O-FISH-ALL 2014 Vancouver, Howe Sound, Sunshine Coast Reports Thread!

[trendsetter]

the counter was max,d out up in Mission , and estimates of 500,000 fish a day moving thru....
The spawning beds do not need more fish. A surplus only harms the spawn.
There are lots of fish to go around. Commercial , sports ,native,bears , and spawners.
don,t deny someone making a honest living , and feeding the public.
not everyone can be so lucky as us and go out and catch a salmon.

None of what you've stated has any merit. Not once this year has the counter reached 500,000 fish per day. For the past week it's been between 15,900 and 43,700 per day. Many additional fish are harvested upstream of mission by FN and Rec anglers.

The estimated total escapement to date is 6,544,100 past mission and 1,474,310 past hells gate. In 2010 it was much higher and we got a healthy run of 20 million plus return this year.

6.8 million sox is a huge harvest for the commercial fleet. I don't deny anyone the right to make an honest living; unless it's based upon greed and short-sightedness that has a detrimental effect on the resource and future returns. If you want more years like this then let them spawn.

And now back to reports...

 

[Dennis.t]

Well I decided to head out this morning and battle the seiners for a last few sockeye of the season. With the 9am opening I figured I'd have a couple hours of fishing without having to worry much about them. Turns out they wind their watched/iphones different than mine as several boats were dropping nets by 7:45am when I finally made it to sandheads. Is that typical or was the opening time not 9am Pacific?

Anyways, fishing was OK for us out there. Ended up getting a half dozen in a couple hours and that was enough for us. Just when I was thinking about how civil the rec's and seiners were with each other a big seiner comes charger up beside me, drops his skiff and net and proceeds to circle right in front of me and around me. I had to turn 180 degrees and punch it to 8 knots in order to not be caught in his net or hit by his boat. After barely getting to safety I headed to the back of my back to lip him off... fell on deaf ears of course. Not even a wave or much of an acknowledgement at all. I was fishing outside of where the majority of seiners were doing what I thought was the respectful thing. This prick just didn't seem to care and after chatting with a few other buddies who were out this morning there are plenty in the commercial crew who are equally prickish.

Must have counted close to 50 seine boats from south arm to T10. Pretty nuts. I'm not against the commercial fishery, especially during runs like this one, but they aren't doing their reputation any favours with me.

Dude was probally pissed off you were out there during a Seine opening and decided a little imtimidation was in order. Lol

 

[tubber]

Stay safe out there everyone. When the fish are milling around and perhaps not swimming on a path toward the river, the seines will set in random directions and may not tow in a U shape. In other words, they are unpredictable and could drop the skiff and make a circle set giving you just a bit of time to get out before the boat reaches the skiff. Some will set right-handed some will set left-handed. They don't want to hurt anyone or get your prop in their net, but they do not give a rat's butt if you are playing a fish or maintaining a tack in a certain direction. Best to stay way out of the way for 3 days. I'm not a fan of the river mouth seine opening for dark fish.

 

[fishin_magician]

Stay safe out there everyone. When the fish are milling around and perhaps not swimming on a path toward the river, the seines will set in random directions and may not tow in a U shape. In other words, they are unpredictable and could drop the skiff and make a circle set giving you just a bit of time to get out before the boat reaches the skiff. Some will set right-handed some will set left-handed. They don't want to hurt anyone or get your prop in their net, but they do not give a rat's butt if you are playing a fish or maintaining a tack in a certain direction. Best to stay way out of the way for 3 days. I'm not a fan of the river mouth seine opening for dark fish.

It's not random when a Seiner decides where to start fishing...at least the good ones. I dated a chick whose dad is a very famous Seine boat captain and when the $150000 worth of sonar tells him he's on a mega mass...you better not be in his way when he's ready to make an 80000 fish set.

 

[capt hook]

Dude was probally pissed off you were out there during a Seine opening and decided a little imtimidation was in order. Lol

he would not be wasting precious time to intimidate one sport boat...
he had a school on his sonar and was not going to one sporty ruin his set , he knew you would get out of the way eventually , which you did , and he got his fish.

 

[capt hook]

None of what you've stated has any merit. Not once this year has the counter reached 500,000 fish per day. For the past week it's been between 15,900 and 43,700 per day. Many additional fish are harvested upstream of mission by FN and Rec anglers.

The estimated total escapement to date is 6,544,100 past mission and 1,474,310 past hells gate. In 2010 it was much higher and we got a healthy run of 20 million plus return this year.

6.8 million sox is a huge harvest for the commercial fleet. I don't deny anyone the right to make an honest living; unless it's based upon greed and short-sightedness that has a detrimental effect on the resource and future returns. If you want more years like this then let them spawn.

And now back to reports...

I know personally 2 persons who work the counter ,
they have the counter number and also estimates when the screen is solid for hours upon hours...
DFO is fully confident they have more than enough escapement.
also i trust a couple of commies which are the highliners of the highliners , and when they say the fish were so thick the fish were running into the boats up river and were bringing in 2200 fish per set, I believe them.
And i would like to see the commies get some fish and make a living rather than be tied to dock with fish swimming up river only to be stopped by electric fence so as not to get too many spawners.
Over spawning is hugely damaging to the spawning beds.

 

[tubber]

It's not random when a Seiner decides where to start fishing...at least the good ones. I dated a chick whose dad is a very famous Seine boat captain and when the $150000 worth of sonar tells him he's on a mega mass...you better not be in his way when he's ready to make an 80000 fish set.

You said it better than I. They know where they are going, but it might be tricky for a rec guy to predict when and in which direction they will let go, so best to stay away.

