Alberni Derby

[IronNoggin]

quote:Originally posted by baddogg

After reading your post about what colour the fish was, I got to wondering. Have I ever caught a white spring in the canal?

I don't believe I have. I've caught them offshore and on the ECVI, but not in the canal.

Is there a run that makes it's way there??

HiYa Copper

To answer your question, No. There is no presence of whites in the Stamp/Somas system, nor in any of the smaller flows that feed into the Inlet.
Rarely a "stray" will wander into the Sound, but such instance is infrequent indeed. As whites originate in removed systems, they do not orient towards the inner Sound and Inlet except on very rare occasion as they are true "passage" fish headed southbound.

At the timing of this year's Derby, a rather decent presence of Fraser whites was immediately offshore the Sound (about 4 miles out), and we had been hammering on them for a couple of weeks. The best strategy to tag one would obviously be to work the outside boundary in the hope of interecepting of of these larger fish. I did just that through the Derby. What we witnessed was many folks being dissapointed with the catch rate in the Sound running out to the area of the reef 4 miles outside the boundary and fishing in that area, then returning to the Sound later in the day (occured with numerous boats the first day, lesser the second due to tougher water conditions).

Thus, my query regarding whites was kind of a loaded question. Not suggesting that anyone from here would "bend" the boundary for glory or bucks, but first hand observations led several of us to wonder at the potential of that occuring. I'd like to suggest that the Derbies of the future are either thrown wide open (ie: fish anywhere including the offshore) or the boundary policed by Derby officials in a more stringent manner - kinda level the playing field if you know what I mean.

Anyway, t'was a nice fish that won the event. Saw many in that caliber the last while, and suspect a few more yet to go. Just back in from 7 weeks solid without a break, down for 2 eve's, then right back at it. Need sleep!!![xx(]

Hope ya'll are slaying a few!!

Cheers,
Nog

 

[Dirtdog67]

Nice work boy's. Who tied the knot, or did Tomi go with the usual pre-tie setup.lol. Hope it was the T.F.O. and Amundson rig.-cheers dirty

 

[saltybeaver]

sure thing sarkan like I said we woke up late and headed out to Effingham island I think its called miers bluff, nobody fishing there so we started to go across to Kirby where we new a couple of people have been fishing but it was pretty rough and my sisters kid was not liking the rough water(smashing around ) so we dropped the lines about a mile off the island and started to troll over to Kirby hooked two fish right off the bat and looped back to where we hooked them and hit the winner I was not doing the rigging Tommy was and I think he said a Betsy flasher and purple haze teaser I think he tied his own knot too . He kept saying it was a big fish but I have heard that before . We were pretty shocked when we got it in the boat not knowing how big it really was or what to do so we dropped the lines again for about 5 minutes and then thought we should go get a scale off another boat at Kirby. It was 42 on that scale so we headed in to bamfield to weigh in and then full throttle to alberni (that cost a lot). I would have liked to fish a bit more there but it’s hard when everybody on the boat is against you to run in [B)].
Myself I have not heard of any whites in the sss system but the VP of the tyee club says they have caught in the canal and he said they were in the system mostly the bigger fish, but I think IronNogin would know more since he is on the water more then most people. I would imagine catching a white meat fish in Barkley sound is not the weirdest thing to happen on the ocean. Even if I wanted to my sister would not of let me go on the outside with her 1 1/2year old kid on board .

On another note every fish we hooked was on the right side of the boat and the same with last weekend in Nanaimo, I hear a weird buzzing sound the down rigger line is making on the left side any body know what's up ?

 

[Dogbreath]

Shouldn't that tiny kid be wearing a PFD?

 

[saltybeaver]

He wasnt in the canal but as soon as we headed to pill it came on .

 

[baddogg]

Nog

Thanks for your reply. I sensed you had something on your mind when you asked the colour question.

I didn't fish in the derby, but friends of mine did. They witnessed several boats head offshore and return with way more fish than those that fished inside.

They were disappointed that the derby was not monitored to prevent this.

As I thought, the whites don't go very far into the canal. Much appreciated.

 

[wishingfishing]

Picked up a 35 lbs white at Fleming on Aug 15/07. Sounds like they have started to move as a couple of large whites have been picked up down our way lately.

