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[Fish Assassin]

I don't know if that is true, After fishing the Chehalis river system for years im convinced that probably 50% of Anglers out there don't like to walk more than a few hundred meters from their car.

With all the break ins, can you really blame them ?

[cammer]

Well thought out post hammer.. it all comes down to enforcement and I found it very funny that the DFO was in full visibility this year at Sandheads trying to show all media outlets how they handle threatened " pink returns". Most old river fishermen say same thing that being checked by an officer was about as common as Canadian hockey teams winning a Stanley cup.

[wildmanyeah]

I would like to see genetic studies done on fall Chiliwack red Chinook comparing it the original Harrison stock. I have not fished the vedder for years but remember catching chrome whites, reds, and marbled in September. There has been some very interesting information in this thread. Regardless of the origin or purpose of the specific strains of fish, there is no excuse for disrespectful handling and tactics which specifically snag fish. People who act like that spill over into other fisheries where there are not "put an take" facets of the fish population. To some degree, deterioration of ethics and take "fish at all costs" mentality on the vedder came as a result of the season ending overflow from almost two decades of sockeye flossing on the Fraser. From that point, thousands and thousands of people bought 10'6" casting rods and ambassador reels from every shop within two hundred miles the lower Fraser. Simply by casting a bouncing Betty and standing beside a hundred people in a line, you could bring home two beatiful chrome sockeye. Over the course of two decades, whole populations convinced themselves they were fishermen. Certainly, many of these people caught fish, but they aren't fishermen. In my mind, mastery of craft comes from a long apprenticeship and respect for craft and quarry. Compare snagging pinks and ripping at the end of each cast with mountain goat hunting and you get the picture. I don't think closing a hatchery fishery is the answer. Step up enforcement and education. I think shops and guides should have a role in education that goes beyond paying 200$ to "learn how beach fish for coho".
If you are bonking tail hooked pinks under KWB, you should be fined and have to go through an educational process. If it is called sportsfishing, participants should act like sports fishermen.

well said

[wildmanyeah]

Well thought out post hammer.. it all comes down to enforcement and I found it very funny that the DFO was in full visibility this year at Sandheads trying to show all media outlets how they handle threatened " pink returns". Most old river fishermen say same thing that being checked by an officer was about as common as Canadian hockey teams winning a Stanley cup.

Its true I have been checked 3 to 4 times a year by DFO fishing in the ocean. I have also took part in numerous creel surveys at the docs.  The steveston DFO office tho is pretty much solely devoted to policing sports fishermen. That being said a busy fishing day on the ocean my consist of 200 boats from Bowen Island all the way down to Sandheads. Its not hard for DFO to check every boat fishing in one day. Also the ocean has something called nature's conservation, When it windy the amount of boats goes down to almost nothing. 

I have never been checked by any DFO officer on the river. Despite the fact that they have Chilliwack, Mission and Langley offices for the area. Believe it or not DFO spend most of their time checking natives. A few years ago the natives did a freedom of information request and found out that DFO spent a far more of their time enforcing native fishery then the sport fishery. There is probably only 2 areas where you will find DFO checking. Vedder and Stave. Since enforcement officers don't count streams anymore you wont find them in any remote areas.  There are tonnes of small creeks along the north side of the Fraser river that are closed where people go to dip net chinook and coho like whonnock creek.  DFO used to spend a lot of time walking these creeks but they do not any more.  They still spend a lot of time in the hope canyon, humping hills going after people dip netting.

So yeah I think we all agree that they need to spend more time enforcing the sports fishery.

[RalphH]

The prevalence of snagging and bagging and other disreputable angling habits of the V-C long out date either the Fraser sockeye fishery or making pink salmon open to sport fishing. It's an old story looking for a new culprit to blame.

[Jk47]

I think there is a lot of truth behind Hammer's statement, the free for all floss n snag "fisheries" are disappearing and the "spill-over" combined with an increasing population and two generations of their snagging offspring are enough to make the seasoned and ethical river angler puke. shut everything down (except the hatchery put and take runs MAYBES ) to catch and release and we'll see who's still standing in the river in the rain and the cold just to catch and release a chrome  trophy (not kill every black, spawned out  fish "for the smoker" they can snag!