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[Marsman]

warmer the water the more fragile they will be.
when the water is very cold they are tuff as nails.

I have to disagree with that as in 1998 it was a record high for water temp in the canyon.  Do you remember 4 years later 2002 that it was the largest run in many years...maybe 50+.  Since then I have always debated the DFO saying the water is too warm and they have to close the river.  What the warmer water does is change the fish quick so they spawn faster and do not pickup diseases waiting for the right time.  2002 could of been a combination of a lot of different things including survival rate in the ocean but the stats were there.  Now a days it's just the plain number of nets.  i wouldn't think that the FN 100+ years ago would have 100+ nets in the river from Mission to hope.  Just over 100 was counted in 1 day between those to points.

Cheers, Rob

[Marsman]

Also a couple years back maybe 4, not sure but 1 million fish dissappeared between Mission and Hope.  They installed tha new sonar ? at mission to record fish moving through.  Any one have that web site?  Lost the  link.

Cheers

[milo]

Just came back from two days of flossing sockeye for a good cause.
I am pleased to report that the fish is so far doing quite well, the mortality being only two fish out of more than a hundred caught over a five day period.
And of the two fatalities, one had been foul hooked by the belly. The cause of death of the second fish is as of yet undetermined.

The fish are tagged and kept in special pens in the back channel at the lower end of Grassy, where, according to the people in charge, they have good current.
DNA samples were taken from a small number of surviving fish which are sacrificed for that purpose.

Some of the fish was treated (deliberately) in an abusive and unsporty manner, varying from dragging them over the rocks and letting them flop around on the beach for a while, to playing them for too long with light gear. A good mix of experienced and inexperienced rods took part in the study.

I was particularly impressed by the survival of one of the fish I caught yesterday, which came to the beach with some severe seal wounds on the belly. The buck made it!!! It survived a seal attack, it survived my interception and subsequent battle...WOW!

The biologist in charge and his team of collaborators are a class act, and I am very pleased to have taken part in this study.
I hope to be able to head out one or two more times before the study is completed.

Keep your fingers crossed for this excellent survival trend to continue in stage 2 and 3 of the study, as the results of this study may very well determine the future of our Fraser sockeye opportunities.

Springs were few and far between, but we did manage to get into a few. I landed one yesterday, but it was two centimeters over the slot limit, so it was released.

The weather today was literally horrendous, to the point that I questioned my sanity in being there.

Off to the Okanagan tommorow and then to Vancouver Island as of next weekend, so I won't be online for a while.
My vacation has officially started!
Enjoy my absence. 

Milo

[shaunm]

Thanks Milo for the update. I agree, the team involved are a class act & make you feel extremely welcome to be involved too. I was lucky enough to land an 87 cms spring on Thursday. 

Hope to meet you out there later this month. Have a good vacation.

[Rodney]

Week one of the pilot sockeye catch & release mortality study has been completed. An average of 12 anglers/day participated (daily counts Tuesday to Saturday - 16, 7, 11, 10 and 16). A consistent 15 - 20 anglers per day should enable us to acquire sufficient fish for the study. To date, 123 sockeye have been captured and held for 24 hour observation.

This study is comprised of two components with the primary goal being to derive an estimate of the short-term (24 hour) mortality of recreationally caught sockeye salmon.  An additional objective is to determine the influence of selected variables on hooking mortality rates.  Some of the variables include hook size, hooking location, water temperature and play time.

This study is also allowing us to gain a better understanding of the physical condition of fish released. The fundamental assumption of catch-and-release is that released fish will have minimal impairments and will ultimately survive. However, little is known about the extent of physical injury caused by recreational angling for sockeye in the Fraser River, and less is known about how this activity affects recovery rates and short-term survival. While visual assessments can be effective for obvious physical injury, forensic approaches are also being used for accurately determining the extent of physical injury.  For the forensic portion of the study we are either sampling fish caught immediately by anglers or after the 24 holding period.  Fish sampled immediately are not being used in the mortality estimate and we are ensuring that we are meeting our primary goal of attaining a large enough sample size to determine the catch & release mortality estimate.  This work will also be compared with fish captured in a variety of other fisheries and gears including purse seine, troll, gillnet, fish wheels and dip nets in marine and freshwater environments.

We are still seeking interested volunteers to assist us in the study.  We can accommodate up to 35 anglers each day of the study. If you are interested please join us at the location and time noted below.

Meeting Location and Time: Island 22 boat launch each day of the study at 8:00 AM. Transportation will be available for those without boats.

Location of Study: Grassy Bar - a portion of the bar will be marked off and used solely for the purpose of the study

Timing of Study: the next two 5 day time periods start August 19th and August 29th

Notes:

Did you witness suspicious fishing activity or a violation?  If so, please call the Fisheries and Ocean Canada 24-hour toll free Observe, Record, Report line at (800) 465-4336.

For the 24 hour recorded opening and closure line, call toll free at (866) 431-FISH.

[Marsman]

I'll be camped out at the Vedder River so will get out on the 29th period.  As for the 18th I can't make it due to work but I passed it on to a buddy who is off on holidays then.

Cheers, Rob

[chris gadsden]

Today was the day I was to take a Chilliwack Progress reporter and photo journalist down in the Leaf Craft so they could do a story and shoot some pictures on this study. Of course to tell the truth I was interested in what was going on as well. Of course all know of my stance on TOW ing so I would not take part in this method of taking a fish.

I arrive at Island 22 In plenty of time to get the Leaf Craft ready and fired up, I was organized for a change, so I thought.

