Proposed Thompson River reg change
- Thread starter Derby
- Start date
fishinforever
Well-Known Member
The link isn't working for me
Derby
Crew Member
Rum Buddies
Well-Known Member
Did I read it right? Do they want to lower the threshold from 850 to 650? Man maybe its time to let that old river rest.
Derby
Crew Member
We have been fishing over other river systems for the last 10 years plus that have been having less then 100 fish on the beds.... Habitat & lack of water in this case ( to much water being suck out of the system for the hay fields) is the problem besides the normal culprits..... 
Last edited by a moderator:
Sharphooks
Well-Known Member
Amazing that the Skeena system and most of Region No.6 has had a bait ban since the late 80's but the T has dodged that ban bullet all those years.
I'm a bait guy for winter hatch jobs but it didn't take me long to figure out when I first started fishing the Fraser tribs for fall run fish back in the early 80's that all you needed was feathers. Not much need for any other type of gear.
I hung with the bait guys and learned lots from them but it always pained me to see nice big resident rainbows dead on the bottom, victims of having inhaled one of their bugs or gobs of roe.
No way do I want to see that river fly-only, whether there's 10,000 fish or 600 fish, but in my thoroughly unschooled, completely subjective and un-researched and probably bordering on arrogant editorial opinion, beating up on fall run steel with shrimp and roe is overkill and there should have been a bait ban years ago
I'm a bait guy for winter hatch jobs but it didn't take me long to figure out when I first started fishing the Fraser tribs for fall run fish back in the early 80's that all you needed was feathers. Not much need for any other type of gear.
I hung with the bait guys and learned lots from them but it always pained me to see nice big resident rainbows dead on the bottom, victims of having inhaled one of their bugs or gobs of roe.
No way do I want to see that river fly-only, whether there's 10,000 fish or 600 fish, but in my thoroughly unschooled, completely subjective and un-researched and probably bordering on arrogant editorial opinion, beating up on fall run steel with shrimp and roe is overkill and there should have been a bait ban years ago
Cuba Libre
Well-Known Member
Best option is to close it...... even feather caught fish get badly stressed.....Knowing what the run used to be , I dont get why anglers are willing to tinker with the regs , but ignore the real problems affecting T steelies......
Big Green Machine
Well-Known Member
If they close it, I worry that there will be no tried and true diehard Tommy anglers to keep an eye on the poachers. Most of these fellas are stewards of the resource, not just for poaching, but in other ways. Without their eyes and guardianship, who will look after her?
Bows Up
Well-Known Member
I think BGM has the right of it. Close the river and you put out a sign that says "Open for Poachers".
Reg changes are dancing on the head of a pin and no doubt the result of much effort and foofarah. Too bad that effort couldn't be channeled into the fish instead of managing the rules during the decline of a once great river.
Reg changes are dancing on the head of a pin and no doubt the result of much effort and foofarah. Too bad that effort couldn't be channeled into the fish instead of managing the rules during the decline of a once great river.
Sharphooks
Well-Known Member
What does a 15 mm hook translate into in normal hook size designation?
I'm also reading that the bait ban isn't driven so much by an attempt to neuter catch efficiency as it is to minimize mortality from fish ingesting the chemicals associated with the curing of roe (sodium sulphite etc)
In my humble opinion, small hooks beat up on small fish, with or without roe on them
I'm also reading that the bait ban isn't driven so much by an attempt to neuter catch efficiency as it is to minimize mortality from fish ingesting the chemicals associated with the curing of roe (sodium sulphite etc)
In my humble opinion, small hooks beat up on small fish, with or without roe on them
Last edited by a moderator:
Derby
Crew Member
I believe depending the manufacture of the hook about a 2/0 hook perhaps... There are many thoughts or debating on bait ranging from.... hook re hooking leading to higher morts. to chemicals kill fish.... the list goes on and on??? Been involved many of theses process & mort. rates.... The battle ends up being more about personal beliefs & where you are in fishing life..... I believe hook size & more so the length of the shank are more the cuprit.... But just in the last 3 years there has been some pretty good hooks put into play in the market that have cut the morts. down even more so... this conversation is probly better to have over a beer......in the end if you are going to cast for a fish there is and will always be a mort . rate associated with it..... cheers
Derby
Crew Member
Sharphooks
Well-Known Member
Yo, Derby---I think there's something majorly suspect about that blurb you referenced on that gink and petroleum site---- (presuming it's the one about steelhead mortality from "head trauma" after getting tagged).
Either the fly boys doing the catching and the tagging were MAJOR scissorbills or the real cause of death to those fish was the trauma of the GPS module being shoved into their backs. Head trauma from whacking rocks on a beach---wtf?.