Changing topics, did anyone use 8" flashers this year? If so do you shorten leaders? I meant to but never did during my three days there.

 

[Sir Reel]

I just spent the last 6 days on the boat in the gulf islands. Hot and sunny the whole time.
Came across Georgia strait this morning and was going to fish south arm of the Fraser.
About half way over there are sockeye jumping everywhere! So decide to stop and give it a go. Put one rod down and was just getting the other down when it popped and a sockeye was already jumping on the surface. In about an hour I had 10 on and got 4 in the boat could have caught 20 easy if I kept going. Literally everywhere you look there was sockeye jumping.
All about 8 to 10 pounds. You can tell the females are skinnier and not as big. Let 2 of those go for the bigger males.

I have been out 5 or 6 times in the last 3 weeks and this was by far the best day. everywhere you looked they were jumping.
I was going to fish Sandheads but stopped out in 500 feet far away from sporties and seiners. Was all by myself out there.

Fished 80 to 100 on the riggers. rod with no dummy flashers at 80 feet got most of the hits.
small pink hootchie 27"
I noticed the water is 15c. It was 22c 2 weeks ago and I think the fish fought much harder this time. Had a hard time netting them.

That's it for me this season!

 

[Dorman Point]

You said it better than I. They know where they are going, but it might be tricky for a rec guy to predict when and in which direction they will let go, so best to stay away.

Changing topics, did anyone use 8" flashers this year? If so do you shorten leaders? I meant to but never did during my three days there.

I only use 8" leaders for all my fishing. For sox, my dummies are the larger, conventional flashers and I use the 8 inchers on the live rods. I find them to be very effective, and I feel I get a little more sport out of the fight. When fishing sox, I run 24" leaders until later in the run, and switch to 18" as the bite becomes less consistent.

 

[Dennis.t]

I find it interesting to get educated on the ways of the commie fleets. Sounds like a few on this board know a lot about it. Anyone out there today? If so, is the bag fleet still doing there thing? Thanx

 

[Marsman]

In 2010 a buddy and I were on a big school off the south arm when a Seiner started to drop the net and circle us even though we were right in the middle. Thought of just stopping but they need to make there money so we sped up and got out of the netting area. Due to the type of opening (by sets and not pounds) they lifted the net then dropped and released as I guess they were not happy with the amount. Hope the DFO changed that style of netting...

Rob

Well I decided to head out this morning and battle the seiners for a last few sockeye of the season. With the 9am opening I figured I'd have a couple hours of fishing without having to worry much about them. Turns out they wind their watched/iphones different than mine as several boats were dropping nets by 7:45am when I finally made it to sandheads. Is that typical or was the opening time not 9am Pacific?

Anyways, fishing was OK for us out there. Ended up getting a half dozen in a couple hours and that was enough for us. Just when I was thinking about how civil the rec's and seiners were with each other a big seiner comes charger up beside me, drops his skiff and net and proceeds to circle right in front of me and around me. I had to turn 180 degrees and punch it to 8 knots in order to not be caught in his net or hit by his boat. After barely getting to safety I headed to the back of my back to lip him off... fell on deaf ears of course. Not even a wave or much of an acknowledgement at all. I was fishing outside of where the majority of seiners were doing what I thought was the respectful thing. This prick just didn't seem to care and after chatting with a few other buddies who were out this morning there are plenty in the commercial crew who are equally prickish.

Must have counted close to 50 seine boats from south arm to T10. Pretty nuts. I'm not against the commercial fishery, especially during runs like this one, but they aren't doing their reputation any favours with me.

 

[Marsman]

AS for a report last Sunday and Monday (sorry for the later response), 2 buddies and I got our limit on Sunday and my daughter and I got 8 Monday. On Sunday we stopped to help a boat dead in the river. Towed him to number 2 road in Richmond. He wanted to give me a few bucks but I told him to pass it forward... You never know when you might get into a bit of trouble.

Cheers, Rob

 

[Barnacle Bill]

Well done ! Need more boaters like you. ..........BB

 

[Tightlines22]

AS for a report last Sunday and Monday (sorry for the later response), 2 buddies and I got our limit on Sunday and my daughter and I got 8 Monday. On Sunday we stopped to help a boat dead in the river. Towed him to number 2 road in Richmond. He wanted to give me a few bucks but I told him to pass it forward... You never know when you might get into a bit of trouble.

Cheers, Rob

Good job on both fronts! Yes we towed a much bigger boat in recently as well. Just a matter of time for many boats before you might need someone elses assistance. Good for your karma bank!

 

[Hit em Hard]

Over the years I have on many occasions stopped to assist other boaters. At times this has resulted in towing someone.On 2 or 3 occasions I have needed assistance myself and always found other boaters to be more than helpful. That is the way it is supposed to work I think.
h.e.h.

 

[Pippen]

Seiners were out today. So was a a nice chrome 30lb white spring who is now "out" of the water!!

 

[morganic]

Out this morning and fished diwn at sandheads
Went 5-10 on sox. Lots of jumpers and schools.
Commies werent a issue.

 

[nooky]

That is sweet Pippen !!! Anchovy,herring or sox gear ?

 

[Pippen]

That is sweet Pippen !!! Anchovy,herring or sox gear ?

Smaller herring about 5-5.5" or so....chartreuse kinetic flasher to a newer teaser head...or at least my first time running it. Looks like a green/yellow chrome army truck head.

 

[Dennis.t]

Seiners were out today. So was a a nice chrome 30lb white spring who is now "out" of the water!!

Wheres the pic? No pic, then it didn't happen! Lol