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[Athezone]

What melodramatic rubbish. Take responsibility for yourselves and use your common sense. There are signs stating the river can rise and fall at short notice so take heed, especially if we get a few days of rain. Be aware of your surrounding and don't fish in a stupid place where you could easily get cut off. For example every year you see idiots at Keith Road who continue to fish when the river is obviously quickly on the rise after a few days of rain. If it's is a tough crossing to get over there then think about the journey back. These are the people you will see crossing back over on a dangerous log or by a rope risking their lives for a fish. A good early warning system is to put a rock on top of a barely submerged rock and and keep an eye on it, if it becomes submerged get out of there if you are on an island!! It's always tempting to make a few more casts and we've all been there but that risk is on you not the guy operating the dam.

Well I'm sorry you feel that way Nick. I'm sure the mother that was left all alone to raise the children knows its not a big deal or the kid waiting expectantly for his father to come home with fish and stories to tell won't mind never seeing dad again. Every year 1, 2, 3 or more perish on this river and with the big rains coming soon and the water level rising one can only wait for the next tragedy.

 And as far as for me, I always take responsibility for myself which is why I had a 50 ft. rope with me. Unfortunately the day I almost drowned I was fishing Big Rock, the fellow beside me I didn't know, just a young fellow about 17. My younger brother was opposite us fishing the side channel on shore and doing quite well with the jacks using red wool.

It had been raining most of the day, we arrived at about 1:30PM this October day and the water was at about the 5 or 6 feet level so getting over to Big Rock was no problem. Keep in mind that when one fishes on shore one can easily notice the water rising but standing on a big boulder noticing it isn't as easy. So 3 hours later when we decided to leave the channel that earlier was only up just below our knees was now 2 feet higher and past our waists and complete with a waterfall to boot.

So after looking at the situation my new friend and myself were in I shouted to my brother that the best course of action would be to toss him our vests and rods and with the rope tied around my waist I would go to the slowest part of the pool and jump in. He would quickly pull me the 10 or 15 feet to shore where he was and then we would repeat the process with my new friend. We would both be a little wet but safe.

Two mistakes I made that day. #1: Not being aware enough of my surroundings and the rising water. #2: Standing to the right of my new friend just before I got ready to jump in. You see he didn't want to jump in and instead said to me "Well lets hold on for a second before we jump in, maybe we can wade across." And after saying that he then raised his right foot and put it in the waterfall to test its force and as soon as he did that in he went and as he went in he grabbed me and pulled me in.

Now if I had of been on his left side I just would of waved bye, bye because there wouldn't of been a whole hell of a lot I'd be able to do for him. But unfortunately I was on his right side and he was able to pull me in. I guess it was lucky for him because I had the rope already tied around my waist and after we went through the waterfall and down into the next pool and we surfaced he wrapped both his arms around me in a death grip.  

I shouted to my brother to pull us in but with the weight and the current pulling at us he screamed back "I can't pull both of you" and I screamed back "well you damn well better try."  We finally made it to shore, soaking wet, cold because the Cap is extremely cold and more than a little shaken and darkness was coming fast. We gave our new friend a ride all the way home and I bought my brother a 12 pack of cold ones for saving us.

It was a situation that was caused by my own carelessness by not being more aware of the surrounding conditions and one I haven't ever made again. That was 16 years ago. That young man is now 33 I guess and probably father to some kids and what would of happened to my family if I had perished that day. God its hard to even fathom. Mistakes will never stop occurring, I just don't think that a person should have to pay with their life for making one.

So I ask again. Why do they release water, sometimes a lot of water during daylight hours when people could get stranded and their safety and their lives put at risk

[fic]

Well I'm sorry you feel that way Nick. I'm sure the mother that was left all alone to raise the children knows its not a big deal or the kid waiting expectantly for his father to come home with fish and stories to tell won't mind never seeing dad again. Every year 1, 2, 3 or more perish on this river and with the big rains coming soon and the water level rising one can only wait for the next tragedy.

 And as far as for me, I always take responsibility for myself which is why I had a 50 ft. rope with me. Unfortunately the day I almost drowned I was fishing Big Rock, the fellow beside me I didn't know, just a young fellow about 17. My younger brother was opposite us fishing the side channel on shore and doing quite well with the jacks using red wool.

