No fish tale, chinook and coho stock returning in great numbers
Michael Briones/Echo Staff / Comox Valley Echo, July 11, 2014
The fish at sea are biting. And anglers are snaring them in great numbers.
Since the Department of Fisheries and Oceans opened up the tidal fishing season last month, fish tales abound. And this time there's some truth in them.
The chinook stock is up, said Bryce Gillard of the DFO, but also coho. They're allowing fishermen to catch two coho, and one can be wild.
"This is the first time in ten years or so we've had that kind of opening," said Gillard. "I have been seeing coho liking pink and purple hoochies."
Anglers in Campbell River have been catching daily limits of chinook salmon since late May. Anglers in Powell River, the Sunshine Coast and Howe Sound have reported brisk and steady fishing for more than three weeks.
Cliff Moors of Cliff's Chinook Charters confirmed fishing this season, so far, has been unusually good.
"There's lots of chinook salmon but coho has just started to show up in the last week, big time," said Moors. "There's lots of coho and it's good."
The areas that have reported an abundance of fish caught are at Kitty Coleman, Grand Rift, off French Creek, and the bottom of Hornby.
"They have been very good and very productive areas for chinook fishing," said Gillard.
The reasons they're seeing a fairly good healthy return so far, Gillard said, is due to proper management and conservation by the user groups, good productive water, and good weather conditions.
Salmon fishing, Gillard said, is restricted to the ocean right now. They're urging anglers not to fish in areas in the Comox Valley including the Puntledge River because of the early summer chinook runs.
"They're a unique stock we're trying to protect," said Gillard. "There are in the area, closures in effect. We're asking people not to go fishing in the river because the lake gets quite warm and the fish there have a hard time surviving. So we don't need to stress them out. It is open for trout but we're asking people to leave the fish alone to do their best for survival."
In August, Lower Mainland anglers will get an opportunity to fish for Fraser River sockeye that Fisheries and Oceans Canada has estimated will return between seven million and 76 million fish.
In a recent study DFO estimated that in 2013, recreational anglers collectively fished for a surprising 1.4 million days in BC coastal waters.
The improved fishing opportunities and the large anticipated Fraser River sockeye returns will likely mean that anglers in BC will put even more days on the water in 2014.
