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[krazy]

I find these post interesting because in all the times I've been out, for the most part I have only experienced friendliness & cooperation from others on the bar. If you're out expecting or looking for a fight then you are probably going to find it but I don't think the common denominator there is Sockeye fishing on the Fraser.

The other thing is, if you have a boat, it's not hard to find a piece of land to fish from all by your lonesome if you want. And if you are going to say that those spots are not good for fishing I call BS - I can show you plenty of pictures of nice salmon on some very empty Fraser river bars, you just have to figure out what to look for and put in the time to find them.

Finally, some of the arguments against this fishery from people on this board, fishermen, are the same arguments that I hear PETA and the like making against fishing and hunting in general. Let's not be hypocritical here. We fish cause we like it and some of us also enjoy the table fare that goes with it ... but make no mistake, whatever the (legal) method we choose the fish certainly don't like it and that argument can be made against every style of fishing out there. To think that one is more ethical than another is just, as bigfisher said, perspective. At the end of the day, regardless of the method, the result is the same - if you're in it for the meat you bonk them and if you simply like to harass them you release them and try to do it all again. The fishing community arguing over the means to these ends year after year is foolish and does not help our cause at all.

OK sorry for the rant, I feel better now!  
  

[chris gadsden]

I went with a buddy today and that's crazy. Never tried bottom bouncing before and I don't think it my thing. I found the whole thing to be stressful. I go fishing for fun and to relax if i want to get mad and stressed I will go to work.  We lost alot of gear so in the end it would have been cheaper to buy the fish. We did catch our limit but I would rather catch no fish somewhere else than be part of that gong show again. If you need meat for your family then go for it, but if you are going for recreation this is not for you. Just my take.

You will not have to worry the next 3 years as things will return to some sort of order as they most likely will be no sockeye opening. Also I heard a rumour a 3 foot leader restriction may be in effect by then too.

[ICA]

Chris, I think you are right on regarding closure for the next few years where Sockeyes are concern.

As for the posting about the crazies out there on the bars, I have no doubt that it is getting worse, and it is not true that you will only see and experience it if you go out looking for it. I started fishing the Fraser some 25 years ago, and i can tell you then, fishing with fellow fishermen were nothing but a real pleasure because there existed a spirit of true cooperation and shared enjoyment of the sport. I can recall how we met total strangers on the bars, and by the end of the day, we were all almost fishing buddies and yes, i kid you not, this is the truth. In those days, when you get a spring and have to run down river to play the fish, you could tell the guy next to you to save the spot, and then after you have got your spring, could come back to the same spot and still available to you. Sometimes, people would ask permission to step in temporarily in your absence and give up he spot when you return. Well gone are those days, and so also the etiquette. I was one of those who frequented the bars accessible on foot, until I noticed that the tides of good behavior was replaced by rudeness, anger, frustration, greed and downright stupidity. In fact it shocked everyone when the first case of stabbing with a fillet knife occurred quite a number of years ago at the Scale Bar. Well, my final trip before starting to fish exclusively on bars accessible by boat, was about 7 or 8 years ago when I was again at my favorite bar at the Scale, and the run of Springs was red hot. There were a group of guys, loud and intimidating, who took it upon themselves shout at anyone even remotely in the way, as soon as one of them hooked a Spring. They would proceed to clear the entire bar down river and there were so much shouting and aggression, and that was when I told my young son who was with me, that we are done with this type of fishing, and never to return again and i am so glad I never did because no amount of fish is worth the stress of being in the midst of mindless idiots.

However, now that I have been fishing on bars which are only accessible by boats, I regret to say that I am once again beginning to see some level of mean spirited individuals who seem to love to shout at occupants of other boats for no real good reasons. Just because he was about to leave his spot after catching his limit, and just because someone in another boat happen to cast out he was enraged and shouted on top of his lungs. He could have simply waited for the guy to finish his drift which is only a have a minute, he took to anger.

I fear for the worst my fellow anglers. PLEASE BE GRACIOUS AND LETS ALL ENJOY WHAT GOD HAS GIVEN US TO ENJOY.

