Wishin I was in the bush.
Almost at the point where I'm considering selling my boat. Grew up fishing Port Renfrew with my Dad and have a lot of good memories of limitting out before lunchtime and feasting on crab at the old dryland sort. Pretty sad that I can't pass it along to my kids....
Remember a few runs of northern coho (around 1990) that were actually seen from the air. Had 3 around 15lbs in the boat before Dad could even get his rod put together!!
Member
I know...This is the first year I’m seriously considering not booking my annual charter ( 10 trips) off Sooke. I blame DFO for totally mismanaging the fishery,they are reactive,not proactive.Theres a ton of bait out there,so it’s not feed but very few Chinook and what you do get,many are unclipped hatchery fish ( only about 10%of hatchery fish are actually clipped) which have to be released,or outside the size restrictions....And even if you do get a decent fish on,you have to get it in the boat before a seal beats you too it...a good fish will run several times,and the seals follow your boat( unknown when I was a kid,you couldn’t get within a quarter mile of a seal,they had a bounty on them...) October northern coho didn’t materialize we got a few sockeye this year,generally by the time we get an opening off Sooke they are all through..pretty discouraging situation and I’m not sure DFO is even listening to the recreational salmon fisherman anymore,adding insult to injury,running to Sheringham west for halibut is now closed ...it wasn’t so long ago you would see hundreds of boats out off Sooke but that’s dwindling fast and the empty spaces at the marina docks and empty parking lots of boat trailers prove that ....looks like losing the salmon fishing tourism dollars doesn’t matter either ...even if they embarked on a massive hatchery/ stream enhancement program,it would take years to rebuild the fishery but at 71,I’m just plain out of time..pretty sad when nobody is listening
Last edited by ratherbefishin; 12-03-2018 at 08:01 AM.
Member
I see by this mornings paper they now admit they have a serious problem with the decline in Chinook salmon,with some runs considered close to extinction....this is no surprise,fishermen have been seeing this for some years now,while the DFO did virtually nothing but collect licence fees...I don’t buy the ‘wild salmon ‘ initiative fir one minute,that was just an excuse to play the fiddle while Rome burned.Its not rocket science,we need more hatcheries,stream enhancement and we need preditor control...
Senior Member
It's sad to say but there is not even one positive thing I can think of going on with the BC West Coast fishery.
A weak and ineffective federal bureaucarcy, an elitist and dysfunctional provincial bureaucracy, and a domineering culture of well-funded environmental anti-use groups will ensure the complete closure of the public food fishery.
Special interest groups dominate every aspect of fish and wildlife management in BC (California North as I have called it), and that's not about to change under our present elected governments. We are simply tax-paying pawns in a destructive and idealistic experiment of social engineering.
My family shares the opinions of those on this thread. We all know what the answers are … but "we can't get there from here". It is very sad to say that, truly!
Junior Member
Add to that the dwindling halibut allocation and the prospect of prawns going down to 100 per person, it’s turned into going out to hopefully get a meals worth. What we give up is allocated to whales and other sectors. On the bright side the Chinook fishing has been excellent in the Georgia straight for numerous years now.
HuntingBC Champ
Being an inlander near the once former largest sockeye salmon spawning river, I can attest to the decline of both sockeye and chinook. In 2010, the shores of Little Shuswap Lake were virtually littered with the carcasses of thousands of sockeye. Not so in 2014 and even lesser this year. The Chinook returns appear to be smaller also, however, the main returns on that species occur next year presumably.
Another problem that I perceive could be the amount of plastic floating in the oceans that the fish may be consuming thinking it is something edible. If this is so, it would eventually result in high levels of mortality. And of course, the ever expanding seal population. Not enough orcas eating seal I think.
".....It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of a Trudeau government than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their prime minister......"
Member
Even if the DFO realized the problem,and moved immediately to put more fish in the system( it’s not rocket science) it would take YEARS to rebuild the fishery.( the east coast cod fishery is an excellent example)and at 71,I don’t HAVE ‘years’.seems a terribly shame to wipe out west coast traditions by sheer neglect...and the realization that nobody is listening and nobody cares..an example if the sheer idiocy is when they destroyed the small dam on the salmon producing creek out in Sooke built by volunteers to regulate water flow and create good spawning habitat ,because if an earthquake hit,the dam could give way and cause flooding downstream -nobody stopped to think that an earthquake of that magnitude would level Victoria..
Last edited by ratherbefishin; 12-05-2018 at 09:05 AM.
Senior Member
The only that our salmon and interior have a chance of recovering is if we get the nets out of the rivers and take care of the seal problems. The last 10 years the increase in netting has wiped out returns and some are beyond salvaging! Doesn’t take much to get rid of the seals in problem areas and choke points.
A perfect example of how f-caked the net fisheries are...its December and they are still netting the Squamish!
https://www-ops2.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/f...ningTimes.html
The salmon on the Fraser have zero chance with the amount of netting going on. Take a look at the past 12 months of the netting schedule on the Fraser. This isn’t ev n counting the economical openings either
https://www-ops2.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/f..._Previous.html
Weird how the Chinook stocks that aren’t going through the nets on the Fraser in the inside of the straight are actually rebounding...must just be an odd coincidence....not
tick in my taint
Stop fishing hearing.......
wonder what’s over the next hill?
Ive fished our coast lines and rivers from north to south for dam near 60 years. Guided in many different locations also. Ive personally seen the demise of many many stocks first hand.
What is truly troubling to say the least is when our leaders, those in charge of the various federal decisions on Fisheries litterally turn a blind eye to the dealings and going ons.
Their repeated caving to FNs demands is sickening with uncountable runs of fish being minimized or destroyed from its lack of monitoring and acvountablility.
Another huge concern for all is when our officials those making the big decisions dont even listen to their own biologists and their recommendations.
The boom in Predators at inlets, river mouths and estuaries is OUT OF CONTROL.
The Seal and Sea lion boom is absolutely crazy, every where. Yet the bleeding heart antis again win this war. With almost zero done to the growing populations of these critters, unless its some one dealing with it on their own, the problems will continue to get worse.
DFOs head officials should hang their head in shame of their lack of Management for many many years past and present.
Pathetic really.
In the mean time, FNs continue to pound away in numberous areas unmonitored and unregulated. Fish farms continue to increase. The rich keep getting richer off our Herring fishery, the life blood of our local coast. Yet its the sport fisher that takes the biggest hit.
Check out who holds the largest licenses for our coastal fisheries and ask yourself .... What are They putting back into the fisheries itself. Again its take take take......
But its the Sports fishers, that are the real conservationists, trying to restore fisheries, volunteers giving endless time trying to operate hatcheries, stream and habitat restoration. etc etc. Not the main big business owners of our numberous Siene fleets.
Sportfishers contribute more to this economy than any other stake holder related to fisheries......yet are penalized the most.
I M O........ Control the Seals and Sea Lions, limit monitor and make FNs accountable like every one else. Minimize the Herring fishery. And above all. For the fishes future of sustainability.....Listen to the experts, stop turning a blind eye to those in the know.
Lets hope some day we can take our grand children Salmon Fishing. The way its going and has been for nany years, its simply NOT sustainable.
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