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[243Pete]

Lime green/ key lime was the color for today , for some reason I couldn't get a single pink to take my fly a little after 9am, but they were still hitting spoons really hard so I borrowed a buddy's casting setup and hucked some metal for a bit. Two casts and bam! o-O I wonder what the reason would be behind this? the sound and action of the spoon in the water vs a small fly?

Right now it's such a gamble as to hooking into a fresh or a slightly older fish, but the chrome ones are giving a good fight this year.

As to the flesh of the pinks this year, I'd say they are really good this year with a nice orange to an orange-ish with a slight red hue.

[cohomeister]

No more retention

FN0785-RECREATIONAL - Salmon - Pink - Region 2 - Squamish - Closure effective August 13, 2019

https://notices.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fns-sap/index-eng.cfm?pg=view_notice&DOC_ID=224322&ID=all

[sockeyed]

Sad to see this amazing run managed to the current state

[fic]

I wonder how they determined the in-season assessments.  Creel Survey, or just looked at the spawning grounds?  I guess pinks aren't important enough for DFO to spend that much money enhancing it.

[sockeyed]

I wonder how they determined the in-season assessments.  Creel Survey, or just looked at the spawning grounds?  I guess pinks aren't important enough for DFO to spend that much money enhancing it.

I wish there was more data online for this system as well.

I was briefly talking to a guy on the train bridge last night that was warning people of the retention closure. He said they are only expecting ~100,000 fish this year. To put this in perspective, 2017 was ~300,000, and one of the record years was ~4,000,000 in 2013 or 2015. No actual proof of this, thats just what he told me and he seemed knowledgeable. 

[redside1]

Sad to see this amazing run managed to the current state

this run has not been managed into the ground.
The poor return this year is all because of the numerous high water floods on the squamish system in the Fall of 2017 after the pinks spawned that year.
Many times the river became high enough to move the gravel around. In the spring of 2018 there was very few smolts leaving the system and DFO employees doing fry/smolt enumeration that year predicted the return that we are seeing this year.
One could have hoped for better ocean survival to help with the return size but it didn't happen.

[sockeyed]

this run has not been managed into the ground.
The poor return this year is all because of the numerous high water floods on the squamish system in the Fall of 2017 after the pinks spawned that year.
Many times the river became high enough to move the gravel around. In the spring of 2018 there was very few smolts leaving the system and DFO employees doing fry/smolt enumeration that year predicted the return that we are seeing this year.
One could have hoped for better ocean survival to help with the return size but it didn't happen.

If they had all that knowledge then why did they open retention in the first place. Could have been thousands of fish killed.

[wildmanyeah]

This run is under complete control of the squamish nation.  It is what it is.

To top it off it sounds like its now a complete gong show as well, I heard DFO seized over 20 fishing rods in one sweep.  Don't deserve to have it open with that kind of compliance.

pathetic really, Try and behave the next cycle

As others have pointed out the squamish is nowhere near what it used to be. I was talking to an old timer there use to be 700 boats that would fish in the vancouver sun classic derby. Some 40 pound Chinook would get weighed in and some of those fish were destined for the Squamish.

All sectors have played a roll in destroying this gem

[RalphH]

To top it off it sounds like its now a complete gong show as well, I heard DFO seized over 20 fishing rods in one sweep.  Don't deserve to have it open with that kind of compliance.

I suppose the sudden word the run 'was in' lead to this - both the lack of compliance and the sweep?

People seem reluctant to acknowledge problems with the rec sector bonanza mentality while highlighting the sins of the other 2 sectors. At least the Squamish pink sport fishery is locally concentrated so it is easy to monitor and any damage limited.

I was on the river Monday. It seemed clear to me the return is lower than 2017, which was very much lower than 2015 which was less than stellar following a few excellent cycles.

Yes the Squamish isn't what it once was but the big decline started at least as far back in the 70s. Coho and chinook started to decline back then. Pinks all but disappeared but experienced quite a recovery in the last 20 to 30 years. The poor returns of the last few cycles match a BC wide decline plus in river issues. Declines in the chum stocks there have a similar pattern.

[clarki]

I guess pinks aren't important enough for DFO to spend that much money enhancing it.

You guess wrong. Stop guessing and read. Even a cursory Google search would tell you 1) what salmon enhancement projects DFO funds. Some projects have directly benefited pink salmon 2) why chum salmon enhancement is prioritized over pink salmon enhancement   

Reside1 and wildmanyeah echo my comments. Poor returns aren't the fault of DFO.

All sectors have played a roll in destroying this gem

Amen. Logging practices, high water events (caused by logging practices), diking, hydroelectric reservoirs, caustic soda spills to name a few.

But, of course, DFO is responsible to fix all that so I can have pink salmon in my freezer.

[yoda]

Yes, i remember that very high return year where it was around 3-4million fish.Was only a couple of  cycles ago.
But did they leave it alone so to improve future interest? NO! Commercial opening in the howe sound and vacuumed a huge proponent
Nets kill runs via mismanagement once again!

[RalphH]

The run is not enumerated in any way. There is no test fishery to compare to the PSC test fisheries for the Fraser. If you check Fraser fry abundance it varies by a factor of 5 or more from cycle to cycle

Still the river was loaded with fish in 2013 contrary to the idea that the fish were all 'hoovered' by commercial boats. There is no way 4 million returned in 2015 and the numbers off the beaches in '15 did not compare to 2013.

The biggest factor in adult abundance is fry production and ocean survival. Very big returns from modest previous cycle escapements are common. Numbers of prior spawners and extent of commercial harvest don't correlate well with subsequent returns.

[Drewhill]

Going back to the confusing regulations I have a hunch that it had to do with in past years when open they'd have it as Mamquam: 1 pink per day below the CN bridge and no retention above and then also have Squamish: 1 pink per day. It caused a grey area where guys would go to Squamish, bonk 1 and move a few feet to the Mamquam and bonk another. Some guys would even just bonk two on Squamish and just say one came from Mamquam and vice versa and it was tough for officers to enforce.

By putting the 1.5km downstream of the CN bridge under the Squamish it cleared up that grey area. What they should have added was have Mamquam: No retention above the bridge and see Squamish for regulations below the bridge.

[RalphH]

Reside1 and wildmanyeah echo my comments. Poor returns aren't the fault of DFO.
Amen. Logging practices, high water events (caused by logging practices), diking, hydroelectric reservoirs, caustic soda spills to name a few.

But, of course, DFO is responsible to fix all that so I can have pink salmon in my freezer.

High water events are also associated with Climate change and is declining ocean productivity. Other folks have alluded to over production of salmon farming operations in Alaska and Siberia though both have had abundant wild stocks which may also reduce ocean productivity.

[243Pete]

And people are still trying to retain pinks today, had to tell some people that there is no retention but luckily it was all civil.

One guy was doubting me and a buddy's claim that there was no retention, showed him the notice and even said that he could look on social media like FWR to find out, guy basically spouted some stuff about calling DFO, checking the website this morning (even though he doesn't know the link to the fisheries notices) and how local borns here (Canadians) are trying to lie to him... not sure what he meant by that comment.