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[Dubs604]

Most people who have a regular job can only fish on weekends...

This. I also have a wife and small kid, so realistically I have, At MOST, one 2-3 hour first light weekend opportunity in me each weekend.

On Saturday morning, I headed to a spot recommended by an esteemed old timer, but just didn’t feel like braving the crowds. I moved on to a spot further up the lower part of the river and fished from first light until 8:30am. There were lots of jumpers and risers and a decent bite for the first hour before it died down to nothing. I managed to land a beautiful chrome ~4lb hatchery coho, which was actually my first Vedder keeper after about 4-5 total trips over last year and this year. I filleted and vacuum sealed the fish and look forward to a couple nice BBQ dinners for the fam and I.

[Rodney]

I popped out briefly this afternoon so the kid could run around a bit by the river while I made a few casts. Beside the usual popular spots, I thought the river is surprisingly quiet with lots of places to fish. Water is very clear and continues to drop steadily while it drizzles.

[CohoJake]

There was a harbor seal bobbing around above the train bridge this morning.  Didn't seem to impact the fishing, and I didn't see him try to steal anyone's fish.

Yes, chinook fishing has been something else this year.  I have never filled up my quota before, partly because I have never landed so many fresh chrome chinook in the river before.  I'm a bit bummed that I missed the coho extravaganza in the canal, but I still have hope for a few hot mornings this month.  This is the first year I can remember where the chinook have consistently been tastier than the coho.  Really, the coho last year tasted great, but this year so far the 2 we have eaten have been mushy and bland - one was a doe, one a buck, both very fresh and chrome with relatively small gonads.  All of the coho I have landed have been on the small side - the 5 lb hatchery doe today was my biggest so far this year, released 6 wilds so far, 4 of which were tiny jacks.

[Rodney]

In a few years from now, that abundance of chinook salmon will be even higher than what you're seeing this year as hatchery production of chinook salmon is increased to the full capacity to feed the killer whales. It'll be interesting to see if the fall fishery will turn into primarily a chinook salmon fishery instead of a coho salmon fishery.

[wildmanyeah]

In a few years from now, that abundance of chinook salmon will be even higher than what you're seeing this year as hatchery production of chinook salmon is increased to the full capacity to feed the killer whales. It'll be interesting to see if the fall fishery will turn into primarily a chinook salmon fishery instead of a coho salmon fishery.

have they reduced the coho production?

[clarki]

have they reduced the coho production?

When they first announced the increase in chinook production from the Chwk hatchery, I never considered ( perhaps naively)  the impact on coho production, but your post gives me a sinking feeling. Very likely they will need to decrease coho production to free up ponds to be occupied by chinook, unless they have a lot of excess capacity already. They may even reduce their coho production this year to begin freeing up capacity, which means we could start seeing a decrease of hy coho in the river 3 years from now.  That’s  just armchair speculation and of course only  the hatchery can confirm their plans. As Rodney said, it will be interesting to see.

[CohoJake]

When they first announced the increase in chinook production from the Chwk hatchery, I never considered ( perhaps naively)  the impact on coho production, but your post gives me a sinking feeling. Very likely they will need to decrease coho production to free up ponds to be occupied by chinook, unless they have a lot of excess capacity already. They may even reduce their coho production this year to begin freeing up capacity, which means we could start seeing a decrease of hy coho in the river 3 years from now.  That’s  just armchair speculation and of course only  the hatchery can confirm their plans. As Rodney said, it will be interesting to see.

Or more armchair speculation - they may instead release more unclipped coho if they don't have the space to raise them to clippable size.

[Dubs604]

Visited the same spot on the lower where I landed a nice hatchery coho on Saturday. I fished from first light to around 10am and not a sniff for me. I threw everything out there today. Tightened up my presentation on roe. Threw jigs of various colours. Chucked a few spoons and spinners, but nothing. The guys next to me each had three by the time I left, and there were a few other fish taken along the run. Oh well. Not my day.

[chris gadsden]

They say the rain is coming all week so better catch some fish now as high water will end the coho fishing for the year on the C/V. Rod is picking the right time to go away. The fishing was hot today. I better take my own advice and go out right now, a 5 minute drive.

[PVH]

I fished for a few hours this afternoon. Nothing either. Decent run upstream of the train bridge where I could see fish, but not get them to bite. Tried lures, roe, Gloucester minnow... nada.
Had one jump clear out of the water about 15 feet below me. Kind of frustrating 

[243Pete]

A bit slow in the canal today but a nice wild doe and hatchery buck to hand today at first light wasn't to bad.
Nice to meet another fellow forum member who stands tall and large, good fishing with you this morning and I must remember to pack some cigars with me while on the river since I haven't done so in quite some time.  I am going to have to copy that twitch jig design and try and make my own variation, gotta try seeing if I can convert some fly patterns into twitch and float jig designs.

[milo]

Nice to meet you on the flow today Pete. After you guys left, nothing happened in the way of fish. I waited until 2:30 pm hoping the high tide would bring some fresh fish in. Didn't happen. I gave it my all...fly, jigs, spoons, blades...nothing. 😐
Your cigar is packed and ready for you in the portable humi bag. Hopefully we get to fish together again soon.

Cheers, Milo

[avid angler]

When they first announced the increase in chinook production from the Chwk hatchery, I never considered ( perhaps naively)  the impact on coho production, but your post gives me a sinking feeling. Very likely they will need to decrease coho production to free up ponds to be occupied by chinook, unless they have a lot of excess capacity already. They may even reduce their coho production this year to begin freeing up capacity, which means we could start seeing a decrease of hy coho in the river 3 years from now.  That’s  just armchair speculation and of course only  the hatchery can confirm their plans. As Rodney said, it will be interesting to see.

Not likely. Unless they cut reallocated funding from coho production for chinook. The hatchery is maybe operating at 50% capacity currently.

[chris gadsden]

They say the rain is coming all week so better catch some fish now as high water will end the coho fishing for the year on the C/V. Rod is picking the right time to go away. The fishing was hot today. I better take my own advice and go out right now, a 5 minute drive.

https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/news/article/aleutian-low-pressure-systems-bring-bc-rain-alberta-snow-for-holiday-weekend

[RalphH]

Or more armchair speculation - they may instead release more unclipped coho if they don't have the space to raise them to clippable size.

also speculation.

Back when the chinook returns approached 100k there were complaints they ruined the coho fishing  by pushing coho upstream and water not well suited to angling.