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[mykisscrazy]

Well went out last night, and it looks as though fly fishing is over for the time being. Visability was about 3 inches at the most. Who knows it may improve but more than likely it won't. Hopefully by the time Pinks arrive the visability will be ok.
Must say I am already looking forward to next winter!

[Rodney]

I was out this morning for a couple of hours and I actually thought the water was a bit clearer than last week, at least in the shallower part where I normally fish. The deeper part of the Fraser is starting to look more white/greyish, another indication that freshet is going to be happening shortly. Fishing has slowed down for me, not too surprising. Usually it's good for a few days than dies off for more than a few days. It has been good while it lasted.

Water will clear up by mid August, that's when I start targeting pikeminnow and cutthroat trout down here. It'll be very good when pink salmon arrive unless Northern BC gets some unseasonal weather, which wouldn't be too surprising after what has happened so far this year. I find that mid to late September the water tends to colour up a bit down here, that's right after when North usually receives the first batch of rain every fall. After that it's back to coho and chum salmon down here again, the bull trout and more cutthroat trout... Always something to look forward to.

[mykisscrazy]

I saw your Herring photos. Do you happen to have a photo of a shad? It would be nice to put the two together to compare them. Reason being I am again wondering what we caught a few years ago. As I have stated before originally I thought they were Herring then we had a someone from Virginia who was absolutely sure they were shad. For your information our "shad" were the same size as your Herring. Unfortunately we did not take photos...It always seemed to be pouring with rain when we were out there!

[Rodney]

The other night I sat with the fish in front of me (that's as exciting as my nights get) and thinking, "Herring? Shad? Herring? Shad?"

Here are a couple of photos of what I concluded as a shad. Notice the spots along the front half of the lateral line. The body is flatter.





Here is another photo of the fish that I caught last week. The spots are absent. The scales are larger and the body is more elongated and not as deep.

[marmot]

is it just me or is the eye proportionally a little bigger on the herring also?  The spots give it away on the shad but at first glance and without looking up the difference, I'd never have known...I'd have guessed herring for both.

[mykisscrazy]

Thanks Rod!
Personally I think we may have caught a mixture, but who knows it was a while ago. They are quite similar looking. The average person has a hard enough time telling the different salmon species apart. Good thing the Herring and Shad sportsfishery is still in it's infancy on the Fraser River!

[Dave]

Several years ago I was on a gillnetter sampling summer run sockeye at Whonnock on the Fraser.   My guess is late July - early August; anyway we caught a shad about 4 lbs.  It was a gorgeous looking fish that reminded me of a whitefish/carp cross.  It was released but had suffered major scale loss so I suspect it later died.  The boat owner, a regular Fraser gillnetter with much experience, said he had caught several of that size over the years.  First and only for me.

[fishseeker]

I was walking along false creek last weekend and there were a lot more gulls lin the water than usual - someone told me they were there for the herrings.  If that is so there must be a big run of them going on right now.

Is this a a fish that shows up regularly in these parts?  I know there are some years when the Steveston boats come in with sardines but those seem to be sporadic too.  [Nothing better than fresh sardines on the bbq if you like the stronger tasting fishies. ]

Also are fresh herrings good to eat?  They are very good smoked or as rollmops swedish style.