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[Darko]

Ah! They responded to my email of this morning!

LOL!

come on Ralph, we all know they read MY comment criticizing them and announced the opening immediately. 

[Fish Assassin]

How nice of DFO to open the Fraser after the bulk of the run have moved through.

[clarki]

Man, tough crowd.

I’m glad it opened and SuperBobby is spared from committing an act of civil disobedience when no one is watching.

[Wiseguy]

Ah! They responded to my email of this morning!

LOL!

Thanks Ralph. You are amazing!

[Rodney]

lol... email has been working overtime since last week.

[clarki]

For reference, non-tidal Fraser opened Nov 15 last year.

Thanks for your behind the scenes work, Rod!

[Rodney]

Thanks Clarki.

My biggest beef when it comes to the current approach on the Lower Fraser coho opportunities is that we have to push and push to have that opening announced. Communication with resource management was great (new managers) last week and I was feeling energetic about it again, but as I dug more into it, questioning why chum opportunities are given while coho opportunities were not, it just stopped a few days ago

What I really want to see is as soon as that IFS window closes, we have a permanent opening dates given way in advance. There's no reason chum abundance should determine whether that coho fishery is a go or not in November. We have terminal coho fisheries when chum salmon is closed, what makes the Fraser different unless there are other factors which we are not being told. Advance opening dates would give anglers hope, make planning much easier, and make education much easier too...

[Rodney]

And while we are on this topic, something I discovered last night was kind of troubling and amusing lol.

On Region 2's salmon regs, someone had taken out the following two clauses:

The daily limit for all species of Pacific salmon from tidal and fresh waters combined is 4. Individual species limits also apply.
The possession limit for all salmon from all waters is twice the daily limit. You cannot possess more than 8.

So I guess there isn't an aggregated daily limit for salmon and possession limit anymore?

[RalphH]

And while we are on this topic, something I discovered last night was kind of troubling and amusing lol.

On Region 2's salmon regs, someone had taken out the following two clauses:

The daily limit for all species of Pacific salmon from tidal and fresh waters combined is 4. Individual species limits also apply.
The possession limit for all salmon from all waters is twice the daily limit. You cannot possess more than 8.

So I guess there isn't an aggregated daily limit for salmon and possession limit anymore?

I had a phone discussion with an FO on these lines many years ago - the 1st year the daily limit was reduced from 4 to 2 for no apparent reason. Since the limit of salmon was 4 while the limit on pinks per stream was 2 was it possible to combine limits from 2 streams and keep 4? Absolutely not! I was told the limit for pinks in non-tidal water was 2 no if ands or buts.

I have also heard that sometimes these limits are set based on whatever the limit was the last time an opening occurred. A manager tells a clerk to pull the last relevant Fisheries Notice, give it a new number and date and publish it So if it was 4 years ago it matters not that the expected run size is double or more than the previous opening.

A similar nonsensical regulation is the trout fishing closure on the Fraser above Mission until Nov 15th yet trout are open below Mission with a possession limit for hatchery trout - that largely don't exist. In Region 2 there is a possession limit for hatchery trout  in streams of 2 for something that mostly does not exist (excepting maybe the Chilliwack River) since the Province suspended stocking hatchery trout into streams in 2019. I have had stream side discussions with people who saw kill wild cutthroat which they then argued they were allowed to keep since it must be a hatchery fish ... with an intact adipose fin.

[wildmanyeah]

what makes the Fraser different unless there are other factors which we are not being told.

conflict on the river among user groups, I'm sure you have read all the feedback to dfo from the IFMP


I said my peace about this when it came to pinks. It is what it is

[redside1]

A similar nonsensical regulation is the trout fishing closure on the Fraser above Mission until Nov 15th yet trout are open below Mission with a possession limit for hatchery trout - that largely don't exist. In Region 2 there is a possession limit for hatchery trout  in streams of 2 for something that mostly does not exist (excepting maybe the Chilliwack River) since the Province suspended stocking hatchery trout into streams in 2019. I have had stream side discussions with people who saw kill wild cutthroat which they then argued they were allowed to keep since it must be a hatchery fish ... with an intact adipose fin.

from previous discussions with the province, the retention of hatchery trout while fishing streams in region 2 now is to remove residualized steelhead smolts or so I was told. 

[RalphH]

from previous discussions with the province, the retention of hatchery trout while fishing streams in region 2 now is to remove residualized steelhead smolts or so I was told.

Yes and that's why I specifically mentioned the Chilliwack River that has specific regs for retention of hatchery trout on that water. The only other stream with a similar specific reg is the Coquitlam which has received no stockings of trout or steelhead for at least 20 years. FWIW checking GofishBC triploid female rainbows were stocked from about '95 to 2001. Those fish would all be caught or died naturally long ago. Why is that reg still there?

Personally I have rarely encountered so called 'residualized' steelhead smolts on streams that receive such stocks other than the Chilliwack. For streams like the Harrison, Stave and the Alouette I could count the total on the fingers of one hand in 20+ years of fishing. It's a silly reg that encourages poaching of wild cutthroat. All that is needed is exceptions for specific streams where there is an issue with holdover hatchery steelhead smolts.

[canoeboy]

And while we are on this topic, something I discovered last night was kind of troubling and amusing lol.

On Region 2's salmon regs, someone had taken out the following two clauses:

The daily limit for all species of Pacific salmon from tidal and fresh waters combined is 4. Individual species limits also apply.
The possession limit for all salmon from all waters is twice the daily limit. You cannot possess more than 8.

So I guess there isn't an aggregated daily limit for salmon and possession limit anymore?

In regards to this I did message a dfo officer and they got back to me that limits and possession quotas are still in effect  4/8

[DanL]

I had a phone discussion with an FO on these lines many years ago - the 1st year the daily limit was reduced from 4 to 2 for no apparent reason. Since the limit of salmon was 4 while the limit on pinks per stream was 2 was it possible to combine limits from 2 streams and keep 4? Absolutely not! I was told the limit for pinks in non-tidal water was 2 no if ands or buts.

Could that have been a one off discussion with a specific individual? Presumably that's not the interpretation you'd get if you asked now, but obviously that's never been a thing. The closest would be the Squamish where you are only allowed 1 coho from the entire watershed (Squam, Mamq, Cheak etc) but that just shows its the exception and not the rule...

[RalphH]

Could that have been a one off discussion with a specific individual? Presumably that's not the interpretation you'd get if you asked now, but obviously that's never been a thing. The closest would be the Squamish where you are only allowed 1 coho from the entire watershed (Squam, Mamq, Cheak etc) but that just shows its the exception and not the rule...

It was. I called a DFO office and they had an FO call me back. I left it at that.

So has anyone been fishing on the Lower Fraser since it's been open 3 days? I have been wondering about water clarity. I went over at Mission and Alex Fraser a few days ago and the river looked brown.