Barkley Sound Small Springs

C

Cougar Gold

Member
I’ve been fishing in Barkley Sound for over 30 yrs. This yr there seemed to be a huge amount of 8-12 lb mature springs (males). My friends and I have caught plenty of fish, but none over 30 lbs. what’s even more concerning is that we caught very few over 20 lbs. the numbers of fish seem to be strong, but the size is not there. What are your thoughts on why?
 
I have a theory, all the fish I caught in bamfield this year were filled with small bait. Sandlance and small bait fish. In 2020 they were filled with squids and anchovies. I think there were to many sandlance around, easy pickings. However Im probably wrong. We noticed the smaller size as well. The Fraser fish seem to be big this year.
 
Herring fishery is a gong show. Caught so many last year they were dumping fish they couldnt sell.
 
Reel Time said:
Herring fishery is a gong show. Caught so many last year they were dumping fish they couldnt sell.
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I have seen the commercial Herring Fishermen dump herring because they were too small, immature, for saleable Roe. NEVER because they couldn't sell the Roe.
 
What you're describing was certainly the case off Nanaimo this year as well. We had a slot limit of 80 cm for most of the year, but it really didn't matter. I only had to throw back one fish. A guide friend of mine landed almost 150 salmon over 62 cm and only 3 were overs. Hard to say about the feed, but any fishery with a minimum size is targeting bigger fish and taking them out of the system. I know river fishers are often allowed (and encouraged) retain jacks, but we've got to let them go, so they breed more consistently than any other strain.
 
Cougar Gold said:
I’ve been fishing in Barkley Sound for over 30 yrs. This yr there seemed to be a huge amount of 8-12 lb mature springs (males). My friends and I have caught plenty of fish, but none over 30 lbs. what’s even more concerning is that we caught very few over 20 lbs. the numbers of fish seem to be strong, but the size is not there. What are your thoughts on why?
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So here is my Theory...
They continually to net that Stamp / Somass run. What fish makes it through the net and into the spawning grounds??
Only the smaller ones that can slip through and escape. The big brood stock ends up in the seiners and gillnetters hold. If you follow the Commercial openings over the last 20 plus years their minimum mesh size has been reduced by the Dept. of Fools ( DFO)

I know I am stepping on some toes here, however a friend is a cattle rancher and confirms big parents produce big spawn... just look around your neighborhood .
 
Not arguing any of these valid points on brood stock size but,,, the size issue was the same up and down the coast this year not just Barkley Sound fish. Touched on it somewhat with one of our members that comercial fishes and by what he said it was the same offshore.

My nephews did their annual trip again this year to Hardy with one of the top outfits up there. They as well had difficulty getting into bigger fish all season. The nephews were there at prime time and did manage a couple decent fish but out of 6 in their party only got 1 over 30 and just, the rest were just fish.

Yes the Frazer river fish seem to be decent fish this year so that only leaves more questions.

My thoughts, it’s a feed thing. For what ever reason the bigger fish came in up and gone to the rivers never stuck around to feed and fatten up. But again, this does not explain the small size offshore as well.
 
The smaller size of springs is consistent all across the Pacific —-it’s been documented in multiple studies—-fish are shrinking due to forage fish constraints, ocean acidification, habitat disruptions, warming river trends....a whole litany of peripheral reasons......there were very few bigger fish up north—-Barkley Sound is just one more place where you are seeing the aggregate effects of a changing ecosystem.....yes, now there’s a cooling trend but it remains to be seen what that will do for forage fish production, and as Rain City mentions, especially given the huge hatchery output of pink salmon from Russian, Japan and the US that are competing for those dwindling forage fish
 
Sharphooks said:
The smaller size of springs is consistent all across the Pacific —-it’s been documented in multiple studies—-fish are shrinking due to forage fish constraints, ocean acidification, habitat disruptions, warming river trends....a whole litany of peripheral reasons......there were very few bigger fish up north—-Barkley Sound is just one more place where you are seeing the aggregate effects of a changing ecosystem.....yes, now there’s a cooling trend but it remains to be seen what that will do for forage fish production, and as Rain City mentions, especially given the huge hatchery output of pink salmon from Russian, Japan and the US that are competing for those dwindling forage fish
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I buy this but I would like to know one thing. The forecast for this year was telling us that there was supposed to be an abundance of 6 year old fish come in this year. Did those fish come in, if they did what size were they, maybe they weren’t there to come in. These are the questions I have, and can we ever get a real answer to this or just the usual BS that tells us what they want us to believe.

I also believe that hatchery fish may be competing for food and may be driving the over all size down but,, without these hatcheries we wouldn’t even have a fishery out there so that settles that. I would rather go catch 15 - 20# fish than no fish at all.
 
" The forecast for this year was telling us that there was supposed to be an abundance of 6 year old fish come in this year. "
That was a DFO forecast...why would you expect this forecast to be any better than their others.
Fool me once, sham on me Fool me twice sham on you
 
We fished Hardy in June, Winter harbor in July, and the north and central coast for 3 weeks in August. Same theme all year for me. Smaller average size chinooks and coho than any year I can remember.
 
Brett83 said:
I've been researching since I read that a while ago. Apparently there is run in Alaska that returns 4-7 years. Until today if someone asked me I'd say 4 typically 5 max
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There is not a surplus of 6 year old chinooks and never been, as I originally quoted.

Most mature fish used to be 4 year old with a small component of 5 year olds

A couple of rivers up north can have a small segment up to 7 year olds……those are the 60-80 pounders you hear about from time to time
 
Aces said:
There is not a surplus of 6 year old chinooks and never been, as I originally quoted.

Most mature fish used to be 4 year old with a small component of 5 year olds

A couple of rivers up north can have a small segment up to 7 year olds……those are the 60-80 pounders you hear about from time to time
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I could be mistaken and probably am but I am sure there was a post on forecast for Chinook put up earlier this year and there was a forecast for a pretty decent run of 6 year olds coming in this year, if I’m wrong I apologize for the miss information.
 
My theory are the bigger fish you seek are in sound right now. I think those bigger 5 year old are running late.

Look at the derby and also the tyee club results. Lots in 20s later on.

Seeing this in JDF right now and other areas. This dry weather might have something to do with it. It's like everything is 3 weeks behind.

Nevertheless Barkley Sound has had a good fishery. I am sure environmentalists would love to shut it down, and blame the hatchery for making all the salmon small. Without the Robertson hatchery wouldn't be much of a fishery.
 
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SpringVelocity said:
My theory are the bigger fish you seek are in sound right now. I think those bigger 5 year old are running late.

Look at the derby and also the tyee club results. Lots in 20s later on.

Seeing this in JDF right now and other areas. This dry weather might have something to do with it. It's like everything is 3 weeks behind.

Nevertheless Barkley Sound has had a good fishery. I am sure environmentalists would love to shut it down, and blame the hatchery for making all the salmon small. Without the Robertson hatchery wouldn't be much of a fishery.
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Those Robertson fish are caught from the Alaska border all the way to the hatchery, proven thru DNA testing. Without them Chinook fishing would be pretty unproductive
 
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