Area 23 / 123 Chinook / Coho 2014 Changes

[the fog ducker]

Area 23 / 123 Chinook / Coho 2014 Changes
Try to get this right , the notices and maps should be out tmw , July 15 2014


Coho area 23 , Barkley Sound ,Surfline and Inshore
from Cape Beale to Miller Rk to Amphitrite lighthouse

as of right now , we as sporty's are allowed 4 Coho /day , marked OR ummarked in area 23 ...
outside that area , 123 , it is currently 2 coho/day , which one may be umarked (wild)

as of Sept 1 /2014 , the inside , area 23 remains unchanged, BUT , area 123 offshore , the daily limit is now 4 ,
which one can be marked ( wild ) map should be out very soon , maybe tmrw !!


Chiinook area 23 /123

here is the map , very similar to the coho boundary , but , 1 more mile seaward , ( further out, offshore )

http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/r.../23-ch-eng.pdf

currently , it is 2 per day , as usual , BUT , as of August 1 , Barkley Sound changes to the slot size again , HOWEVER ,
we are now allowed 1 over 77 cm and one under daily, the boundary is one mile past the surfline !! for Chinook !!!!!
as per the map , portions of the inlet will close as normal , HOWEVER , we will be able to retain 2 Chinook from Port up to the Nahmint narrows appx ,
look at the map pls , it will be the same , one over 77cm , one under , Daily !!

hope i got this right , pls correct me if im wrong , just off the phone with Port DFO

hope this helps , i get asked alot !!


fd

 

[Slabby20]

Thanks Felix

 

[Birdman]

so I'm assuming a better run is predicted given the increased opportunity? any word on what the forecast is supposed to be? would love to get up there and do some inlet fishing in august if there's going to be a decent run unlike the last few years.

 

[searun]

Yes, you got it right. The former map that was posted was the left over one from last season. DFO didn't have time to update it in time to meet the changes when announced. We had lobbied hard for the surf line change at SFAB and that errant map threw a lot of guys off as the old map was not what was what we thought had been agreed to.

Chinook run will be small, but larger than last season. This allowed for lifting of the full under 77 rule and closure of the canal that was in place last season. Frankly there were a lot more fish around last year than forecast, so hopefully it is a conservative forecast again this year and way more show up!

 

[Birdman]

thanx searun - your inside info is much appreciated! if they could get into that 40,000 - 50,000 range that would be a nice bump up.

 

[IronNoggin]

... Frankly there were a lot more fish around last year than forecast, so hopefully it is a conservative forecast again this year and way more show up!

BEST thing that could happen with the springs here is a very conservative forecast (one which negates the possibility of industrial commercial fishing) and a decent escapement is realized. Last year, despite the Doom & Gloom forecast, the escapement was actually significantly larger than it had been for many many years previous as pretty well everyone was kept off the returning fish. Maybe after a few years of such occurrences, the run will finally manage to re-build to something coming close to it's former magnificence...

Cheers,
Nog

 

[Hit em Hard]

BEST thing that could happen with the springs here is a very conservative forecast (one which negates the possibility of industrial commercial fishing) and a decent escapement is realized. Last year, despite the Doom & Gloom forecast, the escapement was actually significantly larger than it had been for many many years previous as pretty well everyone was kept off the returning fish. Maybe after a few years of such occurrences, the run will finally manage to re-build to something coming close to it's former magnificence...

Cheers,
Nog

Perhaps you could correct me if I am wrong but when speaking of the late 80's early 90's returns I seem to remember a return of 55,000 Chinook to be a slow year with a return of 85,000 or more considered to be a good year. In those days I use to take my boat over to Port and begin fishing for Chinook August 10th. The early season fish were of a good size if memory serves correct.
h.e.h.

 

[IronNoggin]

Perhaps you could correct me if I am wrong but when speaking of the late 80's early 90's returns I seem to remember a return of 55,000 Chinook to be a slow year with a return of 85,000 or more considered to be a good year. In those days I use to take my boat over to Port and begin fishing for Chinook August 10th. The early season fish were of a good size if memory serves correct.
h.e.h.

Going back that far I believe you are close, if not bang-on...

Around the mid-90's, the Department began to "manage" towards an escapement centered on what was required by the hatchery, and that only. They suggested that instream spawning was providing little or no benefit to recruitment (a statement I have yet to see backed up anywhere by science). Then of course came the cuts to that same hatchery production, and therefore the numbers required for that escapement dropped simultaneously. Last decade and change, they have worked towards 10 - 15 thousand. A mistake IMHO.

Combine these developments with heavy extraction policies, geared towards early arrivals (the buyers want fish in decent shape after all) and the run began to skew towards both smaller fish (influence of hatchery drift and harvest removal of larger individuals) and a later timing.
These days the fish are on average quite small in comparison with historic (90's and older) catches, and the main run often occurs WELL into late September / October.

Last year's escapement (> 20,000) was the largest in many years. The only reason that occured is they came back in surprising numbers, and basically no-one was allowed to target on them. I, amongst many, am hoping for the same this season, and perhaps a couple more (should we get so lucky) to bolster their obviously declining numbers...

Cheers,
Nog

 

[Birdman]

reading your post sure makes a guys' blood boil ironnoggin. I hope that area 23 DFO gets their you know what together and lets this run re-build in numbers and size. I only really started fishing alberni in the late 90's early 2000's and even then it was still darn good fishing most of the time with a fair amount of 30 plus pounders. then the seiner massacres started in the mid 2000s and now look where things are at ... hoping for a mediocre run of 40,000 fish. what a shame.

 

[fishspoon]

yes, I noticed that the fish are smaller mostly in teens these days. Last year, we ran across the boundary of Lone Tree Pt to the harbour to go home from Bells Bay..we marked so many fish on my depthsounder and no one was allowed to fish for them.