It had been raining most of the day, we arrived at about 1:30PM this October day and the water was at about the 5 or 6 feet level so getting over to Big Rock was no problem. Keep in mind that when one fishes on shore one can easily notice the water rising but standing on a big boulder noticing it isn't as easy. So 3 hours later when we decided to leave the channel that earlier was only up just below our knees was now 2 feet higher and past our waists and complete with a waterfall to boot.

So after looking at the situation my new friend and myself were in I shouted to my brother that the best course of action would be to toss him our vests and rods and with the rope tied around my waist I would go to the slowest part of the pool and jump in. He would quickly pull me the 10 or 15 feet to shore where he was and then we would repeat the process with my new friend. We would both be a little wet but safe.

Two mistakes I made that day. #1: Not being aware enough of my surroundings and the rising water. #2: Standing to the right of my new friend just before I got ready to jump in. You see he didn't want to jump in and instead said to me "Well lets hold on for a second before we jump in, maybe we can wade across." And after saying that he then raised his right foot and put it in the waterfall to test its force and as soon as he did that in he went and as he went in he grabbed me and pulled me in.

Now if I had of been on his left side I just would of waved bye, bye because there wouldn't of been a whole hell of a lot I'd be able to do for him. But unfortunately I was on his right side and he was able to pull me in. I guess it was lucky for him because I had the rope already tied around my waist and after we went through the waterfall and down into the next pool and we surfaced he wrapped both his arms around me in a death grip. 

I shouted to my brother to pull us in but with the weight and the current pulling at us he screamed back "I can't pull both of you" and I screamed back "well you damn well better try."  We finally made it to shore, soaking wet, cold because the Cap is extremely cold and more than a little shaken and darkness was coming fast. We gave our new friend a ride all the way home and I bought my brother a 12 pack of cold ones for saving us.

It was a situation that was caused by my own carelessness by not being more aware of the surrounding conditions and one I haven't ever made again. That was 16 years ago. That young man is now 33 I guess and probably father to some kids and what would of happened to my family if I had perished that day. God its hard to even fathom. Mistakes will never stop occurring, I just don't think that a person should have to pay with their life for making one.

So I ask again. Why do they release water, sometimes a lot of water during daylight hours when people could get stranded and their safety and their lives put at risk

May be the guy who is allowed to release the water only works the 9 to 5 shift.  When he leaves, the security guy and janitor aren't allowed to touch the controls. They will probably have a single person in the night shift who can release water in an emergency, but he's only allowed to do it in an emergency.  It inconveniences us who fish the cap during peak salmon season.   What a scary story, about that other guy hanging onto your leg, pulling you with him.  I'd bet any other person would have done the same thing!  It would be nice if they have some sort of text message service, so they can send it to your phones before they do it.

[adriaticum]

With the Capilano the rule is that if you see the water rising, get out of there.
Always make sure you have a way out.
People have died on the Cap before.

[nickredway]

Of course I have sympathy for the families, I have little sympathy for some of the idiotic behavior I have witnessed on the Cap by people who should know better taking obvious risks with their live and sometimes their kids .I don't think you can hold the people responsible for letting the water out, it is your responsibility to be aware of your surrounding and act accordingly. If you needed a rope to get back across that is down to a misjudgement on your part not the guy in the control room. My main points are don't fish somewhere stupid when the water is on the rise, don't stand on slippy rocks with a raging torrent down below and especially don't take your child to the river when its running off the chart, you'll only have your self to blame if you have a problem. Who would you blame if it was a natural flash flood?

As a side issue I do think the the way they release the water could be managed better for the sports fishery, if it is forecast to rain heavily for a few days I don't see why they couldn't start preemptively letting some out rather than waiting until day three and then dumping the whole lot in a few hours, it would make for much steadier fishing and the river wouldn't need to get as high.

[Athezone]

Of course I have sympathy for the families, I have little sympathy for some of the idiotic behavior I have witnessed on the Cap by people who should know better taking obvious risks with their live and sometimes their kids .I don't think you can hold the people responsible for letting the water out, it is your responsibility to be aware of your surrounding and act accordingly. If you needed a rope to get back across that is down to a misjudgement on your part not the guy in the control room. My main points are don't fish somewhere stupid when the water is on the rise, don't stand on slippy rocks with a raging torrent down below and especially don't take your child to the river when its running off the chart, you'll only have your self to blame if you have a problem.