The Progress crew arrive and I load them into their seats and hand out the life jackets.

I turn the key and the motor sputters and coughs, is she telling me something like, you should not be going to this study.

I am of course embarrassed as my guests sit patiently and most likely are thinking what kind of operator is this. I do not know what is wrong other than I know I have flooded the motor in my haste to get going.

Finally I get the motor going, after another 15 minutes of trying and down we go in the direction of Grassy Bar but I have little power, what going on?

I decide to keep going as the current will carry us there and we will worry about getting back later. I phone Frank and tell him if we stop all together we will need a tow.

One of my passengers, the reporter who has to write all about the recent drowning on the Chilliwack River looks a little uneasy. I assure her things are fine and our trip that should take 5 will instead take 15. The photo journalist who has ridden in the Leaf Craft a few times is not concerned.

We finally reach Grassy and the girls get out to get their story while I arrange for a ride back for them and a FOC chap offers to tow the Leaf Craft back to the Island 22, for the second time this year she has been embarrassed.

The study is being conducted well and a couple of dozen people are TOW ing while 5 rods are bar fishing, separate from the study, my rod joins the other 5 bar rods. I meet a number of FOC people involved and a few people I know from past years.

While we are there for around a hour I see about 3 sockeye hooked and only one caught and goes to the crew to do their work which I donot see what goes on as my ride is ready to go.

The down part to me was seeing 3 chinooks hooked, one being chased in a boat not sure if they got it in or not.The other two beautiful chinooks were both landed, one after 20 minutes or more of fighting it from the shore.

I was glad it was time to go as seeing these fish taken this way hurt me but I guess it was in the name of science some would say but I cannot be convinced this is the way to take a fish under any  circumstances. Watch for Thursday or Friday's Chilliwack Progress for the story and photo.

I guess I will go to the Thompson again one day soon and slaughter a few more biting jacks.

O before I forget, I am red faced to tell you what was wrong with the motor when I took it to Dr. Ernie and Chad , retirement is great but now nearly reaching 65 it seems yours truly is losing a few brain cells, many have said that happen long before 65.
I will once again now take my frustration out on the badminton court this evening.

NB.   The bar rods remained silent during the time I was there but I was told 2 of the rods had lost 3 before we arrived even though the water conditions were not that great, around a foot visibility.

[Rodney]

Week 1 summary:

http://www.fishingwithrod.com/fishy_news/file/080820.pdf

[NaStY5000]

The bigger ones are probably 5 yr olds - some runs have fish that stay longer at sea.  Pitt is an example of this.

I sampled a rather large 5 yr old - 12.4 lbs and 72.3 cm long that was taken in a PSC test fishery last week



Yes I'm holding it out, but its still a big fish

Thats an interesting fish. If that was during the so called "test fishery" then it is dead. His eyes are glosy and blank. I totally disagree with the test fishery and why it is happening. Most of the fish WILL dye due to being in tubs.

[kosanin kosher salt]

maybe most of them will die nasty ,  but as of next year the dfo will have more knowledge on how to save more sockeye .  the number of dead sockeye from this study will be nowhere close to the number of sockeye saved in the future

[Fish Assassin]

Interesting results from the first week.

[dnibbles]

The bigger ones are probably 5 yr olds - some runs have fish that stay longer at sea.  Pitt is an example of this.

I sampled a rather large 5 yr old - 12.4 lbs and 72.3 cm long that was taken in a PSC test fishery last week



Yes I'm holding it out, but its still a big fish

Thats an interesting fish. If that was during the so called "test fishery" then it is dead. His eyes are glosy and blank. I totally disagree with the test fishery and why it is happening. Most of the fish WILL dye due to being in tubs.

The testfishery is totally different than the C&R study. Of course the fish in the pic is dead,it was caught in a gillnet.

[NaStY5000]

maybe most of them will die nasty ,  but as of next year the dfo will have more knowledge on how to save more sockeye .  the number of dead sockeye from this study will be nowhere close to the number of sockeye saved in the future

And how will this test fishery save more sockeye in the future?

[Steelhawk]

It's interesting why FSWP all of a sudden is undertaking on a study to determine mortality rates of angled sockeye, when at the same time first nations has a TLC of 500,000 fish.
I would be more concerned about trying to reduce catch quotes and let more fish on the spawning than undertake a questionable study.
Holding sockeye in a pen in itself will cause physiological stress that may not be apparent and may have a long term impact. Will these fish make it to the spawning grounds ?

I agree that this is a pointless study when FN is allowed to take hundreds of thousands of fish while we are asked to leave sockeyes alone. So what if a few socx die by recreational c&r while going after springs? In the overall picture of stock management and species survival, the sporties' accidental catch is peanut to FN's massive killing of socx in a low cycle year, not to say most of the c/r sockeyes live. DFO should be more concerned that the seals are causing much more damage to the stock than us sporties and the so called FSC fishery for FN is ending up in black markets.  All these postures of the study are just to make the smoke screen so DFO can further limit fishing opportunities to recreational fishermen. I won't shed a drop of tear for DFO if their license sales for next year is dismal.

[Athezone]

I could'nt agree more SH, our accidental catch is peanut's to FN's massive wipeout but year in and year out its us sporties who are viewed either as the bad guy who must be controlled or we turn against ourselves with that never ending mantra about bb'ing. And  then another season eclipses with us having seen and heard the same old arguments but the song remains the same. Oh Well, there's always next year.