Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[arimaBOATER]

We went out boating/fishing yesterday & got out to Sandheads by 1 pm but was it an experience...
Namely as we left the harbour there was a vast fleet of gill netters up & down river that was so thick in number !!!
Never seen anything like it.
As there was such a fllood tide from very low to high in short time the sockeye were plentious in the river & in the nets.
Some boats I heard had over 800 fish & others as little as 60 I assume depending where their net was located.
And what a drive to get out to Sandheads...3.5 fters winds nets & boats all over ...it was a gong show for sure but somehow got thru... Thank God; the winds & waves died down by 3pm. & the ride back was easy as the commercial boats were off the river.
One sports fishing boat had a passenger who turned 84 yesterday & he got sea-sick....my pops is nearly 85 & he at one point said let's go back in as it's too rough out here but I told him were in no danger but will IF the waves get any bigger !!! Could hardly stand up in the boat it was a "rocking so much" ha. 

[Rodney]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b1aGIVJZEw

[VAGAbond]

I was at Garry Point between 7 and 8 pm yesterday (Aug. 18) while the commercial fishing was going on in the strait.   There were schools of sockeye moving upriver that got away before the nets were deployed.    Yeah!

[arimaBOATER]

Great video Rod !!!
My guess it was taken from 2pm on.... ()
As the river looks calmer than when we went out.
We were only going at 1/3 speed thus maybe 7mph & we were hitting 3.5ft waves plus the spray was hitting the windsheild & our faces.
Plus the begginning of the vid where it shows alot of commercial boats ...that's how it was 5 miles right out nearly to the mouth of the river... Just packed with boats. (plus alot up river from the Steveston Harbour)
 Noticed near the end of the vid one can see the dredger ship at work...it was aprox 1 mile from the mouth or from the North Lighthouse.
From where Rod took the vid the Fraser R goes out to the salt straight then it curves to the SW...that'd why the Dredger ship can be seen in that direction.
Interesting that in 1997 the Fraser had a 20-25 million run of Sockeyes ....then info says that every 4 yrs there should be another big run.... so that was 1997 plus 4 = 2001.  
2001 + 4 = 2005.
2005 + 4 = 2009
2009 +4 = 2013
It's 2010 so it's great to see all the fish in big numbers !!!
Wonder what 2013 will bring. So many factors but nature is full of surprizes FOR SURE.  

[rosejeff]

That could explain why I came home emptyhanded last night!

[nosey]

400 gillnetters and either 135 or 165 seiners(can't remember which) licensed to fish in the Fraser River and only 20 to 30 hrs. fishing time in  a good year to make their boat, house, car, truck and whatever other payments they have, in a bad year they might have to find a job.

[arimaBOATER]

If anyone can get a hold of a copy ofthe Richmond News "freebee" newspaper Friday Aug 20/2010 ...it has a nice front page pic of fishing boats in the Steveston Harbour.
When we came into port with our 16ft boat it was quite a sight to behold commercial fishing boats cruising around & about 5-6 packs of boats tied up to each other in various places in middle of the harbour.  Each pack had in some cases like 10 boats.
Something tells me every bit of that possible 400 gill netters were on the river the day of their openning.