Salmon in river in April?

[Clint r]

It's kind of a freshwater topic but deals with salmon so I'll put it here.

Talking with a friend of mine who's an experienced and knowledgable angler earlier today. He tells me he was fishing in the lake (Mabel)with a buddy 4 weeks ago and the guy hooks and lands a 12lb chinook. Maybe? It seems awful early to me. We live in the Okanagan at the end of the Shuswap River. Typically they show up in early July. Caught one trout fishing in mid June about ten years ago but early April? Had a hatchery guy tell me one time that there's chinook in the River 9 mos of the year but I didn't believe it. Could that be true?

 

[Whitebuck]

Native chinook food fishery starts mid feb on the fraser

 

[Big Green Machine]

Native chinook food fishery starts mid feb on the fraser

Totally possible, there are Chinook in the Fraser now and upper tribs now. Some runs, the ones going to the upper most tribs of the Thompson are already there.

 

[Clint r]

Really. That surprises me. Are they spawning at that time? Or swimming back into and out of the salt?

 

[Big Green Machine]

Really. That surprises me. Are they spawning at that time? Or swimming back into and out of the salt?

I'm thinking of the Bowrun River Chinook, they must be on their way. They probably journey a lot and spawn in July and August. It's a range

 

[UkeeDreamin]

Fraser has one run or another of the multitude of salmon species and stocks nearly 12-months of the year, from the earliest true "spring" chinook to the latest coho, but Mabel Lake and the mid-Shu run is something else altogether. Even mid-June is early'ish for that run. Nothing's impossible but I'd bet it was a 12-lb rainbow.

Cheers!

Ukee

 

[Derby]

Back in the 80"S once releases a 25lb spring in the upper vedder march 22....

 

[Clint r]

Yep. I'd agree with you if it was anybody but Cliff. Same fisheries guy that told me the 9 mos of the year thing also said that jacks will swim up and back down then come back the following year(or 2)as the giants a guy sees sometimes. Any truth to that? I thought the real biggies were 5/7 year fish that didn't come back on a regular 4 year cycle.

 

[UkeeDreamin]

Pacific salmon, including jacks, don't return to sea - once they make the osmoregulation switch from dealing with salt (conserving water and extracting salts) to dealing with fresh water (extracting water and conserving salts), not to mention not feeding/digesting any food from the time they hit freshwater, there's no going back. Mid-Shu is a long way from the Ocean, a jack wouldn't have near enough energy stored to make that migration, hang out in the lake then in the river spawning and make it back. There is a range of ages in any stock, typically 3-5 years old for BC Interior Chinook, and some stocks of chinook do have older fish that stay 5 years in the Ocean.

In any case, for Mabel Lake, highly unlikely for Chinook to be in there early April but nothing is impossible and all systems see individuals displaying extremes in timing now and then.

Cheers!

Ukee

 

[Chuck]

Pacific salmon, including jacks, don't return to sea - once they make the osmoregulation switch from dealing with salt (conserving water and extracting salts) to dealing with fresh water (extracting water and conserving salts), not to mention not feeding/digesting any food from the time they hit freshwater, there's no going back. Mid-Shu is a long way from the Ocean, a jack wouldn't have near enough energy stored to make that migration, hang out in the lake then in the river spawning and make it back. There is a range of ages in any stock, typically 3-5 years old for BC Interior Chinook, and some stocks of chinook do have older fish that stay 5 years in the Ocean.

In any case, for Mabel Lake, highly unlikely for Chinook to be in there early April but nothing is impossible and all systems see individuals displaying extremes in timing now and then.

Cheers!

Ukee

Very interesting!!

 

[happy hooker]

Maybe there is a resident population. We have Chinook in Osoyoos lake that live here year round. There are hardly any left but they are here.
http://www.sararegistry.gc.ca/virtual_sara/files/cosewic/sr_chinook_salmon_e.pdf

 

[Tightlines22]

If you launch from Ladner like many of us you will have seen the nets in the river in March and April. Not so much this year however lots in past few years.

 

[Clint r]

So 2 different guys this weekend caught small chinooks out of Mabel. They were fishing seperately spots. One 10lb jack and one caught what looked like about a 15 doe, the lake must be full of them if 3 been caught in a month.

 

[Clint r]

Should add that I don't know the guys that caught the last two.

 

[hambone]

Some guy caught one this past week in the Cowichan.

 

[Clint r]

Is that early for that river? Very early for here. But the swallows are 5 weeks early this year. Hummingbirds are right on time. No carp in the pond yet but they typically show up end of May. High waters a full month early and still staying high. Normally starts coming up beginning of May.

 

[Big_Shank]

Maybe it's part of last falls runs that never made it up due to low water levels? Do they even do that though? I really have no idea about Mabel. I have seen large salmon though moving up some of the smaller streams above Cowichan in mid March to early April. I always just figured that's why they called them springs...

 

[hambone]

I was told by an old timer on the cowichan there used to be a healthy run of Springs around this time of year. Tough conditions the past few summers for these early running fish I would think.

I'm sure the next good rain (if we get any) and the Nanaimo will have some Springs enter as well...

 

[SpringVelocity]

I was told by an old timer on the cowichan there used to be a healthy run of Springs around this time of year. Tough conditions the past few summers for these early running fish I would think.

I'm sure the next good rain (if we get any) and the Nanaimo will have some Springs enter as well...

The Cowichan does have a spring run of chinook. The size is unknown and DFO is trying to track them last few years. One was caught a few days ago which confirms they are still there.