Print

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

[Rodney]

There have been numerous discussions on the gravel operation on the Chilliwack River and the recent clayslide at Ranger Run. I've splitted most of these discussions and merged them into this one thread so it is easier to follow. Please contribute constructively so we can create a brainstorm on solutions for these problems.

Water clarity degraded on September 9th 2008 due to clayslide at Ranger Run in upper river.

Posts are merged from the Vedder River September 9th fishing report and 2008 Chilliwack River fall salmon fishery information & water condition updates.

Vedder gravel operation background info

[Every Day]

Ok, first of all, yes it was ranger run, and it was a huge peice of clay.

Secondly It is going to be hard to say when the river will clear up. Right now (after a slide like that) the whole wall will be unstable meaning more peices could fall in at any time making fishing pointless (if you happen to be there at the worng time). You could have clear water all morning and then find it unfishable 10 mins later, just the way it goes.

It was around 6 inches visi when I left the river at Peach at around 6 pm. I would expect visi to be 1-2 feet by tomorrow night and 2-3 feet by Thursday. It should be fishable by Thursday or Friday, given that no more peices fall in. I prefer 3-4 feet visi over this crystal clear crap we had all weekend anyways. In my experience even between 1-4 foot visi can be better than unlimited sometimes, especially this early in the year when the fish are really fresh and spooky (in the afternoon anyways). I will try to update on water clarity until it clears. 

and this last one was taken at the hatchery today.  very few spawning red springs left and no fresh fish to be seen.  Fishing during transition period is tough i guess.

Did you check the holding tanks. On sunday there were around 12 chromer coho in the holding tank... and only around 10 or 12 boot reds in the spawning channel. Should also mention I saw 1 coho and also a chum in the spawning channel that day as well 

[mmmroe]

I was there today hit the lower.....in the darkness trying to get first crack at the run....i was wondering why the water had a different look to it (couldnt really tell from a far) but as soon I stepped close to the bank I didnt even bother.....headed straight up to ranger....saw 1 taken chucked roe for 30 min then left....drove from coquitlam.....it was definately the ranger slide....

[c-pin]

I don't know the exact names of the runs, ... however, we were above the Ranger, and below the Concrete Slab. The slide was just below where we were fishing (I don't know the name of the run). There were still small slides coming down during the morning while we were fishing.

The water above the slide was crystal clear - almost unlimited visibility.

[Britguy]

Thanks for all the updates guys keep um comming
I live in Coquitlam and dont want to travel all that way not being able to fish it like Tuesday
I hope that water clears up a little bit
I am like you Every Day i dont like it crystal clear and if the sun comes out when its not clear it makes for a longer fishing day

[Every Day]

Just got back from Crossing. Water looked even worse than yesterday to me. I am thinking that the clay banks are still spilling out clay. Maybe 4-6 inches of visi at most. Fished for an hour and I decided that it was not worth it and went home. Didn't see any hooked or caught. No blood or guts around and no one I talked to had gotten anything.

Hopefully it will be at least 4 feet visi by weekend. I am thinking that it may take longer to clear than I thought as it is the same if not worse from yesterday. If no more slides happen it should be fishable but not great 

[buck]

                               
Crossed the river in late PM to check clay slide before heading home from work. The slide is very large and continues to slump into the river. Another large section broke off of the face today and
caused additional problems for anglers. Clarity will remain an issue for some time and will only worsen with the fall rains.  The side channel hitting the clay slide was blocked off in 1990 and has
taken the river till now to break through the Dyke  and reestablish itself in the old channel. I estimated that about 25% of the water is running down this channel and 75% in the main river channel.
However, the river appears to be wanting to return to this channel and if this does happen we could be looking at some serious down time for anglers. It's just unfortunate that there are not funds
available to intervene when these events take place.

[Every Day]

Wow that news sucks.... 1 question though, how can the river change sides unless it comes up  They are forecasting 2 weeks of sunny weather so I'm hoping that the water clears and that we will have fishable conditions before the fall rains in october and november 

[chris gadsden]

Wow that news sucks.... 1 question though, how can the river change sides unless it comes up  They are forecasting 2 weeks of sunny weather so I'm hoping that the water clears and that we will have fishable conditions before the fall rains in october and november 

This is what the Chilliwack River Action Committee has been working on since 1997, they have fixed some sites but funding is a real problem. The hope was that money would be coming this past year from the 21 million dollar B C Living River's fund but they were turned down.
Below is a short clip from the BCLRF web page, Goggle it and you will see more talk than action. They would rather take gravel from the Chilliwack Vedder River system but those raping our precious and most fished system in BC river are not required to give any of it back to help heal the system,terrible.


cc Living River's fund Province Boosts Living Rivers Trust Fund to $21 Million

Environment Minister Barry Penner, Dianne Ramage, chair of the Pacific Stream Keepers Federation and the Salmon program manager for the Pacific Salmon Foundation, and John Woodward, chair of the Living Rivers Advisory Group joined Premier Gordon Campbell on May 1, 2006 to plant trees along the bank of the Fraser River to enhance the waterway. The B.C. government announced that it has tripled the funding to preserve and restore B.C.'s rivers with a $14-million contribution to the Living Rivers Trust Fund, bringing the Province's total contribution to $21 million

[BigFisher]

Time to organize some funding! I think we have all had enough of this, that being for the fish and the fisherman. Maybe with some funding something can be done, how well are the other clay banks holding up? Iv read about other rivers with the same problem, and they have been temporarly/ permanently fix by creating large log booms/ log jams around the area to stop the errosion. But I believe these clay banks are well elevated, so that might not work, anyone taken any recent pictures of this clay bank?

[BigFisher]

If they are after gravel why not dig out some gravel at the slide, and divert the river over temporly? Wheres all the river funding going too?

[Nicole]

Hmm, I guess it's too late to do some blockades of the gravel grabs to get some media attention...

That's too bad, it would have been a great opportunity.

Cheers,
Nicole

[Geff_t]

Here is a picture of the slide

[Fish Assassin]

Water clarity looks decent in the picture. When was the picture taken ?

[Rodney]

You can see the change in clarity just below the clayslide in the photos.