 

[fisherman14]

my Grandpa remembers years ago that he caught a 42 pound white spring right at holm island. maybe it was lost??? also... early august this year, my Grandma caught a 33 pound white spring at assits island. and i have caught a few whites at assits and diplock in august. so... i'm really not too sure if we get whites in the somass system but i honestly think we get a few. they seem to bigger fish tho. so... maybe it's the odd wild fish??? who knows.

on another topic... OFFSHORE fishing for the derby!
i can almost garantee you that there is a few people that go offshore. i saw a few go out. but who's gunna know right??? seems like nobody displays their tickets in the window these days. and theres no partol boats out there. i never saw one patrol boat at assits island all weekend. maybe theres patrol boats in town??? who knows. but the point is that nobody would know for a fact that a fish was caught offshore. unless they do some testing.
and another thing! some boats out there had one ticket in the window and ther're fishing 4 rods! whats up with that!i saw that on a couple of occasions on the weekend. thats just gunna ruin the derby. Either buy the tickets for your rods or play by the rules. like... come on people. read the back of the ticket!!!!

 

[El Pescador]

I, too, got a 33 lb white two and a half weeks ago around Pill Point. In view of the reported catches of whites, I don't recall ever seen or hearing of so many whites being caught in Barkley Sound before.

 

[fisherman14]

could it be possible that the springs have white meat because of the pilchards that they're feeding on??? since the pilchards showed up like... 4 years ago. just seems like more and more whites around.

 

[cletus]

I got a white last year fishing underwood,first one i've ever seen or heard of in the canal.

 

[IronNoggin]

quote:Originally posted by fisherman14

could it be possible that the springs have white meat because of the pilchards that they're feeding on???

Nope. Diet actually plays no part in deciding the meat colour of a spring, it's all in the genetics. Snowballs (pure whites) cannot ingest, metabolize and retain Carotin - the molecular compound that is derived from krill, shrimp etc. They instead simply void this along with the rest of the "waste" from food items they have consumed. Reds on the other hand can and do incorporate carotin from the food items they consume, thus the red meat colouration. Both eat the same diet. Marbles (fish showing some white, some red) are a result of successfull pairing of a red parent with a white (or a marble with one or the other).

And No, there are no whites in the SSS nor Inlet. Those few encountered in the Sound (and perhaps the even odder one inside of that) are simply strays from another system such as the Harrison which does produce large numbers of whites. So while they do occasionally occur, it is indeed on an infrequent basis. The vast majority of whites are headed towards more southerly systems, and such passage fish need incentive to wander inside surf line (such as great volumes of bait to pursue). Nature has her own way of ensuring survival, and occasionally fish will stray from their natal river - this is the function by which many of our coastal systems were colonized by salmon. Again, such occurance can be expected to be rather low in nature.

This year we witnessed a larger percentage of whites than "normal", likely a reflection that their natal streams produced well, and ocean survivorship went towards their favour. I believe the incidence of occurance reported in the Sound is likely due to this increase in overall numbers of whhites we witnessed this year.

All of that said, the occurance of whites in the Sound, and especially the Inlet is by no means a common occurance. Rather it is one for the record books. To tag three white "contenders" during the 2.5 day Derby is going well against odds to say the least. This leaves remaining concerns regarding the rules and disregard thereof for Derby participants. As noted, there were a large number of boats who were participating in the Derby, yet chose to wander well outside the confines set for such. How many subsequently entered their fish, one will never know. But it does speak volumes for the need for upgrades to either the Derby boundaries, or policing thereof.

It is nice to think that all who enter are honest and sincere, and that none would actually cheat to win the coin and glory associated with the Big Win. Unfortuately not all who fish have such scruples. I wonder how those who do cheat feel when looking in the mirror having entered a fish taken outside of the Rules of Engagement??

Simply put, the time has come for a review of how the Derby is conducted.

Cheers,
Nog

 

[Sarkan]

Anyone wanna see a celebrity check out the 2nd page of the times paper for wensday[8D]
cheers
Chris(dirty-hooker)

 

[waddy]

quote:Originally posted by saltybeaver

while fishing at pill I have a video of me neting a 25#fish and my buddy realing it in with are life jackets on in the water. he got pulled around pretty good .I'll post the video tomorrow.

if that is true... i need to see that video haha did you already post it?

 

[saltybeaver]

It was recorded with two differnt cameras and Im trying to get the other camera to down load it since it is better ...I will post !

 

[waddy]

ok good deal.... im just going to keep bumping this topic until he videos up haha...

 

[Oglthorpe]

Congrats Salty. We had to work pretty hard for our fish. We got a 20 and a 19, 7 lb coho and another small spring. We had a good time though

 

[danthewire]

Hey Chris, Well done nice too see some good luck in that boat of yours,about time.Real good to see the little guy out there!DAN