sockeye fishing in port alberni

sox_tag.jpg
 
Hey Matt, do you what they are looking for, for total escapement?

I actually don't know what the escapement level is for a run of the now predicted 900K Lorne.
Do suspect the run will be upgraded again down the road.
They are literally POURING through the river right now, and have been for several weeks.
The days the FN's aren't netting, it almost seems you can walk across the river on their backs!!
Likely be one Hell of a Gong Show at Papermill 'Nam this weekend methinks. :D

Cool water temps in the Inlet and river and the river running right HIGH (still a fair bit of snowpack fueling that) keeps them from schooling up "outside" - rather they are right BULLETING into the fresh and up. Makes for inconsistent and often frustrating fishing in the Inlet, but there have been a few good days for some.

Cheers,
Nog
 
Anyone make it out this weekend? There must have been a zoo of boats out yesterday and today, as per tradition this weekend. Crossing my fingers for things to pickup by Wed...
 
hey libbs,good luck to you hope you hit it right on time for the sox,,,,a couple buddies and myself went to china creek last thursday,,fished in the dam rain for 3 days and not even a bite,,nobody was catching any,,on friday 3 sox came into the dock,,that's it,,,so on saturday by 2pm we picked up the lines and headed home a day early
 
Went out Sunday morning at 7:30 (late night) and got my limit off dunsmuir in just over an hour. Which is lucky because it quickly became way too windy for my 14' aluminum. lots of fish being caught but they seemed smaller than what was being caught earlier. Only one of my fish was over 5lbs.
 
A friend went over from CV yesterday and fished and they got 1 fish for 7 hours of trolling.
Another friend that is a China Creek local for almost a decade that I know and excellent fisherman got only a couple on Sunday.
Slow by all accounts unless you end up on top of an active pocket of fish.
 
Oh man...still crazy slow! Unless it picks up drastically I think I'm gonna hold off...might not be worth the 2hr drive.

Thx for the reports! Keep'em comin'.
 
I am back over there this coming weekend so really hoping things improve.
It is not good for the valley to lose out for 2 years in a row!
 
Horrible

I have been fishing Sockeye for the last twenty years at this time ( not including the closed years). This is the toughestd fishing I've seen over that itme. We got 12 fish in 4 days. Usually easy limits. I think combination of weather, cool waters, river level and commercial openinings have contributed. Hope its gets beter! Good luck to everyone.
 
Area 23 - Alberni Inlet

The seine fishery opening is extended 30 hours and will now remain open from
11:00 hours Wednesday, July 4 to 17:00 hours Thursday July 5, 2012 or until the
target catch is reached, whichever occurs first, in the following areas:

- In that portion of Subarea 23-1 bounded in the north by a line from Polly
Point to Stamp Point and in the south by a line from Dunsmuir Point light to a
point located at 49 degrees 09.660 North, 124 degrees 47.720 West on the west
side of Alberni Inlet north of China Creek; and

- In that portion of Subarea 23-2 southerly of a line from the Light at Hocking
Point then drawn easterly 90 degrees true to a point on the opposite shore
located at 49 degrees 05.260 North and 124 degrees 49.158 West.

Minimum bunt mesh size is 70 mm.

The target species is sockeye, incidentally caught Coho may be retained. Pink,
Chum, Chinook and Steelhead may not be retained.

Variation Order No. 2012-SAL-23-SN-03
 
Brother in law wants to come up from Victoria this weekend.
Any reports?
Thanks.
Smiley.
 
Echo that report fd from another friend at China Creek, very few fish being caught. Sorry sockeye, I'll see you next year...off to Barkley Sound.
 
talked to a few commies today,, not going good for them as a group....... and holy cow was it hard to get through the gauntlet.. watched the barkley do a few dodges also, bam harbour to the north was plugged.
 
I assume that the gauntlet(in the sound) is made up of mostly gill netters hitting all the choke points. I was wondering with all the small springs in the sound (many of them mirroring the bigger sox for size.) what is the by-catch ratio and what is being done with them.
Are the gillers keeping them ? The bag fleet in the inlet has a no retention on them.I know it is far less likely to get into any up inlet but the guys in the sound are in the mix. Not wanting to start another rant on this I am just wondering how it works?
 
I assume that the gauntlet(in the sound) is made up of mostly gill netters hitting all the choke points. I was wondering with all the small springs in the sound (many of them mirroring the bigger sox for size.) what is the by-catch ratio and what is being done with them.
Are the gillers keeping them ? The bag fleet in the inlet has a no retention on them.I know it is far less likely to get into any up inlet but the guys in the sound are in the mix. Not wanting to start another rant on this I am just wondering how it works?

You should email that question to the dfo. Interesting to see there response. I know my next two days were planned there is now cancelled.
 
I assume that the gauntlet(in the sound) is made up of mostly gill netters hitting all the choke points. I was wondering with all the small springs in the sound (many of them mirroring the bigger sox for size.) what is the by-catch ratio and what is being done with them.
Are the gillers keeping them ? The bag fleet in the inlet has a no retention on them.I know it is far less likely to get into any up inlet but the guys in the sound are in the mix. Not wanting to start another rant on this I am just wondering how it works?

Ray,

Here are some addresses to contact the managers of the sockeye fishery in PA
Writing letters is way more effective than a phone call. Last year I learned from my conversations with them last season that they consider sockeye a commercial fish and 95% of the expoitable biomass goes to them. They could care less if the rec guy gets a fish.

Wrtie also to the mayor of PA and let them know what the town is loosing out on.

Paul.Preston@dfo-mpo.gc.ca <Paul.Preston@dfo-mpo.gc.ca>
Diana.Dobson@dfo-mpo.gc.ca <Diana.Dobson@dfo-mpo.gc.ca>
Bill Shaw <bill.shaw@dfo-mpo.gc.ca>


I understand the seine fishery is still slow since the fish are not schooled up and just shooting up the river.
Let's hope this first stretch of hot dry weather warms river temps and the inlet and they start schooling up and we can get a shot at them.
 
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Thanks for the response folks.

I would like to re-state that the question posed was not meant to start anything here. I just genuinely wanted to know about by-catch in the sound.
 
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