A warm early Sunday morning greeting to all readers of the journal on Fishing with Rod.
My Saturday morning started at first light as the first stop would be the Vedder to see what was happening. The wind had died down some but there was a cool nip in the air so I thought I would maybe wet a line later in the day when things warmed up some.
A few avid anglers were already making their first casts along the canal part of the river as I headed up to check a float trap to see if Maple Leaf Drennan that I had lost last week had been lodged in it.
I had left a float in the jam on my last visit to see if someone else was checking it as well. On arrival it was gone so if by chance MLD#1 had ended up there it could be now on some other anglers line.
As I head back down the dyke I see something shinning in the now rising sun, I stop and see the object is a Power Shot A75 digital camera.
Beside the camera, lucky for the owner is a driver's license so I am able to trace the owner through the phone book I carry in the Leaf Mobile. I will make the telephone call later as it is still early. The call which I am sure will make the owner very pleased. Of course I experienced the same feeling a few days ago when I had my fishing rod returned by a honest person.
I continue my journey down the other side of the dyke and run into Chronic who has stopped fishing for a while to warm up as he said standing in the chilly morning water had got a bit uncomfortable.
We visit for a bit and he tells me he saw one hatchery fish taken so far. As we visit a few other anglers stop for a brief chat, it seems everyone knows the Leaf Mobile.
Ernie stops briefly and gives me some deadly looking single eggs to make some egg sacs. As Chronic prepares to leave he says he is going to check a float trap. I believe he is looking for MLD#1, maybe to enhance his fishing luck.
I then decide to head over to the Fraser River to check out the gravel mining operation that is going on below Gill Road. When I get there there is gravel trucks everywhere and there is a couple leaving the site every 5 minutes, big tandem trucks too. A couple of locals I see at the site say a local First Nation Band is spearheading the operation. I am no expert to know if this operation is damaging fish habitat but it is well above the level that pinks could have spawned in. I also am not a hydraulic engineer to say if this removal will help in flood protection as we keep hearing about. I really do not think you could take enough gravel out to accomplish this fact but maybe by taking it off you can change the direction of the flow to keep it away from the dykes in certain places. I hazard to guess this is just money driven in removing this aggregate. Maybe OK to do it here instead of the recent proposal on the Chehalis River that Addicted To Steel brought to our attention. I snap a few pictures at the site before leaving that we may post later.
On the way out I stop to for a walk along the river by Gill and find a snag full of spoons, spinning glows, bouncing Betty's and a few hundred yards of line. I harvest it off the snag, will be fun going through it one day but what to do with the BB's that I donot use as most reader know.
I snap a picture of all my finds of the day so far.
All during my drive along the Fraser River I see garbage dumped everywhere and my next stop at The Agassiz Rosedale Bridge is no exception. Someone has dumped a load right under a sign that says something like "a million dollar fine, a year in jail area under video surveillance for dumping"
I snap a picture of this as well.
I just can not believe so many individuals can have such a low regard for our environment to do such things. Of course a lot of this garbage will be swept down to the ocean during the freshet just around the corner. I imagine we should do something about this but you would need a couple of dump trucks and a couple of hundred volunteers to deal with this. As well The Chilliwack Vedder River Cleanup Coalition has their hands full trying to keep a handle on the Chilliwack Vedder River watershed.
Maybe a meeting is in order with the Environment Minister to try to get more funds for more Conservation Officers and more video cameras
to try and catch these guys. I would suggest instead of fines make them clean up garbage for a while.
My next stopping place is by the small creek by Annis Road where I discovered the golf course had cut the blackberries that had been providing shade for the fry that in habit this small stream. You may remember the pictures I posted of this area a few months ago. When I reported this to the Conservation Branch they said FOC and the City had given them a permit.
to cut right across the stream. I saw fry in among the debris left in the stream at the time. I was told part of the agreement was for them to replace the area with shade trees. This has not happened yet. On my arrival today they have now cleaned out some of the creek removing gravel etc and leaving no cover for the spawning coho that come into this system later than most runs, usually in January. As I slip in position to shoot a picture of this, there she is, a solitary doe coho in the 4 pound range seeking shelter from me under a small undercut of the bank. Nearby I see she is digging a Redd in a vain attempt to perpetuate her race. I wonder if a male is hiding somewhere as well from the glaring sun and me the intruder. I snap a picture that Rodney will post of this gallant lady trying to complete her life span in a unfriendly place. As I leave a call made to the Co to start a follow up on this file.
I then drop off the canera to the owner and head home for a very late lunch.
With about a hour left in the day time to make a few casts to relieve myself of the stress what I had seen today. On the way to the place I decide to fish I snap a picture of a solitary angler as the sun begins to set behind Sumas Mountain.
Finally I make my first cast. All of a sudden float down, as I set the hook I see it is a big one, a snag that claims everything but my float.
I then have to retie up everything as darkness starts to creep up on me. I finally am back in action and as I fish I talk to another regular angler on the river, he tells me it has been a slow day as far as he could tell.
Finally it is time to go and I notice my guides are icing up, looks like another night of frost ahead.
Asa I start to wade back to the Leaf Mobile my cell phone rings. I think it may be the CO returning my call but it is 2:40. I tell him and we chat what I had seen today.
The gravel mining operation that is most likely profit driven in a day of high demand for aggregate.
The disregard of so many people that care so little for the health of our environment they just throw out items from batteries to mattresses along our precious streams and rivers.
The apparent lax attitude of a golf course that appear to careless about the home of a race of coho including a lone coho doing her best to spawn in her partly destroyed home so she send some of her offspring hundred's of miles to the ocean and back with the hope at least two can return to their natal stream.
As I reach the shoreline with my head full of the thoughts of the day I spot and fish out a campaign sign from the past Federal election that someone has thrown in the river. It is the local MP Chuck Strahl's plastic sign. As I gather it up I can only hope the new Conservative Government will do more than the past one did to protect our fish and the environment they live in. We and they all owe it to the fish and to our future generations to ensure it happens. I know I will and I am sure you the readers of the journal will too.
As daylight now approaches time to go and start another adventure, another journal hopefully more pleasant. O, the reason for being a day late with the journal was I had this report all done last night but the report was lost as the internet went down as I tried to send it. I told you it was a bad day all around. Check back later for pictures that go with todays, yesterday's journal.
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Topic: The Journal For Feb.18 On The Vedder,The Fraser River And A Small Creek (Read 4156 times)