I did a pile of tagging in the 80's on the Skeena tribs--- I worked with a guy named Ron Tetreau and we tagged a lot of fish but with numbered spaghetti tags. Not a very elegant thing to do---shoving a large diameter needle into their backs---lots of commotion on the river bank trying to get the tags in, fish coming unglued in the shallows.....you get the picture. And a lot of those tagged fish got caught again weeks and even months after they got tagged.
And here's the thing--- when steelhead die from trauma of any kind, you generally see the bodies in the river. They wash into back eddies and when they're chrome, they stick out like sore thumbs even at the bottom of deep pools--- I NEVER saw tagged fish that had died from the trauma of having gotten spaghetti tagged, and in those days I spent three months straight on the Skeena tribs, floating or walking every day, high water or low. No dead bodies from C&R.
I'll bet those fish died from mis-handling by cracker fly boys---- that article makes it sound like any fish taken out of the water is automatic toast--- not the case in my experience.
Either the fly boys doing the catching and the tagging were MAJOR scissorbills or the real cause of death to those fish was the trauma of the GPS module being shoved into their backs. Head trauma from whacking rocks on a beach---wtf?.
I did a pile of tagging in the 80's on the Skeena tribs--- I worked with a guy named Ron Tetreau and we tagged a lot of fish but with numbered spaghetti tags. Not a very elegant thing to do---shoving a large diameter needle into their backs---lots of commotion on the river bank trying to get the tags in, fish coming unglued in the shallows.....you get the picture. And a lot of those tagged fish got caught again weeks and even months after they got tagged.
And here's the thing--- when steelhead die from trauma of any kind, you generally see the bodies in the river. They wash into back eddies and when they're chrome, they stick out like sore thumbs even at the bottom of deep pools--- I NEVER saw tagged fish that had died from the trauma of having gotten spaghetti tagged, and in those days I spent three months straight on the Skeena tribs, floating or walking every day, high water or low. No dead bodies from C&R.
I'll bet those fish died from mis-handling by cracker fly boys---- that article makes it sound like any fish taken out of the water is automatic toast--- not the case in my experience.
Derby
Crew Member
Agree with you 100%....I find that report really off.. I\m hope to find the thread on the LGL study done on the Vedder doing radio tagging that had no morts... Hoping Sea Run can dig it up for me...
Here’s the report
http://www.chilliwackwatershedstrat...n_et_al._2004_Vedder-Chilliwack_Steelhead.pdf
Here’s the report
http://www.chilliwackwatershedstrat...n_et_al._2004_Vedder-Chilliwack_Steelhead.pdf
Last edited by a moderator:
Derby
Crew Member
here is a mort. study from the US ..higher water temp. really had a impact on the mort. rates
http://www.humboldt.edu/cuca/documen...tSteelhead.pdf
http://www.humboldt.edu/cuca/documen...tSteelhead.pdf
Last edited by a moderator:
kanuckle head
Well-Known Member
I started fishing the the T on gear and progress to bait to maximize my chances in a hookup, but most of the takes on bait result in deep hook sets & cut leaders to release the Steelies. do not know if they survive but having a hook lodge in its throat, makes me wonder?
In knowing this I strictly fly chuck for T Steelies now with memorable success, my best @ 40in X 20 girth
I still am an avid bait chucker, mostly in the local rivers, But on the T I have learned this majestic summer run in its dwindling ecosystem need some chance to survive after a hookup
So in my opinion a drifted fly monitored by line on my fingertips have yet to evaluate a swallowed take resulting in a cut leader & and an embedded fly
I am satisfied not even fishing the T in hopes that the stocks will recover on an upward trend, not the way it is and to have bait guys blame fly guy fight on pathetic stock returns
Kh
In knowing this I strictly fly chuck for T Steelies now with memorable success, my best @ 40in X 20 girth
I still am an avid bait chucker, mostly in the local rivers, But on the T I have learned this majestic summer run in its dwindling ecosystem need some chance to survive after a hookup
So in my opinion a drifted fly monitored by line on my fingertips have yet to evaluate a swallowed take resulting in a cut leader & and an embedded fly
I am satisfied not even fishing the T in hopes that the stocks will recover on an upward trend, not the way it is and to have bait guys blame fly guy fight on pathetic stock returns
Kh
Aces
Well-Known Member
In over 25 yrs of fishing the Thompson i only had 1 deep, bleeding hook placement that probably was fatal and that was on a suspended maribou jig.
If you watch your float and set fast you mostly hook them in the corner of the mouth.....just ask Derby.
I hated watching the fly chuckers take 20 minutes to land them on their fish on light gear, talk about stressing out the fish. I'll bet the lactic acid buildup when the water was still fairly warm early in the season wasn't kind to a lot od fish
If you watch your float and set fast you mostly hook them in the corner of the mouth.....just ask Derby.
I hated watching the fly chuckers take 20 minutes to land them on their fish on light gear, talk about stressing out the fish. I'll bet the lactic acid buildup when the water was still fairly warm early in the season wasn't kind to a lot od fish
Similar threads
