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[Stratocaster]

Overall a pretty decent fishing season (and its not done yet!)

Had a good winter steelie season averaging 1 fish per outing.  Fished lots of great water.  Probably bring my spey gear out this season.

Went once for Red springs on the Vedder and did well.  I thought it was a good year for red springs as it seemed there were quite a few around.

So far for Coho, its been good.  For the most part my outings have been pleasant and most of the guys I was fishing around were good rods and friendly.

Production wise, not as many limit days as last year (only 4 days) mainly due to the low water conditions we experienced in Sept and early Oct.  Not sure if there were more or less coho than last year since they seem to bite better during a pink year.  Overall I thought the run was quite comparable or slightly less than the last couple of years.  Size was smaller on average but I did catch a couple in the low teens on a north side river.

Glad to see the Chum making a comeback, especially on the Vedder.  On the north side rivers, saw some improvement but not up to the numbers that I have seen in the last decade.

[salmonlover]

No more wild steelhead out of water even if it is for a quick pic, just like Washington.

I think glory shots are very beneficial in catch and release. I think if you take that away you'd see more poaching. People want to share and want memories of their catch. Im fine with people lifting them out of the water for a couple seconds to get a nice shot.

[Dennis.t]

Way too many people fishing our local flows. I think the KW bridge should be closed to angling yr round. Leader length restriction implemented.Much more enforcement.The T closed to steelhead fishing period. I enjoyed some good fishing on a couple of local lakes that I will not name, as there is too much "reporting" on the internet forums.More respect for our precious,fragile fisheries. Less sense of entitlement from the anglers that fish our waters.Like to see more kids fishing.The list goes on and on...

[roseph]

I think glory shots are very beneficial in catch and release. I think if you take that away you'd see more poaching. People want to share and want memories of their catch. Im fine with people lifting them out of the water for a couple seconds to get a nice shot.

Beneficial to who?  Definitely not the fish.

A few seconds is fine but how many times have you seen the friend take 7 shots because he's a sh*t photographer and it's not his camera. 

I say if the fish is wild leave it in the water. 

[rhino]

with regards to enforcement, I think that all rivers should have 2 to 3 officers doing checks daily during open/peak season. I also think that the DFO protocol should be to have a minimum response time for calls that have been made to the report line. they should also contact the individual that called in the report and provide an update on their finding.

Im not sure if the above is already in the protocol, but I often hear of people reporting violations and DFO doesn't show. Or they don't know the outcome of the the visit if they did show up.

just my pennies...

[salmonlover]

would there be any way to have trustworthy volunteers enforcing the rules of local rivers, where they have some sort of authority to take gear away and take angler number down and hand it over to the CO's for them to issue tickets? Or is it too wide open for the volunteers to abuse their authority?

[liketofish]

It has been a great year, especially for coho. Chum is plentiful. Would be nice to have a ban on female chum, just like for Dungenese Crab.  Possession of fresh chum roe should be banned too. This way, people cannot just kill the the female chum, take the roe and discard the fish. The rainbow stocking is great. Perhaps the fall stocking can be done earlier so more people can get out. Seniors are the people who enjoy this most, but they can't fish in cold weather like now.  With the high cost of gas, rivers closer to town should be enhanced with more stocking. How about more coho stocking in Stave, Allouette, Cap, Seymour, even Coquitlam etc. This will be great for people who like space & solitude in farther rivers like the Vedder or Chehalis, as more people will go to more local flows if there are more fish there. Save money and good for the environment. Just a thought. Finally, we need more plain clothed COs on the rivers, and more enforcement efforts in the public piers where poaching and under-sized crab harvest are rampant.

[Fish Assassin]

would there be any way to have trustworthy volunteers enforcing the rules of local rivers, where they have some sort of authority to take gear away and take angler number down and hand it over to the CO's for them to issue tickets? Or is it too wide open for the volunteers to abuse their authority?

Potential for abuse. High probability of confrontation. Who pays for damages if someone gets injured in a confrontation ?

[Geff_t]

Ever since my accident that has left me with a disability I have really noticed how hard it is too access fishing, so my number 1 idea would be to have better access for the disabled and Seniors.
My second idea would be for DFO to start looking at doing an Auxilary officer program that mirrors the one the RCMP use. This way instead of pairing up 2 paid officers together for patrol they would pair each officer up with an Auxillary officer. This would double the amount of enforcement officers in the field and would solve alot of issues surrounding enforcement. This would also solve who pays for any injuries that might happen as they would be covered by WorksafeBC for any loss of wages that might occur in their real job.

[Dryfly22]

I think that the stocking program in local lakes is great.  Leave the limits where they are, it is a great for kids and others that want to go out and retain some.  I personally dont like hatchery catchable sized fish for eating.  That being said I really think that there needs to be a few quality fisheries in the lowermainland, and they need to be managed as such, like they do in other parts of the province.  One lake that comes to mind is Mike lake.  Make it fly only and catch and release.  Stock it with triploids.  I think that catch and release will help to curb the poaching more than a reduced limit would.  It may also encourage some more poeple to take up fly fishing, and give the fly guys a place locally to get into some nice fish.

[pwn50m3 f15h3r]

I think that popular saltwater fishing spots need more dfo in Summer. There are a lot of crab, perch and rockfish poachers.

[VAGAbond]

Did you take anyone who has never tried fishing before?

I have introduced several people who have never fished before to our rivers.  They find the regulations intimidatingly complex when they have never seen most of our fish before and cannot be sure of species identification.

I support a bait ban on all rivers.

I would like to see more enhancement for cutthroat together with some retention opportunities on small streams for kids and to spread the other fishers out a bit.

[Noahs Arc]

I would like to see more education for anglers. Something like CORE program or along those lines to get your angler number and then you're good for life after the course is complete. Of course it wouldn't have to be as in depth or broad a spectrum as the CORE class is,
mainly covering the obvious like species identification and ethics.
I as well introduced a friend to fishing this year and I agree he was very overwhelmed for his first day out. Without me by his side he probably would have dragged his first fish up the beach. Simple things to us like keep the fish pointing upstream to revive, is totally foreign to a new angler. I was lucky I have a father that fishes, and learned the ropes at a very young age. But for someone coming in green as the grass with no mentor... Of course they will make mistakes.

[RyanB]

Does a catch-and-release triploid fishery in a man-made lake make sense?  

[clarki]

Couple of suggestions that I could throw my weight behind:

Would be nice to have a ban on female chum, just like for Dungenese Crab....This way, people cannot just kill the the female chum, take the roe and discard the fish."

While it may be unfair for the angler who utilizes the roe and consumes the flesh, it would help prevent the large number of does that wind up slitted on the beach or put in the garden. Not sure the long term impact though when you emphasize a male-only harvest. Also, you think have people have problems identifying between species of fish, just wait until you expect them to distinguish between gender of the same species.

No more wild steelhead out of water even if it is for a quick pic, just like Washington.

I would expand this to say no fish out of the water that you intend to release, not just wild steelhead. Sure it's OK for a qick pic if your buddy has a camera and you hold it out of the water and put it back quickly again, however my pet peeve is the shots of wild fish posed by the angler who has to take the pic himself. If you are fishing by yourself, IMHO you have no business taking a pic of a fish that you intend to release.

While I agree with you Josh in principle, if I understand what you are saying correctly, you would propose that pictures like this:


or this:



or even this one:



would be prohibited. Just checking...  

I hope my comments are within scope, Rod   (except of course for poking a stiick at Josh)