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[Rodney]

https://www-ops2.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fns-sap/index-eng.cfm?pg=view_notice&DOC_ID=232238&ID=all

Other terminal fisheries will hopefully be announced prior to the start of the season as the department reviews each regulation.

[wildmanyeah]

I have my doubts about fraser tribs, sorry to say but me thinks they wont open them till they give first nations a shot in the fraser first.

The july chilliwack opening will be telling

[essyoo]

Thanks for the heads up Rod!

Fished the cap a bunch last year but didn't have much success. Hoping to improve on that this season.

[Roderick]

Do we have you to thank for this Rodney?  If so, and to whomever else was involved in getting this fishery opened, thank you!

[Rodney]

Do we have you to thank for this Rodney?  If so, and to whomever else was involved in getting this fishery opened, thank you!

I sent out a couple of emails to push for this at the beginning of the licence year but haven't had time to follow up actually. There are several others who have been communicating with the person responsible for speeding up the review process so it looks like the message has been heard. Hopefully the July 1st summer chinook salmon fisheries for the Chilliwack and Chehalis River will also be announced in advance.

[dnibbles]

I would be shocked if the July 1 openings on the other hatchery rivers weren't announced in advance. Well, mildly surprised.

The issue at hand here was that there are freshwater salmon regulations that pre-date any of the current DFO managers. Some of this regs in recent years have been changed where they made zero sense at all (e.g. an August non-retention on Chehalis Chinook was removed, Qualicum River Chinook retention didn't open until Oct 31, etc). Significant work was started last summer to try to streamline sport regs and make them consistent around Georgia Strait. For example, the Lower Fraser tribs had (until this year) always been open unless closed, whereas the East coast Vancouver Island rivers (Campbell/Quinsam, Puntledge, Qualicum) were closed unless decided to open in-season, as well as a patchwork of strange regs. The intention from the fishery managers last year was to get them all straightened for this year, but it seems the execution left a little to be desired.

The key point that was made to the fishery managers was that the heavily enhanced rivers are intended to support sport opportunities and harvest and should not require an in-season assessment of abundance. Open them up for the enhanced species, and if something catastrophic and unforeseen were to happen then a closure could be made in-season.

This is a good opportunity this year to provide input on these regs, as I still think there are some that don't make much sense. The previous fishery manager in the Lower Mainland (retired now) was very receptive to these types of changes, I'm not sure how things are now.

[wildmanyeah]

Chahalis typically opens up June 1 for chinook

https://web.archive.org/web/20170612213040/https://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/rec/fresh-douce/region2-eng.html

The law says FN get priority access and FN have been pushing to fish in the Tribs. So nothing would surprise me.

[RalphH]

both the Chehalis and Chilliwack summer chinook runs originate from their respective hatcheries. Returns are at best, modest.

FWIW FN harvest on the Cap' has taken place at the same time as the sport fishery since the hatchery returns started close to 50 years ago.

Any FN harvest of summer chinook on the Chehalis and Chilliwack will likely impact the number of fish available for sport anglers though some closures to avoid conflict is possible.

[stsfisher]

both the Chehalis and Chilliwack summer chinook runs originate from their respective hatcheries. Returns are at best, modest.

Fighting over crumbs   
I'd be surprised if the Chilliwack river gets an opening for summers with sockeye in the system at the same time, sporties have pretty much proven they can't target chinook without the temptation of fishing sockeye travel lanes..........

[Rodney]

Both systems' summer chinook salmon returns last year were excellent, possibly due to the closures implemented in the ocean prior to mid July. It'll be interesting to see how both runs do this year.

[stsfisher]

Out of curiosity Rod, what is excellent? What kind of numbers did both hatchery systems see this past summer? And by summer fish we are talking July/August fish right? Not the mid to late September reds that seem to be much more abundant the last 5 years?

[Dave]

Both systems' summer chinook salmon returns last year were excellent, possibly due to the closures implemented in the ocean prior to mid July. It'll be interesting to see how both runs do this year.

Pretty sure this is the dominant year for Chilliwack Lake sockeye also, possibly over 50k
I would be very surprised if there was not a FN fishery for these fish; it's been attempted with limited success on past cycles.

[Rodney]

Out of curiosity Rod, what is excellent? What kind of numbers did both hatchery systems see this past summer? And by summer fish we are talking July/August fish right? Not the mid to late September reds that seem to be much more abundant the last 5 years?

Yeah we're talking about the July/August stocks. I can't remember the numbers, but these were conversations I've had with both hatcheries and anglers at the SFAC.

[stsfisher]

encouraging.

[stsfisher]

Pretty sure this is the dominant year for Chilliwack Lake sockeye also, possibly over 50k
I would be very surprised if there was not a FN fishery for these fish; it's been attempted with limited success on past cycles.

Yes it is, and yes I remember them reporting limited success. I also remember their opening was some what late. a majority of the fish where in the lake already before their attempts. They did attempt to fish the lake but unsure how that went? I did note a large amount of fish the week before their attempts and much less the weeks prior. Talking to the contract counters up there, they figured the FN group did ok.
Real shame to think 50k is enough to sustain a food fishery.....