As a side issue I do think the the way they release the water could be managed better for the sports fishery, if it is forecast to rain heavily for a few days I don't see why they couldn't start preemptively letting some out rather than waiting until day three and then dumping the whole lot in a few hours, it would make for much steadier fishing and the river wouldn't need to get as high.

Well said Nick, I too have been astounded at some of the things I see people and other fishermen do at times on that river but as far as the way they release the water I do have my concerns. Thanks for taking the time to comment again.

[Zanna]

What melodramatic rubbish. Take responsibility for yourselves and use your common sense. There are signs stating the river can rise and fall at short notice so take heed, especially if we get a few days of rain. Be aware of your surrounding and don't fish in a stupid place where you could easily get cut off. For example every year you see idiots at Keith Road who continue to fish when the river is obviously quickly on the rise after a few days of rain. If it's is a tough crossing to get over there then think about the journey back. These are the people you will see crossing back over on a dangerous log or by a rope risking their lives for a fish. A good early warning system is to put a rock on top of a barely submerged rock and and keep an eye on it, if it becomes submerged get out of there if you are on an island!! It's always tempting to make a few more casts and we've all been there but that risk is on you not the guy operating the dam.

Mah you are giving some good suggestion and talking rubbish yourself in the same post.

It's obvious that people needs to be careful but people aren't perfect, they might be new to the system, don't know about the dam or just distracted. Taking precaution and putting in place a system that reduce human error can only improve things.

It's is like saying that traffic lights are useless and people should just be carefull at cross road. Well people sometime do mistakes cause accident and die. So in high traffic area you put a system in place that manage the traffic for them and reduce accident due to human error.

In the same way releasing water at night would reduce the chances of people getting caught without revolutionizing anything just post pone the water release for until it's dark.

[nickredway]

Good luck with your dam traffic light system!

[nickredway]

I am not arguing that the water release could not be better managed just that people should take responsibility for themselves and quit acting like babies.

[nickredway]

If they opened the dam at night to let all the water out you wouldn't even get chance at the fish at all as they would all shoot up to the top in the dark, it is bad enough in the day lol.

[Zanna]

Good luck with your dam traffic light system!

Lol good one  

I was just using a metaphor and I agree that is important for people to learn how to handle themselves in dangerous situation like this one and take responsibility at the end of the day it's their own life they are risking

[Zanna]

If they opened the dam at night to let all the water out you wouldn't even get chance at the fish at all as they would all shoot up to the top in the dark, it is bad enough in the day lol.

So day time release increase the number of fish and reduce the number of people, I think I'm starting to see where you are going with this...

[Athezone]

If they opened the dam at night to let all the water out you wouldn't even get chance at the fish at all as they would all shoot up to the top in the dark, it is bad enough in the day lol.

I doubt that would happen Nick. Even though it is instinctual for a fish to move up river when the water rises that is not the only time that they move. Many a time I have seen schools of coho come into a pool mid-day with the sun blazing and the water not rising one iota. When the water is at a decent level fish will move when the urge strikes them and we neeedn't worry about never seeing a fish again if they dumped water
at night.

[nickredway]

Which river do you fish?? When the river suddenly gos from dead low to blown all the fish shoot up to the top in the high water, the water is too fast for them to pause and hold anywhere for long and you get very little chance to get them to bite as they go charging past and not very rewarding or fun fishing a flood. The exact same thing would happen at night only it would be dark making for even worse fishing as most of the fish would already be up the top by the day. Of course they will come in around the tides in lower water conditions as long a there is enough water making for steadier more consistent fishing, unfortunately this rarely happens on the Cap in the fall as it is either too low or blown out. IMO if they managed a steadier release the fishing would be much better.

[mko72]

From reading this I am getting the sense that the most dangerous place to be when the water is rising is on slippery rocks (like the cable pool) or to have waded out somewhere and be trapped. 

Is a good strategy to be fishing from shore, and have a PROPER exit trail close behind (as in, not waded out to the middle) so that you can do a 180 and walk away, is the safest approach?

[Drewhill]

From reading this I am getting the sense that the most dangerous place to be when the water is rising is on slippery rocks (like the cable pool) or to have waded out somewhere and be trapped. 

Is a good strategy to be fishing from shore, and have a PROPER exit trail close behind (as in, not waded out to the middle) so that you can do a 180 and walk away, is the safest approach?

Cable pool is always a dangerous place to fish. And yeah it sounds strange but just take a look back every few minutes. Most people are so fixed on fishing they forget to do that.