Unfortunately the evidence is there never was steelhead or salmon runs above Enloe as the waterfall at the dam site would normally be considered impassible nor is there any recorded evidence of those either species in Canada beyond stories of 'large fish' in the Similkameen.
Okanagan sockeye 2024
- Thread starter sly_karma
- Start date
donnie d
Well-Known Member
I’ve read the same. They’d have to build a fishway to get above that. Lots of habitat above there….lots of dollars though.
If the Similkameen had good habitat it would have more and bigger trout. The water gets hot in the summer and in winter there is a problem with anchor ice. Our warming climate may reduce the anchor ice but the summer temperatures will just get higher. Some of the tributaries may have good habitat. This idea has been around for some decades and maybe 30 years ago a Government biologist thought the river may be able to support a few hundred steelhead. That was when ocean survivals were much higher. I'd imagine the number would be much lower. On the plus side the regional native bands are in favor of establishing & supporting runs of salmon and steelhead.
sly_karma
Crew Member
Seems like the peak was back on June 23, a few days earlier than usual. An impressive 50,000 fish passed over Bonneville that day; that is a fish crossing every 1.7 seconds! As of yesterday, 480,000 fish have passed and there are still 25-30,000 fish per day crossing as the run slowly tails out.
Fish are starting to cross Wells Dam into Brewster Pool, ready for the trip up the Okanagan River. Water temps are going above the 69 F limit in the afternoons but cooling off as much as 5 F at night. River flows are about 25% of normal for the time of year, so warm weather has a rapid effect. Hopefully most of them will move through to the river; they won't stop then until Osoyoos Lake.
Fish are starting to cross Wells Dam into Brewster Pool, ready for the trip up the Okanagan River. Water temps are going above the 69 F limit in the afternoons but cooling off as much as 5 F at night. River flows are about 25% of normal for the time of year, so warm weather has a rapid effect. Hopefully most of them will move through to the river; they won't stop then until Osoyoos Lake.
Fisher_dude
Crew Member
Okanagan is only 60-63 right now so that bodes well. It’s usually significantly warmer this time of year.
sly_karma
Crew Member
Really. Skaha was 69-70 surface temp today before noon. No idea of accuracy of my old HDS transducer though.
Corey_lax
Crew Member
The lake at My cabin near Princeton is 61 degrees and water levels are still really high. Hope it works out the same for those sockeye. I’m hoping for an early opening for when I vacation up in osoyoos
bcbassfishing
Well-Known Member
Similameen is looking pretty good even with the small snow pack... but it's been cold here. Snowed at work 3 weeks ago
Fisher_dude
Crew Member
Here’s something to keep you busy. This is the fish ladder at Rocky Reach.
sly_karma
Crew Member
All comes down to water temp now. Flows are about 25% of normal, so ambient temp has a fairly direct effect. About 650,000 have crossed Bonneville, fish are beginning to arrive in Brewster Pool.
In the current weather pattern, it would appear the thermal barrier is in place. A cool down in the next two weeks would provide an opportunity for fish to come up, but for the moment most of them will stay south of the border.
In the current weather pattern, it would appear the thermal barrier is in place. A cool down in the next two weeks would provide an opportunity for fish to come up, but for the moment most of them will stay south of the border.
Fisher_dude
Crew Member
77°f surface 61°f at 30 ft in Brewster as of yesterday.
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