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[Stratocaster]

Looks like all forces are conspiring against the fishermen. Poor guys just want to get 2 sockeye and they have to pay that much for fish. Even that the city wants to shut that down. Natives also try to shut down the fishermen. We are the pawns every body want to kick around. If DFO doesn't help fishermen to get more fishing access & parking, I suggest they should set a limit to the number of new licenses they can sell after the announcement of sockeye opening. It is irresponsible for them to charge people for fishing sockeye and yet the fishing and parking spaces are being hammered down from all sides.

Your license allows you the privilege to fish and not a right.  The only group that has rights are the natives.  DFO's job is to manage fish plain and simple, not to make it easier for you to floss your 2 sockeye.  Irresponsible for charging people to fish sockeye? since when is our license considered a guarantee to harvest sockeye?  Shouldn't you ask for a refund then when socks were closed the last couple of years?

Natives trying to shut down fisherman?  You do realize that we have trespassed on their land for many years to gain access to the bars but the natives have had enough with all of the garbage and crap that goes on.  You should blame the idiots that ruin it for everyone.  How would you like it if people threw garbage and defecated in your back yard? 

Its this greed mentality that pervades this whole fishery.  Last year I fly-fished Peg Leg for pinks in late August, plenty of room and the fishing was great, but because sockeye are considered to be better eating fish, everyone goes nuts and all common sense gets thrown out.

Chris is right.  in all my 25 years of fishing the lower mainland, the crap that I see during sockeye openings far out number what I see on rivers like the Vedder and Chehalis. 

 

[Rodney]

Stratocaster, come on now, don't argue with logic.

[Fish Assassin]

This post makes me giggle. There is just so much to comment on, I don't know where to begin.

However, I do agree with you on one point: DFO should help fishermen get more fishing access and parking. But rather than build parking lots, I suggest that DFO should create more gravel bars for fishing. That could easily be done by lowering the water levels in the Fraser to expose more gravel bars. The best way to accomplish this is to build a large weir on the Fraser, above Hope. The weir would allow so enough water through for the fish to migrate but not enough to flood the gavel bars. I realize that building a weir would be expensive, so another less costly approach would be to harvest gravel from the Mission to Chilliwack stretch of the river and then truck it above Chilliwack to create new gravel bars adn open up more opportunity for sport anglers

DFO needs to step up their game and do more.       

You got to be kidding right ? You want DFO to create more gravel bars for fishermen ? The only way to lower the Fraser River is through building numerous dams on feeder streams and right on the Fraser.

[Fish4ever]

I live near scale bar and spend 1 full day after fishing season(plus several afternoons during the season) to clean up the beach.  I have been fishing for years and make a point of respecting the property i cross to go fishing by taking everything with me when i leave.  I'm not in favour of the guy allowing parking on his property as it brings more people to that beach which will mean more cleanup.  Now if the owner is at the beach picking up garbage after all the people he rents space to and provides a toilet on his property then fine with me.  I suspect the District of Hope will have something to say about an unlicensed business.  Revenue Canada may also have some questions.
Unfortunately there are too many people that fish who have no respect for anything or they would have the decency to clean up after themselves.

[liketofish]

It is not logic we are arguing about. It is just fact. When you have a parking lot there charging a fee for parking, when the lot is full, they won't allow more cars going in. So when there is only so much space or decreasing space to fit the fishermen, don't sell unlimited non-tidal fishing license sold after the announcing of the sockeye opening. Those huge jump in license sales after the announcement are strictly for sockeye fishing. You and me fishing for steelhead & coho as well as trout & kokanee would have bought the license long before this sockeye announcement. Now if there is an additional 20,000 license sold, where are you going to fit all these people with now only Scale Bar (with limited parking and with the city of Hope trying to shut down this house owner), Peg Leg (too deep to fish effectively) and Laidlaw. The number of people fishing are increasing and the space for shore fishing is decreasing. It is only logical you need to limit the sales of fishing licenses. Why is a government unit exempt from such an obligation? It is not mandate this or mandate that. It is just common sense.

