wow!...so many anglers passionately protecting steelhead in a hatchery enhanced river like the vedder. New anglers want advice about fishing and freds is now the bad guy? Is chilliwack dart and tackle next? Berry's bait and tackle also on the hit list?? If we dont encourage new people to start fishing.....then the funds used to stock hatchery fish in lakes and rivers will stay stagnant. The recreation needs new anglers every year. It provides jobs and adds to the local economies like chilliwack and Richmond, . Many anglers try for a year then just give up when they dont have success.....because they are newbies and its bad to give them tips to help them become better fisherman on the internet. So i guess rodney should be blamed as well because he tries to forward the fishing community with his website. If the angling pressure continues the steelhead will continue to be raised in the hatchery...they may even increase egg production.....year after year for anglers to catch more fish. AS usual we all act like we own the vedder.......again..
The problem with Fred's is not the constant barrage of exaggerated Vedder reports. The problem is the recent constant directing of people to small sensitive flows. If you walked into Chilliwack dart and tackle and dropped those rivers names, they'd give you hell for it, or would probably pull you aside and whisper it. They definitely do not tell a brand new angler to go there.
What crossed the line for me this year is when Fred's posted a summer from one of those flows, and then tried to pass it off as a winter run from the Vedder. Absolutely brutal.
I just don't understand the constant name dropping this year, not only on the Vedder, but the cowichan as well by big companies (like Gibbs). Post a pic of the fish with your lure, post some scenic pics, whatever, just don't directly say where. I don't get why companies do it, they gain nothing. I don't even see guides doing it typically, and their livelihood does depend on good fishing reports. You can't argue that having someone like Fred's not posting river names anymore would hurt their business if the guides don't even do it.