[dennyman]

First of all, the context of Sockeye fishing here was for shore fisherman. Believe me it makes a difference. Listen I already have some sockeye in the freezer, but late this afternoon, I thought I would take a look to see how bad it is at Peg Leg.  Holy smokes, bang the gong twice, in the time I have been in the valley I have never seen that area so busy! The time I decided to drop by was about 4:30 p.m. and I can't imagine it being worse than what it already is.  Cars are parked all along Ballem Rd.,  and the little road leading up to Peg Leg was full right up to the top of the main road. Basically it was a traffic jam if you wanted to work your vehicle down to the Peg Leg channel crossing. Heaven forbid if there were a bona fide accident as I don't know how emergency crews would get down to you in a timely manner. At the top of the water leading in to Peg Leg, guys are wading in right past their hips with waders and no waders, casting away to try and get a fish.  I could not help but notice none of these fellows was wearing a PFD. How soon we forget the drowning tragedy that occurred earlier this week.  But the same thing could occur there as one wrong misstep and the person is fighting for their life.
Can somebody explain to me why this mania for the Sockeye? And it is not like it is a fish for every cast as very few people were getting into anything at all during the time I watched. Last but not least, I had to go over the highway overpass between Chilliwack and Sardis and noticed that it was grid lock traffic leading into Vancouver.
So my advice to those coming in from the Vancouver area to fish for sockeye is to plan on spending the whole day out in the Chilliwack/Hope area, and to bring along plenty of ice so your catch does not spoil on the long ride back home.

[milo]

Let's see:
Gas to Chilliwack or Hope and back: 30-40$
Terminal tackle: 10$
Food, drinks and ice for the day (for 2): 20$

Total: 60-70 bucks

Four freshly caught, chrome sockeye from my friendly FN neighbour: 50$

Definitely not worth putting up with the hillbillies that keep casting their spinning setups over my line all the time.
I'm done with the madness. Fishing it is NOT.

Plus, the freezer is full anyway.

Let's focus on other fisheries now.

[chris gadsden]

Can somebody explain to me why this mania for the Sockeye? 

As I have mentioned before I feel it is in the human make up from the early days of man to bring back food for the family waiting at home, its makes us all feel good to being able to get food from the wild for our loved ones.

I can visualize way back in time when the head of the family is coming back from the field, to the front of the cave holding some type of game and greeted by the hungry family. There was no supermarkets then.

I think we all at some time are greeted by our wife or family with the question "get any fish today"? ( No except for the one I bought at the fish market or a F/N salmon stand.  ) All part of the equation, as silly as it may seem.

Also BB for sockeye or other fish as I also have mentioned has no learning curve as it is so easy to do. Most of the people out there would never spend the time to fish to make a fish actually bite. Those that bar fish know that in most cases it takes time to get a chinook and as well those that fish coho in the Vedder the last while know how hard it is to get one.

Those that long line into stacked up fish pull them in regularly.

[CohoMan]

We went out a few times but we stayed away from the crowds.

It may be snaggy where we fished but we did not have to deal with the idiots.

The problem is "THE IDIOTS WILL PROBABLY NEVER GET TO READ THIS THREAD" and learn some fishing etiquette.........................

[krazy]

As for the posting about the crazies out there on the bars, I have no doubt that it is getting worse, and it is not true that you will only see and experience it if you go out looking for it.  .....  In those days, when you get a spring and have to run down river to play the fish, you could tell the guy next to you to save the spot, and then after you have got your spring, could come back to the same spot and still available to you. Sometimes, people would ask permission to step in temporarily in your absence and give up he spot when you return. Well gone are those days, and so also the etiquette.

Wow ... I must be fishing totally different bars than you because almost every time out I've been able to step right back into my spot after walking a spring down the bar and I haven't even had to ask anyone to save it for me.  Along the way I've even had people offer to lend me their net and even offer to be the netter for me. Sometimes when I get back someone has stepped in to fish the "lucky" spot while I was away but they have always stepped out and let me back in when I returned. I have also done the same when others have left their spot to fight a spring. I do not fish scale or peg leg so maybe that's the difference. Weird how we could both have such different experiences on such a small section of the same river.   I think I'm gunna stick to my regular spots!

[tumbleweed]

You will not have to worry the next 3 years as things will return to some sort of order as they most likely will be no sockeye opening. Also I heard a rumour a 3 foot leader restriction may be in effect by then too.

3 foot leader restriction is a great idea. Hopefully that is put into effect sooner than later. Has there been any talk to ban bottom bouncing all together?

[dennyman]

Krazy: not to be picking on you, but I can't help but notice you have put some shameless plugs for your own website at the end of your posts. You are allowed your opinion on things and you are free to voice those especially on your own fishing blog.  However, IMO you are taking some things out of context.  For instance, you stated the following:

"Finally, some of the arguments against this fishery from people on this board, fishermen, are the same arguments that I hear PETA and the like making against fishing and hunting in general. Let's not be hypocritical here. We fish cause we like it and some of us also enjoy the table fare that goes with it ... but make no mistake, whatever the (legal) method we choose the fish certainly don't like it and that argument can be made against every style of fishing out there. To think that one is more ethical than another is just, as bigfisher said, perspective"

How in the world PETA got dragged into this arguement, I don't know.  I am pretty sure everyone that replied to this thread would be in agreement that Sockeye fishing on the Fraser River is a harvest fishery.  You basically floss your two fish and go home. What disappoints a lot of people who have fished the Fraser River for a number of years is the lack of ethics this long line flossing has caused amongst some anglers. They take this method and start using it on the smaller systems like the Vedder and Chehalis and the flossing on those smaller systems soon changes over to downright snagging.  But, I think what really bothers people about the sockeye fishing season is it brings out the worst from some anglers as they lose sight of the fishing aspect, and become obsessed with getting their two fish for the freezer, no matter what.

