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[Dave]

Buck and I spent the morning in the upper Chilliwack River, in year six of our annual steelhead enumerations.  As always, we start with the disclaimer that this is not meant to be a population estimate; we simply count the same sites on approximately the same dates, hoping to find trends. As well, we add comments that may be of interest to readers.  Along with us today was my 10 month old, 50 lb pup, Emma, who had a blast!

As usual our first stop was Centennial Channel.  Past readers of these posts will remember Pete and I were concerned about the entrance of this magnificent, and in our opinion, underutilized 3 km stretch of off channel habitat.  We thought there simply was not enough to entice fish in … during the past summer, DFO’s Habitat Restoration unit offered Buck and I supervision of an extremely skilled machine operator and his equipment … we spent the best part of a day moving rocks ½ the size of Volkswagons, placing them strategically into a weir designed to redirect fish, excavating the entrance so fish would feel safer in deeper water and adding upstream flow to enhance this whole effect.  When we left that day we all felt damn good about what we had accomplished.   I went back during the pink run and was happy to see it functioning as we anticipated, and thousands of pinks in the channel.  Went back again in November and the entrance was still great, and the channel had plenty of spawning coho.   Sometime between then and now gravel has accumulated at the entrance and although it is not as optimal for salmonids as it was during the fall, is still far better than in past years.
 
OK.   Today we saw no fish and no redds.  This follows the trend where the first steelhead observed in this channel are typically seen about mid April.  We did find a pile of garbage left behind by recent campers. Disgusting.

On to Chilliwack Lake where we had hoped the gate might be open for anglers to access the boat launch, but no such luck.  We walked the few km to the outlet where we found 7 fish staging, one real biggie with his adipose fin very apparent, and a few 1-2 lb trout hanging out with their larger cousins; none on the gravel pad at the outlet.  For perspective, last year on April 8 we saw 2 at this site, making these the earliest fish we have seen here.
On the way back we stopped at the Middle Creek Bridge, a great holding spot with an augmented gravel spawning area just downstream; here we saw 3 staging steelhead but the light conditions were not optimal so there could easily have been more.
More next week.

[bigblockfox]

this is one my favorite threads. i'd imagine you are going to collect some very interesting data over time. also very cool you got to supervise some habit restoration. hopefully you find some steelhead in there soon.

[bigsnag]

this is my favorite thread, thanks Dave

[Wiseguy]

Great read!

[Dave]

Week two of our counts and Buck, Emmathedog and I had a great day.  After pouring rain last night, we arrived at Centennial Channel in sunshine.  The lower Vedder was up a bit and slightly colored but up there it was gin clear and about the same water level as last week.  As usual, a few mentally challenged individuals had spent considerable time and energy chopping down riparian Alders, leaving the area visually desecrated and for no apparent reason.
The first 2/3 of the channel, as is typical, had no fish or gravel disturbances, but soon enough we found a pair of averaged sized fish, happy together.  A little further upstream what appeared to be false redds were observed (we consider false redds experimental diggings, a preamble to the real thing).  Around another bend we came across a group of 3 fish, one a monster, with either a very small steelhead or a resident trout included in the mix, on gravel but no evidence of spawning, and then, a bit further upstream 2 good sized fish, red striped, paired off and again, looking very comfortable. 

We have mentioned in past entries how cognizant to predators (us) these fish can be … the next steelhead we saw took us a while to identify as a fish; it had the shape, size, holding pattern, etc but was not moving a fin … we watched this shape for probably 20-30 seconds, about 10’ above and app. 100’ away.  We were unsure until something triggered the fish to bolt upstream.  Wasn’t the dog as she was elsewhere, we hadn’t moved, just watching … !  These fish are totally on alert and still amaze 2 very careful and experienced observers.    A final fish was seen at the end of the channel making a total of nine, with perhaps a few trout or extremely small steelhead added to the total.  For perspective, these are our earliest observations of steelhead in this channel but on April 16 in 2015 we saw 2.  Water temperature was 6.0 C

On to Chilliwack Lake where the gate was still locked so another 2-3 km walk was necessary.  Emma was fine with this … Buck and I, not so much. On arrival at the outlet we were disappointed as the sunlight and a slight ripple on the water made observations very difficult … we were able to see 4 fish staging downstream of the bridge but there could easily have been more.  One was another huge fish. Pete walked down to the lake outlet and decided there were no fish on the gravel pad and no redds observed. Water temperature here was 7.0  On April 16 in 2014 we saw 1; on April 16 in 2015 we saw 14.
Next site was the Middle Creek Bridge where we were very, very happy to see 6 fish spawning on the gravel pad we suggested DFO place 2 years ago. Back in September I observed several hundred pinks using this augmented gravel area and have no doubt this pad is also used by coho, chum and char.  Along with these spawners today we were able to see 3 other fish staging but the water level was quite high and visibility conditions were not optimal so we believe this number is low.
As the writer of these reports this missive may be the most gratifying of all; our work this summer at the entrance of Centennial Channel seems, at least for now, to be working and the gravel augmentation at the Middle Creek Bridge is most definitely a positive.
On top this good fishery stuff, we saw 5 deer, one a hell of a lot bigger than the others.  We looked for dangling bits but saw nothing to suggest this a buck but it has to be about the biggest deer I’ve seen in years in this valley.

All in all a great day with a man I've known and respected for over 50 years!  More next week.

[Novabonker]

Thanks to  you and Buck. Your good work is really appreciated, and you can spin a good yarn too. Give Emma a good belly rub for me. She's a sweetie.

