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[chris gadsden]

You got issues with illegal fishing practices then expend your enegies where they'll do some good and lobby with your polititians and advocacy groups but spare yourselves the daily negativity and accept that life isn't perfect. Looking for something to complain about everyday is a waste of a life.



Attempting to answer CohoOn statement shown above.

You will be pleased to know we are doing that, you may have missed on a previous thread but 4 of us had a meeting with the Environment Minister last week along with 2 of his staff to just do what you have suggested. As well a number of us have been working on this situation for the last few months. More meetings are on the horizon too.

We and a number of others feel unless some changes are not made we will see more closures like what we all saw on the Fraser River this year.

I agree life is far from perfect but that does not mean one can not try to improve things that many people thinks need changing.

[bigsnag]

I've gotta laugh at suggestions that we should all be float fishing simply because one person prefers it. 
I've hooked up with over 40 fish in the last 2.5 weeks on blades and all were coho except two jacks. Not one was flossed nor foul hooked.
You keep doin what you're doin and I'll keep doin what I'm doin!

So if you walk into a small run and 5 guys are float fishing, you go ahead and toss in a blade?

I've seen that a few times and all that happens is the blade guy (since the drift is different and he's not using a float) tangles up with the float guys pretty quick. That's a good strategy for making new enemies.

Guys, walk into any tackle shop and just see for yourself all the different techniques and tackle there are to catch fish, many of which
cross over to the same water conditions / locations. Float fishing is not the only way to fish but just one person's decided way of fishing.
I like many of you really like to float fish cause I get a real charge out of seeing my float dip under. I also fly fish,toss blades and spoons, but to make a long story short I like to fish in all conditions and use the gear designed for those condition cause thats what fishing means to me.We all go fishing to catch fish but if one technique doesn't get me bites then I'll switch to one that does.
I have met many,many fishermen who use multi-techniques to fish so to abitrarily single out one method of fishing as the status quo would be denying those fishermen the right to fish. Dennis K , I have fished in amongst floaters with a blade with no consequences and have been successfull , its called waiting your turn to cast so you don't compromise the others technique and you don't necessarily have to fish the same water in the run as others.
Float fishing only... nope... you gotta think outa the "box"

[dennisK]

You're missing my point.

I'll rephrase.

Do you adapt to the others ALREADY in a SMALL pool or push your own way in REGARDLESS if it if interferes with other techniques.?

[dennyman]

Certainly, individuals can try and lobby politicians or join groups to try and make a difference on the river. For instance, can you imagine what a garbage dump the Vedder would be if there were no river cleanup days.  It is sad that a bunch of fishermen using questionable fishing tactics can spoil the experience for others. After all the provincial government puts out a detailed fishing reg, detailing what are legal fishing methods, catch limits,  and how we should share pools using rotational fishing practises, and on and on. Not making excuses for DFO, or Fish and Wildlife as their resources are stretched to the limit, but I think as a group of responsible fisher people if we would fish responsibly and be respectful of others we meet on the river, it would go a long way to improve everyone's fishing experience.

[chris gadsden]

Certainly, individuals can try and lobby politicians or join groups to try and make a difference on the river. For instance, can you imagine what a garbage dump the Vedder would be if there were no river cleanup days.  It is sad that a bunch of fishermen using questionable fishing tactics can spoil the experience for others. After all the provincial government puts out a detailed fishing reg, detailing what are legal fishing methods, catch limits,  and how we should share pools using rotational fishing practises, and on and on. Not making excuses for DFO, or Fish and Wildlife as their resources are stretched to the limit, but I think as a group of responsible fisher people if we would fish responsibly and be respectful of others we meet on the river, it would go a long way to improve everyone's fishing experience.

Thanks for the post.

[Headshake]

They should lower the limit of fish to 2. That should get the snaggers out of there in a cozy 20 mins, and leave the rest of the river alone for the rest of us. I know, you will have double dippers coming back, but at least they have to make a trip home. It's easy to police and how much fish do you need anyway?

[adriaticum]

What's wrong with flossing?
My dentist says I should floss every day! 

[Fish Assassin]

They should lower the limit of fish to 2. That should get the snaggers out of there in a cozy 20 mins, and leave the rest of the river alone for the rest of us. I know, you will have double dippers coming back, but at least they have to make a trip home. It's easy to police and how much fish do you need anyway?

The limit on sockeyes on the Fraser is 2. Has that deter the snaggers leaving after they got their 2 ? Nope, they just continue fishing and hand their rods to their wives, friends, sons, daughters.

[adriaticum]

You're missing my point.

I'll rephrase.

Do you adapt to the others ALREADY in a SMALL pool or push your own way in REGARDLESS if it if interferes with other techniques.?

