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[Hike_and_fish]

Hong from the DFO office in Delta just left a voicemail for me after returning my call and the voicemail I left for him on Friday asking him about not having an opening for hatchery coho on the tidal fraser until October 24th and he confirmed what I had feared - there will not be an opening for hatchery coho on the tidal fraser until October 24th.  Sometimes I really wonder if there are any rational people running the show at DFO. DO they seriously think its possible for recreational anglers to catch steelhead in the tidal fraser? Ho Lee Fak!

On one hand I can understand. But my common sense side says how is it fare when nets are out in full force for the chum roe. I am left scratching my head sometimes.

[wildmanyeah]

DO they seriously think its possible for recreational anglers to catch steelhead in the tidal fraser? Ho Lee Fak!

It’s allocation policy and political,

[RalphH]

Ive never even seen a Steelhead caught below Chilliwack on the Fraser.
Where were these secret Steelhead Bars?
More caught in the lower Fraser than the Thompson.
Now thats funny.

I provided a link to the paper Bruce.

I have talked to more than a few people who caught and killed large steelhead around Chilliwack before it became all c&r - which was well after 1986 though I don't know the exact year of the change .

[fic]

That sucks. I feel bad for the old timers that are too old to drive to the Vedder/Stave/Squamish to fish and are looking forward to this fishery every year. 

[firstlight]

I provided a link to the paper Bruce.

I have talked to more than a few people who caught and killed large steelhead around Chilliwack before it became all c&r - which was well after 1986 though I don't know the exact year of the change .

I could see some numbers caught above Dewdney but not in the lower  below Mission which is what we are talking about on the Coho restrictions and DFO notice.

[poper]

Just lame

[Steelhawk]

That sucks. I feel bad for the old timers that are too old to drive to the Vedder/Stave/Squamish to fish and are looking forward to this fishery every year.

X2. These old soldiers of the fishing hobby are mostly too old and infirm to either drive far or to face the cold elements in late October. This basically force them to give up their long-awaited salmon fishing season on the lower Fraser. So unfair and heartless for DFO to do this to this group of old timers while they allowed nets on the Fraser for chum, risking decimating the precious Thompson steelhead or even some interior coho. When it comes to the recreational fishermen, DFO don't give a dime as usual and that is what I mean by unjust treatment by DFO. What I don't understand is, if they opened it Oct 6 last year, why delay it so much this year?

[sumasriver]

Government really needs to look at lower fraser river environmental enhancements.....

What kinds of investments can BC make in the lower fraser river to enhance smolt survival rates as they move down river to the ocean.. ?

[Tangles]

So you could still chuck spoons for springs which are crashing (Harrison shut down already due to low #s)
aaand if you catch clipped franken coho you have to let it go. Doesn't make any sense to me - a fish produced with our money exclusively for the purpose of harvesting and we end up releasing them...but the nets go ahead with the wild fish.

[Hike_and_fish]

So you could still chuck spoons for springs which are crashing (Harrison shut down already due to low #s)
aaand if you catch clipped franken coho you have to let it go. Doesn't make any sense to me - a fish produced with our money exclusively for the purpose of harvesting and we end up releasing them...but the nets go ahead with the wild fish.

The Harrison has a greater return of Springs than a lot of systems that have openings. Its shut down because the Harrison is a joint venture between FN and DFO.

The clipped Coho release is used you bring up. That's not stopping people. I've been in the Sumas on the boat for past two weeks. Every day I see 13 plus boats and even guides bunking Coho in the Fraser portion of the Sumas and even in the Fraser fishing for Coho. The system is broken. DFO has had the closure posted on they're site for a while now. However the folks I talk with out there think it's open for Hatchery Ho.

[RalphH]

Per Fisheries Notice 1058

Effective immediately until further notice, you may not retain Chinook salmon
on the Harrison River in Region 2.

This measure is required as the 2018 forecast estimate of spawner abundance for
Harrison chinook is 61,825 and this is less than the escapement goal range of
75,100 to 98,500 spawners.

it's open but no retention. The fish mostly aren't in very good condition - they are dark to black - the fall run is almost exclusively whites and they lose their table quality once they color significantly.

What other systems have openings? The Vedder and Stave white springs are hatchery produced. The Harrison is predominately wild.

FWIW the Harrison went through 30 or more years of closure for springs and somewhere around 20 years of total closure for salmon fishing during a period when the spring return was depressed.

[wildmanyeah]

Per Fisheries Notice 1058
 

FWIW the Harrison went through 30 or more years of closure for springs and somewhere around 20 years of total closure for salmon fishing during a period when the spring return was depressed.

Do you remember what this time was the years? what was the SRKW population during this period?

[RalphH]

Do you remember what this time was the years? what was the SRKW population during this period?

I don't have the specifics to hand.

I will forward your request to a good friend who is a spey flosser. He will know this info but I doubt he will reply.

[Hike_and_fish]

FN notice 1058 just went into effect yesterday afternoon. Retention on Chinook from the hwy 7 bridge to the fraser was allowed. The original end date to retention of springs in that area was for the 28th. They ended it early.

I can understand the retention from the hwy bridge up. The closure by Calamity point doesnt. Everyone just bar fishes or back trolls at moutain bar intercepting the Harrison stocks as they go up. Still doesnt make sense that you have to release hatchery Coho from the Fraser mouth all the way up but can retain once in most Fraser tribs.

[RalphH]

The Region 2 salmon regulations state retention of hatchery coho is permitted above the #7 bridge to lake.

http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/rec/fresh-douce/region2-eng.html

One can argue about the closure below that bridge as I doubt IF coho would wander that high into the river, but who knows. Harrison Bay is rearing area of a lot of salmon species. In years past salmon closures have been pegged to the  CPR bridge or Cabin Point. Lately they settle on the #7 bridge.

Best I know there has never been a closure on the Fraser below the Harrison specifically to protect Harrison springs and even when the river was closed to spring retention (which was from around 1960 to the 90s or later) angling for Harrison springs was popular on Fraser Bars below the Harrison confluence, unless salmon fishing was closed for other reasons