[Sandman]

Interesting you mention the undersized steelhead/ resident trout as I caught one earlier in the season. It was a rainbow of only about 2 pounds (clearly bigger than your average resident but within realm of possibility) but it had the fresh from the sea silver colour (hardly a blush on the cheeks) and torpedo shape of a steelhead.  Honestly, at the time I was thinking jack steelhead.

[bkk]

Thanks to  you and Buck. Your good work is really appreciated, and you can spin a good yarn too. Give Emma a good belly rub for me. She's a sweetie.

Don't forget to give Buck a good belly rub as well Dave as I hear he likes that a lot! 

[Dave]

Buck, Emmathedog, and I made our third trip up river this morning.  Beautiful warm sunny day that unfortunately made fish viewing in Centennial Channel a challenge and we believe the numbers reported are minimal. Sunlight, water movement, and overhanging branches in the quickly growing riparian area made observations difficult but we were able to find 8 fish, and a lot of disturbed gravel, indicating spawning fish.  As usual, most of the fish were seen in the upper 1/3 of the channel.  As stated before we cannot back it up with solid data but we both believe, for the most part, we see different fish each week at this site.  Our thoughts are these fish are in, spawn, and out of this channel as quickly as possible.  A good example of this is the few large males we saw last week were not visible today, nor were last week’s obvious pairings.  On approximately the same dates: 2012 -2; 2013- 0; 2014-0; 2015-5
Water temperature was 8.5° C, a considerable increase in one week when we last measured 6° C.

On to Chilliwack Lake … here visibility upstream of the bridge was far better than last week and we had a good look at all fish on the gravel pad, 6, with 4 staging below the bridge, but … ½ the area below the bridge was in shade so again, we believe these are minimal numbers.  On approximately the same dates: 2013- 20; 2014- 3; 2015- 20  Again, a huge increase in water temperature from 7° C last week to 11° today.

Middle Creek Bridge, where last week we saw 6 spawners on the new gravel, was devoid of fish today, most likely due to the increase in water level from snow melt.  This site seems to be more frequented by salmonids at lower water levels but is a candidate for gravel augmentation this summer, if funding comes through.
Lots more people in the valley today, perhaps the reason we saw just one deer.  More next week.

[DanL]

Forgive me if this is a dumb question but can you tell at all if any are hatchery clipped? I'm curious as to whether hatchery fish make it all the way up there...

[Dave]

We are able to see adipose fins on many of the Centennial Channel fish, and a few of the fish staging at Chilliwack Lake.  We have never observed a hatchery fish at these 2 sites but that doesn't mean they aren't there.

[Dave]

Week 4 of our upper river counts and as usual the 3 of us (now we know Emma doesn’t spook fish she has earned full crew status ) started again at Centennial Channel and again, the lower 2/3 of the channel was empty of fish or recent signs of them.  We did find 6 in top 1/3, included one pair very happy together, 2 singles, and 2 very battered and beaten, near moribund males. Water temperature was 8° C.  Conditions for viewing fish were far superior to last week and we feel pretty confident we saw all there were.  Similar dates: 2011-20; 2012-7; 2013-3; 2014- 1; 2015 -5
 
Viewing conditions downstream of the bridge at Chilliwack Lake were poor and only one fish was seen staging.  The gravel pad had six easily seen fish as there appeared to be five males doing their best to get it on with one female.  Water temperature here was 9° C.  Similar dates: 2013- 20; 2014-7; 2015-21

On to Middle Creek Bridge, where last week the water was considerably higher and no fish were observed  … today the water was lower by at least a foot and 6 fish were on the new gravel pad, 2 of which were certainly females.   Comparing past dates for this site does not really work as this has been the first year we have seen fish on the gravel installed in the summer of 2013. However, in 2013 -18; 2014- 5; 2015- 2.  All of these observations were of staging, not spawning fish. We now firmly believe this site performs best when water levels are normal; we have relayed our thoughts to DFO’s HR unit, and if funding comes through we expect this site and the outlet of Chilliwack Lake will become priorities for new gravel augmentation.

So, a possible concern… today we saw 18 fish.  Of these we can say for sure there were 4 females; possibly there were a few more in the group but the actions of these fish made us think the sex ratio was definitely skewed.  We find this interesting as the hatchery fish entered in the Wally hall Jr Memorial Derby were approximately 3:1 female.
We would appreciate input from anglers who caught wild fish this winter – what was the sex ratio?

[Every Day]

I'll have to double check to make sure Dave, but in the dozen trips I did this year and the 20 or so steel I managed, only 2 were hatchery - released (1 large buck and 1 doe). The others (wilds) I got were all does except for a single male around 7 pounds. Every wild fish Kitty got to shore/had close enough to tell were all does as well. It's odd to me you're seeing more bucks, as I sure didn't see many at all on the Vedder.

[Dryfly22]

Of the 6 hatchery fish I caught two were a buck.  Of the dozen or so wilds it was 3/4 bucks I would say.  From talking to others I think I got lucky with the number of hatchery fish.  One regular where I fish had one hatch out of over a dozen landed, and that was in early Febuary.  Two weekends ago I got two buck kelts about 5 and 7lbs, spawned but in good shape mid river.  That is when I decided to stop steelheading and leave them alone.
I would have thought that with the clay situation and the high water we have had this year that a record number of fish would have made it past the gauntlet of fishers in the lower-mid river and made it to the spawing grounds.  Very suprised by the low numbers you have seen.  Very.

[BentRodsGuiding]

mostly does this year and lots of hatchery does. today i landed 4 does, 3 were wild and one was a spawned out hatchery fish. personally i felt like there was a lack of bucks. I usually land more does early season and more bucks later in the season. Good average size this year but not as many large bucks as other years.