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[chris gadsden]

in another reply by coho cody, he was bang on,   i was fishing saturday and around 10 am,   a whole crap load of debris was floating down then all of a sudden it turned chalky,   didnt know at the time what had cause it but an excavator was right in the water below the abutment(crossing area).   He was digging with his bucket directly in  the flow,    that is complete BS  and should not be allowed and a DFO rep should be on site every hour those guys are digging to monitor that and shut that OP down ,  they stirred enough silt up to put the fishing out for an hour

Cam, can you or get your contacts to phone FOC and lodge a complaint on this as I was away for 12 days on the Island anf now catching fish on the Thompson  on my way to the Senior Games, thanks. I hope someone got or gets photo's of this.

[Every Day]

I have pics of the digging and will make sure to bring my camera for the next time they open up a pit because they are doing (finishing) a big one right across from peach road when I went there today (might be hard though as water is chalky already with the clay slide up top). There seem to be a lot more this year (of the pits). There is one just below the crossing on the back, now one right across from peach. There is one right across from lickman road on the backside and they have lickman road closed right now as they are diggin one on the dike side. They also are starting one down by the train bridge as that area is closed and also have naother one on the backside just below the train bridge. Not sure about how many others are up higher or down lower that I don't know about, but so far I know of 6 which is more than I have ever seen before 

[chris gadsden]

I have pics of the digging and will make sure to bring my camera for the next time they open up a pit because they are doing (finishing) a big one right across from peach road when I went there today (might be hard though as water is chalky already with the clay slide up top). There seem to be a lot more this year (of the pits). There is one just below the crossing on the back, now one right across from peach. There is one right across from lickman road on the backside and they have lickman road closed right now as they are diggin one on the dike side. They also are starting one down by the train bridge as that area is closed and also have naother one on the backside just below the train bridge. Not sure about how many others are up higher or down lower that I don't know about, but so far I know of 6 which is more than I have ever seen before 

Thanks, try and get as many pictures as you can and especially if you see them digging in the water. This is just unacceptable at this time of year especially when there is fish in the river. If I was not away I would try to deal with it through the papers and other avenues.

[Terry D]

Just been to Vedder Bridge this afternoon and these pics show the water flow 'trickling' into the pond and the outflow:
Inflow. 
Outflow. 
Just wondered why there's hundreds of seagulls about.

[Steelhawk]

WOW wait till the fall rains come, whole new river for steelhead in the winter for sure down there.

Yea! That is one good thing that can come out of these ugly gravel extractions due to the greed of man - new spots and almost a new lower river to explore for steelheading, which is all about exploring and hunting for deadly spots. 

[troutbreath]

" Caught my Steelhead at the Extraction Hole " will be the buzz phrase this year

Probably it will end up with a worse reputation than the Keith Wilson bridge.

[Nicole]

Just wondered why there's hundreds of seagulls about.

The seagulls are always around there, they started hanging out there a few years ago...

Cheers,
Nicole

[Nicole]

They also are starting one down by the train bridge as that area is closed and also have naother one on the backside just below the train bridge. Not sure about how many others are up higher or down lower that I don't know about, but so far I know of 6 which is more than I have ever seen before 

Last time they did this, there were 12 in total... Sounds like they are in the usual spots... Anyone know if the hopedale access road blocked off right now? I havent been down there in months...

Cheers,
Nicole

[chris gadsden]

Just been to Vedder Bridge this afternoon and these pics show the water flow 'trickling' into the pond and the outflow:
Inflow. 
Outflow. 
Just wondered why there's hundreds of seagulls about.

They come down from the Bailly land fill and drink water after their morning breakfast. One year there was several floating dead and dying past me. I called the CO's and they did a check on them and the autopsy showedout they had some poison in with their last breakfast ever.

[Terry D]

Many thanks for the info. I intially thought they were there for the salmon eggs but the timing's a bit out isn't it.

[Nitroholic]

Many thanks for the info. I intially thought they were there for the salmon eggs but the timing's a bit out isn't it.

that's exactly what I was thinking, thankfully I was wrong 

[Morty]

From what I've been reading here, all those gravel extractions are below the Vedder Crossing bridge.  In all my years of fishing the Chedder system I've pretty much (repeat - pretty much) only seen Chum and Pinks spawn in that part of the river in the Fall.  I'm in no way attempting to justify the digging, but I don't see redd loss as being a big factor.  We as rec fisher cause far more damage to redds by stomping into this river, than the few that may be lost in these new pools.

God seems to yearly bring along a blowout right after the Chum finish spawning which cleans the bulk of the rotting carcasses out of the system.  That's when these holes will resettle and in most cases fill back in.   Many of these digs are totally filled in after the first pre-winter blowout - before steelhead arrive in any numbers.  I've seen these holes become above-water bars again after the early November blowout.  I believe the steelhead which spawn in the lower river are usually the Feb, Mar, April returnees.  River's re-established by then.

[Every Day]

By the way... just in case you didn't know, chum are pretty much the basis of the whole river eco system. They die, the river loses TONS of nutrients, all the other salmon go bye bye, either that or we need to start fertilizing the river, which won't happen because the gov doesn't seem to care about the most fished river in B.C  . Im in no way trying to burn you, but I don't like the puddles at all, they are not only bad for the fish, but also for fisherman. If you fall into one of these with your waders on your pretty much dead unless a friend is nearby (assuming you are wearing waders which most people are at this time of year). The sides give out easily and once in, the sides just slide everytime you try to gain footing (we have tried in summer while swimming).

[buck]

MORTY

 These large gravel pits are a disaster waiting to happen for fall chum. Once chum start to spawn they target these areas as the gravel has been already turned over, very clean and
easy to spawn in. Once the fall rains arrive these pits colapse , are washed out or filled in by new gravel. This process over time has led to the loss of a very important portion of
the Chilliwack river chum population. Prior to large scale gravel removal the chums spawning in the lower river was substantial. Gravel extraction began after the large flood that
over topped the inside dikes in 1975.

[Morty]

My point is still:

 We as rec fishers cause far more damage to redds by stomping into this river,