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[milo]

What do you think of dividing the river into two differently regulated areas?

Leave the lower river below the Vedder crossing open to retention as per the current regs, and make the upper river (above the crossing) catch and release only for all species. It used to be that way for pink salmon several years ago.

It would be so easy to enforce (just park a CO at the crossing)!

The meat hunters, undisturbed by those pesky fly-fishing and other C&R purists, would have a crack at fresh fish, whereas the C&R crowd could enjoy a bit more solitude up river.  A win-win in my books. What do you think?

[Suther]

I dont keep everything I catch, but the fact I CAN keep something if I catch something nice is part of the reason I fish. I would be pretty annoyed to hook into a nice big hatch coho and have to throw it back 'cause Im upriver from the bridge. Would probably stop me from fishing there all together.

If the system is healthy, there is no reason to remove retention. Meat hunters have just as much right to the waterways as Catch and Release only fishermen(also when did flyfishing become a C&R purist activity?). Finally, I dont think this would really help with snaggers/poachers because they dont follow the rules anyways.

[GENERAL-SHERMAN]

Huh   I think your idea is seriously flawed. Lots of people prefer fishing the mid and upper stretches Where in some spots you can find a little solitude and still keep a fish or two. I'd  much rather see regulation changes in the way of retention of the larger chinook and amount of fish that can be harvested. There used to be tons of monster whites on the vedder 10 to 15 years ago and now they are far and few. I think we should protect these larger fish from the long liners and implement a size restriction. I also think that 4 salmon per day is excessive from the amount of people fishing the vedder. I'd be more than happy taking home a couple clean coho or whatever. It would also help clear up the river once the meat fishers got their 2 they can go home and leave their spots for other people on the river. Might be a way of lessening the crowding issues in the popular areas and cut down on roe poachers while creating more opportunity for people learning to fish.

[mvelasco]

I wouldnt be a big fan of the idea. although it would help those poor fish it would funnel all of the poachers below and it would two timws more frustrating. I would speaking to a gentleman last saturday and he brought up an idea of some people having the ability to work along side dfo's. Where as a fisherman would have the ability to radio in reports of poachers at the spot they were fishing and have the nearest officer come check it out.

[milo]

I don't expect people to agree with me. On the contrary!
This idea has been around for a while, and I would like to get some insight from the angling community before elaborating a formal proposal to change some of the regs for the Chilliwack/Vedder system to help restore some of the quality to that fishery - a quality that has been seriously compromised lately by hordes of new anglers who show complete and utter disregard for regulations and etiquette.

Some very good observations so far, gang. Keep them coming. 

...also when did flyfishing become a C&R purist activity?

Just some sarcasm directed mostly at myself. 

[bcguy]

I would rather see this river put into classified waters.

[GENERAL-SHERMAN]

How do u think a classified water will help this system?

[spoiler]

poachers pay no attention to regulations

[GENERAL-SHERMAN]

Some poachers will never change but how about the people killing 1 or 2 fresh fish for eating and then killing a couple booty does just for the roe and fertilizer. To me it's the same thing and a waste of fish. Lessening the limit to 2 would undoubtably make it so most were keeping mainly clean edible fish.

[VAGAbond]

I dont keep everything I catch, but the fact I CAN keep something if I catch something nice is part of the reason I fish.

X2

[lapa]

I dont keep everything I catch, but the fact I CAN keep something if I catch something nice is part of the reason I fish.

X3

[TheChumWhisperer]

Make retention of all salmon limited to one per day.  Kill one fish, and you can't keep any more.

[mojo7]

There are lots of other river systems in the lower mainland that offer the opportunity for solitude and C&R fishing if that's what you're looking for. The Vedder is a public resource and one of the few hatchery enhanced rivers that create opportunities for catch retention for ALL types of fishers without endangering it's population. How about let the biologists determine what the allowable retention limits should be in order to maintain a healthy population. Sort of like the way it is now. They might just know little bit more, you know with all their science voo-doo and stuff, than the "highly educated" average fisher.   

It looks like an attempt by the elitist snobs to commandeer a beautiful river for their own personal use and to hell with the rest of the taxpaying public as they are not worthy of their tax contributions. Don't for a minute think that your license fee covers all costs involved in DFO and gives you a right to dictate who can and cannot fish where and when.

[milo]

It looks like an attempt by the elitist snobs to commandeer a beautiful river for their own personal use and to hell with the rest of the taxpaying public as they are not worthy of their tax contributions.

Yup.
And keep the garbage-throwing, disrespectful scum away from at least the upper reaches of the river. Anglers who leave their discarded crap on the banks of this beautiful river don't deserve to fish it.
In addition to recordings of blatant fishing violations, a collection of video shots is being made of people tossing their lure wraps, roe containers and other junk while fishing, but some legal issues have to be taken care of before it can be made public on Youtube. One of the most shocking shots is of a beek discarding a full spool of thick monofilament INTO the river! It sure will be nice to put some faces to those environmental criminals.

In the meantime, I suggest everyone pick after themselves - you are being watched. But more importantly, pick the garbage to prevent the river being taken away from you. A few rotten apples always spoil it for the rest. Don't whine tomorrow when you can no longer access the river because somebody was a pig and didn't take their crap out with them.

[brownmancheng]

 I don't know how much reg changes would help. There are already regs in place that are blatantly disobeyed. Changes to the regs is just more beaurachracy and waste of time and budgets that could be spent on enforcement, The area I think we could improve. It seems I get checked less on the vedder than anywhere else.

I know it's a big river and hard to cover. It's been said many times that they could pay for their wages ten fold with only posting a co at meat holes

I would think a leader length restriction would be a good start tho. Maybe <36" or so at least help stop the flossing.