Natives may not intend to shut down the fishermen. But their action of shutting down access without any intent to work out a comprise can be interpreted as having such an intent. I don't defend any one who left garbage. These are the minority though. These jerks ruin it all. Most people bring out their craps or even cleaning out after fishing. At least in Snaggy Bar I saw many fishermen doing that, myself included. We do care about the bar we fish. The fact is, these bars have been accessed for 20+ years by fishermen. It is a way of life for many fishermen who bb for sockeye. Then someone comes in and stop them without any intent to work out a solution. Natives can charge for access and use a small part of that income to hire someone to clean up if that is really necessary. I believe fishermen are now smart enough to clean up if they know the consequence is closure of access. It is only for a short month or so per year, and now only once in 4 years as the other years have sockeye closures. Yet there is no intent to let you guys fish these bars which have been closed to access. That is why I said all forces are conspiring to shut down sockeye fishermen, including the bar fishing fraternity and the language they use to degrade sockeye fishermen. If someone points me to buy sockeye which had been bled and properly frozen at $12-$15 per fish, I will hang up my sockeye rod. Enough of this crap.

[GordJ]

Looks like all forces are conspiring against the fishermen. Poor guys just want to get 2 sockeye and they have to pay that much for fish. Even that the city wants to shut that down. Natives also try to shut down the fishermen. We are the pawns every body want to kick around. If DFO doesn't help fishermen to get more fishing access & parking, I suggest they should set a limit to the number of new licenses they can sell after the announcement of sockeye opening. It is irresponsible for them to charge people for fishing sockeye and yet the fishing and parking spaces are being hammered down from all sides.

Edited to remove all references to whiny and childish.

[Rodney]

[Stratocaster]

Its a license to give you an opportunity to fish in BC Freshwaters.  If it was a license to only fish sockeye then you may have an argument (however tenuous it may be).  If you bought a new car, would you want your money back if they closed the road going to Whistler?  That's the logic to this. 

Ask yourself what's in it for the natives, the town of Hope or other principles involved to supply everything you want so that you can fish sockeye for a few weeks every four years.  Any economic benefit to them is far outweighed by the costs to build and make parking areas safer as well as maintenance and cleanup and other costs. 

[liketofish]

If the ownership of this most popular fishing website is to jeer and laugh at real concern of those large number of fishermen targeting sockeye, then this is unfortunate. This site can be the voice for concern for those who read this site and make this site popular. If there is nothing positive can be said, why laugh at the real concern? Why even lead the charge to jeer at the sockeye fishermen?

I rather want to post for real positive actions which can be considered by the cities or DFO who benefit from this rush of sockeye fishermen. Chilliwack and Hope get a lot more visitors who would buy gas and eat out at the cities. Why should they do things to discourage these visitors? Are sockeye fishermen really nuisances? If DFO who benefits from such additional sockeye related license sales, why shouldn't they do something to help out the situation? I know this is only a fishing web site for entertainment, why posting for legitimate fishing concern is such an abomination here?

Nothing will be changed by what we write here. But at least allow for some discussion. Say if DFO sells an additional 20,000 licenses, at say $50 each, that is 1 million extra intake. Use some of that money to allocate to fishing access improvement. It is a joke to lower the Fraser by a dam for fishing purpose. But $100,000 can go a long way to get extra parking. They can represent fishermen to negotiate with native owners to reward them for allowing access during the sockeye opening. These are proactive things they can do. Sport fishermen are just too weak and too fragmented to deal with the natives or the cities. Perhaps DFO can do something there. Every elitist here wants to bash & jeer at the sockeye fishermen instead of offering some solid suggestions. It is really unnecessary. My 2 cents.

[Rodney]

You're free to post away. Hey, freedom of speech is allowed here isn't it? Just as I am free to laugh at the garbage spews out from that keyboard of yours on a regular basis.

You have no idea what you are talking about.

[fisherforever]

Bring back the pre 1992 regulations - you want to catch sockeye, go fish the salt chuck. End of the so called parking problem. (a certain Maple Leaf fan would probably love this  )

[fyrslyer]

If the ownership of this most popular fishing website is to jeer and laugh at real concern of those large number of fishermen targeting sockeye, then this is unfortunate. This site can be the voice for concern for those who read this site and make this site popular. If there is nothing positive can be said, why laugh at the real concern? Why even lead the charge to jeer at the sockeye fishermen?

