing water for over a month straight on and off, with the river flowing over 2-3ft than normal. Now this was during the spawning of the chum. Hmmm, I wonder how many chum are going to return in 2011? Chances are none. Last year there were a select few chum in the river....a few in the river last year that spawned...and those few that spawned were screwed over because of the high water.

Another thing is the amount of fish released from the hatchery. There are 30,000 coho in the 2 tubs at the hatchery (15,000 in each). This is definately not a large amount of fish for a release expecting a huge run of fish back. Add up the survival rate of a release. Around 1% survival rate. Now add on the silt, mud, pollution, and garbage dumped into the river EVERY SINGLE DAY. The survival rate for the fish drops considerably lower.

Now, add on fishing pressure to this system. Oh, and add on all the snaggers and bonkers down at kingsway and what do you get? A fragile system than literally cannot sustain Shi* like that.

A few times every year, us at Riverside have river clean-ups. You would not believe the shi* we pick up from the river. I have already counted 4 shopping carts on the river bottom from kingsway and 200yrds down river.

Oh, one last thing. The steelhead program was shut down 5 years ago. Due to this, the hatchery is not expecting any steelhead back this year. We've tried to get the program back this year, but so far it looks like it's not going to happen anytime soon.

You choose
Title: Re: Coquitlam river chum
Post by: OGrady on September 26, 2008, 08:16:36 PM
This is the last thing that the coquitlam needs. Sad  :'(
Title: Re: Coquitlam river chum
Post by: BOWHUNTER on September 26, 2008, 09:39:44 PM
I am all for helping the coquitlam build stocks but I think that we run a very uphill battle as all it takes is one gill net in there as I have heard of before and our efforts are all for none,

hmm very frustrating, such a great river system to lose.

Title: Re: Coquitlam river chum
Post by: Geff_t on September 26, 2008, 09:45:01 PM
What is sad is that the Municipal government there just turns a blind eye to what is going on. You got to wonder how much money they gave to their campaigns during the last election.
Title: Re: Coquitlam river chum
Post by: salmon river on September 26, 2008, 11:43:00 PM
thanks for posting the coquitlam river saga. the more people that learn about whats going on in our rivers the better, but unfortunately there will be 10 people or more harassing the fish of this already fragile ecosystem(under the bridge) :(

Well maybe you and others should pressure the province to close fishing in that river, especially if it is as fragile as many say? As long as it is legally open people can fish it.

I think it should be closed until it is cleaned and fixed up but I do not think this government or any municipal government is going to do anything to help it.  The dam played a huge part in destroying this salmon river as dams have on so many other rivers from California to BC.

But we need water...so I dunno what can be done in a meaningful way to repair this eco system.
Title: Re: Coquitlam river chum
Post by: Jonny 5 on September 27, 2008, 12:56:14 AM
The first thing to be done is fine the gravel pits dumping TONNES of silt into this creek.  Make them pay for damaging what belongs to everyone.

Anyhow, the fish would come back if that were fixed... apparently the Coquitlam used to be a trophy steelhead fishery.  I even saw a nice summer run come out of there about 15 to 20 years ago, and even saw one jump about 5 years ago. Remarkable considering how silty it gets at times. As well had lots of nice salmon not too long ago.  It is sad, but maybe the best thing to do is to let people come to appreciate it, and then maybe (but not likely) politicians would be able to get something done.

I am also surprised that anyone cares about this river given that it has very few fishing opportunities.  I am glad to see that I was wrong about that.
Title: Re: Coquitlam river chum
Post by: Bruddah Nak on September 27, 2008, 12:55:31 PM
I've lived beside this beautiful river for 21 years and nothing has changed with the heavy silting of it every time it rains.
If anything, it's gotten worse. Those gravel operators up river ( Cewe's + Allard's etc. ) have been doing a great job at
destroying this river. However, the blame should not be solely on them. The government and other powers to be have
done very little to put pressure on them to change their ways ( they should have been fined BIG TIME long ago and or
shut down until they figured out a way to release clean water from their tailing ponds ).I've walked across one of the bridges
in the summer when the river was dead low and clear only to return an hour later and notice that it had turned to mud from
the gravel pit operators of course. What a disgrace!
On a brighter note, two years ago I took a look at a small run just through the trees from my house and noticed about
75 to 100 chums spawning in it ( what a great surprise ). Hopefully when the time comes, there will be a decent return
from those fish. Although I have only fished the Coquitlam river a handful of times since moving out this way, I did catch
and release a beautiful 8 lb steelhead doe a couple of years ago. To all, if you do fish this river and happen to catch a salmon
or steelhead, hopefully you will do the right thing and release them unharmed........... tight lines!
Title: Re: Coquitlam river chum
Post by: newsman on September 27, 2008, 09:21:36 PM
There are more fish in that river than you know. Yes it has it's problems; the gravel mines and poachers being the worst, but if there were no anglers on the river to complain things would be even worse.

Beautiful stream the Coq., spent many hours there perfecting my prototype fly patterns in the mid through late 80s. If you want the true good on that river and what species available talk to the hatchery folks; they are the ones keeping the river alive.
Title: Re: Coquitlam river chum
Post by: TheBaiter on September 28, 2008, 10:23:34 AM
this river doesnt need any more pressure than it already has