Monday 24 March 2014

FISHING PROSPECTS LOOK VERY GOOD FOR 2014 !


Bright Future.

On Saturday I travelled to Nanaimo to attend a meeting with several DFO ( Fisheries and Oceans Canada ) salmon scientists, and managers, and a core of interested recreational anglers.  Nanaimo was a central location to be accessible to people from Sooke and Victoria, at the south end of Vancouver Island, to Campbell River in the north. Two of us drove down to represent the Campbell River Guides Association.
The idea here is to create a group of volunteers, named Avid Anglers, to support salmon science by collecting DNA samples from salmon. Those samples will include those from fish we keep, and from those we release alive and well.

This initial study will focus primarily on Georgia Strait, the big inland sea between Vancouver Island and the mainland of British Columbia.  The mix of salmon migrating or rearing in Georgia Strait is very complex and varies through the calendar. Cohos and Chinook salmon will be the main species to study.  Within those species are many stocks, or genetically unique subgroups originating in rivers around Georgia Strait, and local rivers, and also from the vast watershed of the mighty Fraser River ranging though the Interior of BC ,even to the Rocky Mountains.  All of these have variations in their life histories. There is a need to know which stocks are where and when, and this will effect fisheries management and regulations. We hope and expect that more information will result in better stewardship, and we anglers will take on some of that responsibility.




The second part of the meeting was a reporting of salmon data and population indicators. SALMON FISHING PROSPECTS LOOK VERY GOOD FOR 2014. Surprisingly good.
For example, a large research ship tows a specialized trawl net in the fall to estimate juvenile coho populations. Those numbers correlate very well to the next summer’s coho fishing. Last year while we were fishing for Chinook salmon we were surprised by a spectacular return of cohos inside Georgia Strait, such as we had not seen for twenty years. The indicators for this year look similar or even better. Survival rates have increased many times over. Something has changed for the better, related to ocean currents, wind, rainfall, timing of freshets, salinity and such.There are still certain stocks of concern, and we need to let the wild cohos go for now, but you can keep two hatchery marked cohos. Last year the peak of the busy coho fishing was in June, with good catches at a ratio of about one hatchery coho per four wild ones. This year is also the return year of the progeny of the amazing, huge, sockeye run of 2004.  If survival rates are ordinary, a whole lot of sockeyes will funnel down past Campbell River.



An addition function of volunteer angler participation is the recording of catch in logbooks.  The Campbell River area has a relatively high participation rate , especially among fishing guides. This takes some dedication to complete these logs on a long fishing day, but it is all worthwhile and contributes to the knowledge base for salmon.

If you were thinking of coming, or coming back, to the Campbell River area for salmon fishing, this year would be a good bet.
RH

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Friday 21 March 2014

SOME FUN PHOTOS TO SHARE WITH YOU !

FUN FISHING DAYS FROM THE PAST SEASON ......








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Wednesday 19 March 2014

A BRAND NEW WEB SITE AND A BRAND NEW BLOG !

HI AND WELCOME TO MY NEW BLOG.
     I hope that you will enjoy my conversation and photos and most of all I look forward to hearing from you and hopefully one day have the pleasure of taking you on a guided fishing experience that you will never forget. It would be my absolute privilege to spend time with you and show you the beautiful part of the world that I have the pleasure to live and work in.
                                   Regards,
                                          Rick

I think a few photos and captions would be a great way to start off. 

This year we had the snowdrops flowers in the middle of February and then the snows came later, even in March.



The herring spawn in an enormous mass south of here on the Vancouver Island shore. That happens around the first week in March, and then the herring start moving out to spread out all over the coast. Although a few eagle pairs stay for the winter, most go south, and then come back for the herring. Today ( Mar 12 ) there was a flock of about 30 eagles swooping over the currents of Discovery Passage. There were probably more , but spread out further. Many people are surprised to learn that eagles congregate like this. They do if the food is concentrated. Seeing those eagles soaring marked the herring heading out to wherever they will spend their summer.





This anemone lives on the dock float right beside the stern of my boat at the Quadra dock.  I think of it as a flower in spring, but it lives all year.



Spring means spring cleaning. Keeping up after the seagulls and the otters, both of which like to leave deposits on the boat, gets to be more frequent at this time of year. They often leave clues as to what they are eating





.www.gobrightfish.com

tel:1-250-830-8680