Do you shoot the basket ball at a court where other people are already playing?
I don't think so.
Any proper fisherman should know how much space he needs to fish and if there is enough space, then yes.
It's all a judgement call.
Any technique can work with any other as long as there is enough space and people have manners.

[TwoLabs]

Some of you may not want to hear from someone from the United States but I love your area, your rivers, most of your fisherman and your fish. 

What amazes me is some fisherman blatantly breaking laws without any fear of arrest.  The most obvious thing missing to me is lack of enforcement.  In three years of visiting your area I have never seen or knowing talked to a DFO officer.  Down here it is common to see them on every trip.  Those that break the law where I live do it secretly for fear of being caught.  I just returned from my trip and I saw where an individual would hit a Chum with a rock to stop it from flopping while he was taking the hook out.  I thought he was going to keep it but he kicked it back into the water.  His buddy later threw a Chum toward shore and then when the hook was out kicked the fish back into the water.  In both cases a friend and I walked over and tried to revive the fish and eventually they swam off (but for how long).  Both, so called fisherman, moved away from us when they saw us do that  If there had been a DFO officer around we would gladly have pointed them out. 

We all know that rules are not followed unless there is an enforced penalty. 

Being new to your area there are different fishing styles than what we are used to.  I never knew what flossing was until I came to Canada.  I then realized that there are fly fisherman in Idaho flossing huge numbers of steelhead by attaching weight to their lines.  I even tired it once and was amazed that I hooked 4 steelhead in 5 casts after fishing for over 2 hour without a bite.  It is scary how effective it is.  We currently do not have a law against it but I believe it is because the process is relatively unknown here.

After reading this forum I have learned alot about right and wrongs but a new fisherman to your area may see certain individuals catching a lot of fish and unknowingly begin to use an illegal or at least unethical method to catch there fish.

I hope that there is a good, quick solution to solve this but I see little or no hope unless your enforcement is greatly increased.

Hope I didn't step out of bounds by voicing my opinion.

[chris gadsden]

Good information, this is why a number of us are working on trying to turn the tide.

Interesting information you related about the way some fish with the fly rod. We also have seen Spey rods used to take steelhead in a similar fashion in the Vedder, especially when the steelhead stack up during low water conditions.

[charles]

Bigsnag:

Fishing is to try to present your bait or lure to try to get the fish to bite.  BB-ing or Flossing is forcing the fish to bite; and often ends up snaging them as well.  It defeats the purpose trying to fish a fish... 

I do think out of the box.  I have said that 3 years ago about flossing and it is not ethical to fish that way.  But people called me dumb and try to float fish for sockeye.  And I refused to change my way.  I have think of different way to improve the way to fish using float, shorter leader, different style of blades (and some blades I use is not even on the market yet and I am testing it out).  But if I don't catch a bite, I certainly will not try to go back to flossing or bb-ing. 

And FA is right about setting the limit to 2 or even 1...  They just drive home and come back again or son/daugther/wife/mom/and dad...  Only way it works is fisherman has to write down the catch every single time with length and date; plus the help of DFO issuing a fine... 

[bigsnag]

You're missing my point.

I'll rephrase.

Do you adapt to the others ALREADY in a SMALL pool or push your own way in REGARDLESS if it if interferes with other techniques.?

Do you shoot the basket ball at a court where other people are already playing?
I don't think so.
Any proper fisherman should know how much space he needs to fish and if there is enough space, then yes.
It's all a judgement call.
Any technique can work with any other as long as there is enough space and people have manners.

Adriaticum - Well put with the gist of my commentary from my post.
 
Charles - I'm glad you do think outa the box with your discovery of alternate techniques but I don't include flossing as an alternate way to fish, besides we all know that flossed fish don't bite and can we just let the flossing issue rest. It seem that flossing always creeps into rebuttal of others posts.

[dennisK]

You're missing my point.

I'll rephrase.

Do you adapt to the others ALREADY in a SMALL pool or push your own way in REGARDLESS if it if interferes with other techniques.?

Do you shoot the basket ball at a court where other people are already playing?
I don't think so.
Any proper fisherman should know how much space he needs to fish and if there is enough space, then yes.
It's all a judgement call.
Any technique can work with any other as long as there is enough space and people have manners.

So you agree that you adapt.

[chris gadsden]

What amazes me is some fisherman blatantly breaking laws without any fear of arrest.  The most obvious thing missing to me is lack of enforcement.  In three years of visiting your area I have never seen or knowing talked to a DFO officer.  Down here it is common to see them on every trip.  Those that break the law where I live do it secretly for fear of being caught.  We all know that rules are not followed unless there is an enforced penalty. 



I hope that there is a good, quick solution to solve this but I see little or no hope unless your enforcement is greatly increased.

Maybe our meeting with the Minister is getting some results already, 2 CO trucks and officers were observed working the Chilliwack Vedder yesterday or maybe they read your post.