I rather want to post for real positive actions which can be considered by the cities or DFO who benefit from this rush of sockeye fishermen. Chilliwack and Hope get a lot more visitors who would buy gas and eat out at the cities. Why should they do things to discourage these visitors? Are sockeye fishermen really nuisances? If DFO who benefits from such additional sockeye related license sales, why shouldn't they do something to help out the situation? I know this is only a fishing web site for entertainment, why posting for legitimate fishing concern is such an abomination here?

Nothing will be changed by what we write here. But at least allow for some discussion. Say if DFO sells an additional 20,000 licenses, at say $50 each, that is 1 million extra intake. Use some of that money to allocate to fishing access improvement. It is a joke to lower the Fraser by a dam for fishing purpose. But $100,000 can go a long way to get extra parking. They can represent fishermen to negotiate with native owners to reward them for allowing access during the sockeye opening. These are proactive things they can do. Sport fishermen are just too weak and too fragmented to deal with the natives or the cities. Perhaps DFO can do something there. Every elitist here wants to bash & jeer at the sockeye fishermen instead of offering some solid suggestions. It is really unnecessary. My 2 cents.

Well put

[Rantalot]

agree with that 200%

why? There are 3 other species of fish and 4 every other year that will bite!

[Fish Assassin]

It's highly questionable that 20,000 new licences are sold just because there is a sockeye opening. I suspect most of the people heading to the Fraser to partake in the fishery are from the lower Mainland, Fraser Valley and surrounding areas. Perhaps a few from Washington State. I doubt there are too many people from say Prince George coming down.

[GordJ]

I rather want to post for real positive actions which can be considered by the cities or DFO who benefit from this rush of sockeye fishermen. Chilliwack and Hope get a lot more visitors who would buy gas and eat out at the cities. Why should they do things to discourage these visitors? Are sockeye fishermen really nuisances?

You claim to want to "post for real positive actions" but your post makes no real sense and lacks logic.
All forces are conspiring against the poor fisherman? Just checked and although the Russian Army is part of "all forces" they are in full support of your fishing. Complete nonsense. The vast majority of people don't care and the ones that do are directly effected by people fishing, landowners and people employed by fishing come to mind.
You claim that "the city wants to shut that down" which is complete nonsense, which city wants to shut what down? I am trying to figure out which city you could be referring to but I am drawing a blank. Again, complete nonsense.
"Natives also want to shut that down". I spoke to quite a few of them on the river Sunday and if they wanted me off the river they certainly hid it well because they were quite friendly and chatty. Not complete, just nonsense.
"We are the pawns everyone wants to kick around". Again the Russians, plus the tackle stores, gas stations, marine supply stores, my wife and the guy at the entrance to Island 22 disagree. Nonsense.
Set a limit for licences? The DFO is a federal agency charged with managing Canadian Fisheries, of which the Fraser sockeye fishery is a very small part of their mandate. A comparison to your request would be if the federal Department of Transport rescinded or refused to allow drivers licences in BC because there was a lineup at the border 2 months every 5 years.
They have no mandate for parking or access and if they did they would concentrate it in areas that have more than 30 fishing days a year. Anywhere on Vancouver Island comes to mind. How many millions of $ do you want a department to spend on providing parking so that you can go fishing? It will be substantial because there is not much cheap land along the river from Steveston to Hope. Nonsense.
As far as access being restricted, how do you intend to force a landowner to allow people to cross private property? Never mind the garbage and feces problem just tell me how you yourself would react if they told you that you have to allow hordes of strangers to cross your yard at all hours of the day? And the parking at Scales on the highway was a dangerous proposition and it was inevitable that there would be a fatality. FYI, DFO doesn't restrict parking on BC highways. That would be the Ministry of Transport. I know those guys are all against fishing.
There is nothing stopping you from buying a property with access to the river is there? Then you could let everyone and anyone cross your yard whenever they wanted.
$100,000 would buy one half of a building lot in Chilliwack which would park maybe 20 cars. It would make more sense to park in the nearest free parking spot to where you wanted fish and call a cab to take you to your spot.
BTW, I may be an elitist but I will be out tomorrow to get my fish just like every other year. This isn't about flossing, it is about what I consider to be a silly idea and a sillier conspiracy/ persecution theory.
How about if they take some of that licence money and buy us all fishing gear? The high cost of Maxima is proof that they are all conspiring against fishermen.