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[alwaysfishn]

It must be close... as I just saw a homeless looking fellow riding a bike in North Surrey wearing a sign that read "ThE ENd is nEaR"

Was he carrying his bar fishing rod or his flossing rod? 

[BBarley]

Looks like things have gone from bad to worse.

In a pathetic move to look concerned for bycatch, they have closed down the gillnet fishery in the Fraser. Now they are opening up the staging area's to the bag fleet. Can you say mayhem?

[alwaysfishn]

Looks like things have gone from bad to worse.

In a pathetic move to look concerned for bycatch, they have closed down the gillnet fishery in the Fraser. Now they are opening up the staging area's to the bag fleet. Can you say mayhem?

I believe it is only the gill netters that will be allowed out there, not the seiners. The gillnetters drift their nets pretty shallow so the coho are probably not going to be effected.

[BBarley]

I believe it is only the gill netters that will be allowed out there, not the seiners. The gillnetters drift their nets pretty shallow so the coho are probably not going to be effected.

My interpretation from the PSC update from today is that it is open to purse seines in water's deeper than 45 meters.

Area 29: Portions of Subareas 29-3, 4 and 6 (seaward of the 45 meter depth contour) open to
Area B purse seine ITQ daily from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 9, 2010 and Friday
September 10, 2010.

The PSC has gone on a few times and stated that the bulk of the late-run sockeye are staging off the the mouth of the river. Now that the migration through the Johnstone Straight is nearing completion, it's only natural for PSC to allow them to suck the schools off the mouth.  

[ynot]

no coho in that area ?,i forgot they have revival tanks.

[BBarley]

I'm hoping for the sake of bycatch they don't allow the seiners to ramp the fish and are forced to live brail them. Nothing slows the boats down more than having to brail 1000 salmon into the hold.

[Sterling C]

The gillnetters drift their nets pretty shallow so the coho are probably not going to be effected.

Is this just a hunch or do you have anything to back this up? My experience tells me otherwise.

[Bently]

Hey there , a good crew can brail salmon like you wouldn't believe, I've been a commercial fisherman { now retired and sport only } for 30 plus years and back when we didn't have stern ramps , we brailed all the time, and were very fast at doing it , 1000 fish like nothing.I was down at the dock today talking to some gillnetters and gulf trollers and they all say { DON'T QUOTE ME } the seines will finish up the commercial sockeye fishery with the exception of the trollers who still have about ten days of fishing to do to retain their quotas. Don't be too hard on the commercial guys, their just trying to survive doing what most of them only know what to do. The test vessel for seines, the Belinas has been testing salmon on the west coast { San Juan area from Sherringham Point to Bonilla point} for the past 25 or so years, and the skipper told the DFO that they made one set for 16 thousand pieces of sockeye, but when the tape came out it said , six sets for 16 thousand pieces, the DFO have been fudging numbers for years and finally, we might actually have an investigation about this BS. I just got back from a month of trout fishing and didn't and won't take part in this sockeye fishery, not enjoyable what so ever to me,I think I made the right choice, plus I got half a dozen sockeye as a gift from my buddy so that helps too. All in all it's quite a year regardless, I just hope they let Mother Nature deal with it and we might see this again, never know. The tape says recreational fishing for sockeye is open until further notice in area 29 sub sub sub

[alwaysfishn]

Is this just a hunch or do you have anything to back this up? My experience tells me otherwise.

It's my hunch based on my experience fishing for coho's in the ocean. Why don't you share your experience?  

It's a mute point though as I understand the seiners are out there as well.

[BBarley]

Hey Bently,

Is it a provincial requirement to brail your catch with dipnets or can you get licensed to drive the bag up over the stern??

Last time I was on a siene boat was along time ago and I remember them brailing the purse up by taking about 50-100 fish a time then dumping them on the deck?

Also I read the commercial notice http://www-ops2.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/xnet/content/fns/index.cfm?pg=view_notice&lang=en&DOC_ID=127662&ID=commercial

Looks like it's an extremely limited fishery which is nice, shows some balls by the PSC.

[Bently]

BBarley,

 The last time I seined was in 2002 and it was mandatory that we brail everything { within reason, 10 fish or less we would just throw the bunt end around the stern and hold on to the breast line until it was aboard. We also had to have a revival tank set up with running water at all times for the by-catch, then report how many ie: coho, chinook, steelhead etc.to fisheries On a personal  note, I know of lots of Native boats where the only time the revival tank was used was during the commercial opening , even though they fished for two days prior to the rest of the fleet for their " food fish " lollol. Funny how they'd come to town with a jag and sell every one though , while the rest of us did average at best. Sure not like the old days that's for sure.I spent the last 7 and a half years King Crabbing in the Bering Sea, then called it quits, now I tie my fly's for trout and salmon fishing, and spin my pin on the flow, that's fishing for me now .

p.s. Some brailers are bigger than others

[BBarley]

Thanks Bently,

My experience with seine boats is extremely small. I have no problem or grudge against commercial fishermen, and having lived along the Skeena most of my life, I'm well aware of the hoops they have to jump through to get an opening while the natives go to town in the river.

It's nice to have people like you to get info from so I can further refine what I say on here and try not to come over so polarized towards certain things.

[Bently]

Hey BBarley,

 No problem, I must admit , when I was down at the dock today I kind of missed being part of the commercial gang, the smells and camaraderie were there for sure. I guess the sport fishing for sockeye is open until further notice, but if they shut it down tomorrow i wouldn't be upset at all. The true sportsman could enjoy again and the floss gang with the rest of the monkeys could go get all their rod tips fixed  but I guess most would just wait until next years Canadian Tire sale on rods 

[BBarley]

Yeah I hear ya, I'll also be glad when this sockeye madness is over. I've taken a few fish for my folks and a few other friends of the family. I don't really enjoy being part of the gongshow. My time is now going to be spent with my spey rod fishing for the fall salmon. Just keeping my fingers crossed the zoo doesn't relocate to the small local flows when the decision to close down the Fraser is made....

[ynot]

Todays province says river will close down 11th sept.