[blueback]

Haven't posted for awhile but readiing this thread makes me want to speak to the positive experience I have had this year flossing sox. Earlier in the opening, I was launching out of the 'peg' at the bottom of Ballam and a few of the times I had my young daughter with me as she wanted to come with daddy to see where the fish were coming from. We experienced very friendly and gracious people each of the half dozen times we went out there, both when I was getting the boat ready (12 footer out of the back of my pickup) and on the bar proper. People always (every time we went) offered to help unload and load the boat with me (without me asking) and on the bar met a very friendly older couple who took it upon themselves to befriend my daughter and myself, and even entertain the little one when the fishing was slow. Another two other sets of families were very friendly with my little girl and entertained her while I was readying the boat. Lately I've been launchiung out of Gill and found the same freindly people, happy to help. Today, I took our 15 month old Staffy out on the bar today, and since he was so exited to be there, he was very yappy at first, but some friendly folks even spoke to me about their experiences in dealing with their staffies and offered training tips. Along with getting a limit of sox today, I found EVERYONE to be very respectful and friendly. Given the numbers of people out there, I was very pleased with the behaviour and mood of the fishing community. Peace folks and enjoy the bounty.      

[krazy]

Krazy: not to be picking on you, but I can't help but notice you have put some shameless plugs for your own website at the end of your posts. You are allowed your opinion on things and you are free to voice those especially on your own fishing blog.  However, IMO you are taking some things out of context.  For instance, you stated the following:

"Finally, some of the arguments against this fishery from people on this board, fishermen, are the same arguments that I hear PETA and the like making against fishing and hunting in general. Let's not be hypocritical here. We fish cause we like it and some of us also enjoy the table fare that goes with it ... but make no mistake, whatever the (legal) method we choose the fish certainly don't like it and that argument can be made against every style of fishing out there. To think that one is more ethical than another is just, as bigfisher said, perspective"

How in the world PETA got dragged into this arguement, I don't know.  I am pretty sure everyone that replied to this thread would be in agreement that Sockeye fishing on the Fraser River is a harvest fishery.  You basically floss your two fish and go home. What disappoints a lot of people who have fished the Fraser River for a number of years is the lack of ethics this long line flossing has caused amongst some anglers. They take this method and start using it on the smaller systems like the Vedder and Chehalis and the flossing on those smaller systems soon changes over to downright snagging.  But, I think what really bothers people about the sockeye fishing season is it brings out the worst from some anglers as they lose sight of the fishing aspect, and become obsessed with getting their two fish for the freezer, no matter what.

Dennyman I'm not trying to promote anything & I don't see what having my personal site in my sig has anything to do with anything. I rarely post on this subject as it is usually futile but I just couldn't believe all the negativity I was reading and simply wanted to share the positive experiences I've had with this fishery and to point out how, in my opinion, it's hypocritical for anyone that impales fish with a hook via any method preach that one method of impalement is more ethical than another. The PETA reference was just to point out that "those" types of people are using the same arguments against fishing in general as some fisherman are now using against each other and I don't feel it helps us out any. That is my opinion, whether on this forum, my website or in person. From my experiences I don't see that this fishery "brings out the worst from some anglers" but obviously my experiences have been different than yours.  I guess i have just been fortunate to find areas to fish that have been positive so I will consider myself lucky and continue in those spots and avoid the ones referred to as hostile in this thread. Anyway that's all for me as I'm quite sure nobody is going to change anyone's mind here.

[DragonSpeed]

that was a great photo of the anglers crowding each other.   Looks like a parking lot. 

Yeah, because down a the Steveston docks, it was so much better 

[Rodney]

lol... Are they all lining up for those jumbo sardines???

[DragonSpeed]

lol... Are they all lining up for those jumbo sardines???

$5/lb!!! with HEADS (the sox - not the prawns )!  You can get filets that price at some supermarkets!

The prawns were going by the 10's of pounds... It was buying mania.

I talked to a friend that had been down there.  He waited in line for his sockeye and was handed a fish and told "$20"..  He asked if he could have a look at another instead.  the fisherman said "This one or end of the line for a different one."

My friend took his fish 

Nice to see the commercial sector is so accomodating of their clients.