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[Rodney]

Re: Fall chinook salmon.

I've seen more and more reds being caught among whites every fall, I have no idea why. Just this past week, fishing with Big Steel on the forum, two of his fish were red while all of mine were white.

There are no plans to increase the summer red production at the moment, but there are talks about it. I'll add to this when I hear more about it.

[RalphH]

red vs white is a genetic difference. I've caught whites in the Fraser well above the Vedder mouth so I guess they occur elsewhere in the watershed other than the Harrison. If reds and whites co-mingle on the spawning beds and the red variation is dominant then it would make sense there' be more reds showing up. Remember too the whites are not native to the Chilliwack system. There are introduced Harrison stock.

[blueback]

River blown? Or just high?

[Rodney]

River blown? Or just high?

Just high still, crested at 1.8m and dropping now. Fishing is ok.

[blueback]

Thanks Rod!!

[bkk]

Because whites only spend a small portion of their lives in freshwater, they have much higher return rates. At the end of the day, a dollar spent on raising white chinook has a higher return on investment than a dollar spent on a red chinook.

You are mistaken on white chinook. There life history pattern is predominately a yearling strategy. Squamish system chinook are mainly whites and they are yearling fish. Birkenhead fish are all whites and they are also yearling juveniles. Quesnel system has both whites and reds and they are also yearling fish. The Harrison is more of an exception than the rule. Most whites comes from glacial systems or cold systems where it takes then a long time to grow to smolt size hence the yearling strategy.

[DanTfisherman]

I did find this tidbit in the link I posted to be interesting.  It states:

"Any short run river ( IE Vedder, Harrison ) White chinook ,,, are called " Tuley whites, originated in the Columbia river lower streams.  They are very acid smelling and tasting. Long river whites are every bit as good as the Reds but just don't look as nice. Upper Fraser whites and reds 600-700 mile fish are fine. Stay above the Harrison and most of the kings are fine."

So, if I understand this correctly, even the Harrison whites are introduced and originated from the Columbia system?  Is this correct or speculation?  Also, if correct, it kinda throws my thoughts at the back of my head out, as I speculated about genetics and "more correct" fish to introduce to systems, based on being at least from the same catchment basin.

When I did fish the Fraser quite a bit for Springs in the 90's, I did find I caught whites above the Harrison, and they were exceptional, such as whites I caught on the Island out of the NitNat or the Stamp.

Dano

[RalphH]

FWIW  Fraser interior coho and steelhead are also more genetically related to equivalent Columbia Basin fish. Why? Likely due to geographic phenomena called stream capture. Glaciers in the interior of BC melted quicker after the last ice age than on the coast. Salmon colonized much of the interior from the Columbia River. Overtime as glaciers melted and the Fraser watershed emerged, Fraser watershed streams eroded back into Columbia basin valleys and changed their flow down into the Fraser - known as stream capture. With their keen sense of smell, salmon and steelhead born in those streams still found their way home.

[psd1179]

Thompson river chinook includes marble, white and red. I assume white chinook are very common

[clarki]

You are mistaken on white chinook. There life history pattern is predominately a yearling strategy. Squamish system chinook are mainly whites and they are yearling fish. Birkenhead fish are all whites and they are also yearling juveniles. Quesnel system has both whites and reds and they are also yearling fish. The Harrison is more of an exception than the rule. Most whites comes from glacial systems or cold systems where it takes then a long time to grow to smolt size hence the yearling strategy.

What do you mean by a "yearling strategy", bkk.  That fry/juveniles only spend one year in their natal streams before the smolt and migrate? 

[bigsnag]

Another victim of the GCCK

[spoiler]

Hey Rodney,
this is a little off topic but when is the Chilliwack Fishing with Rod tackle swap meet?

[RalphH]

Another victim of the GCCK

Nice! What is the GCCK? (something something Coho Killer obviously)

PS What's with the hair bands on the reel seat?

[iblly]

Not sure his reasons for the hair bands but I use them to hold rod halves together when rod is broken down.

[4x4]

Nice! What is the GCCK? (something something Coho Killer obviously)

PS What's with the hair bands on the reel seat?

I'm guessing to put his rod together after he splits it at the end of the day.