Fins -n- Skins
Well-Known Member
Right now the biggest threat to the Cowichan is no rain and low flows and i,m sure that goes for alot of other rivers. Need sky water badly.
Steelhead Predation - Seals in the Cowichan - post your pics!
wayne marwood
Crew Member
Why the government not pushing for putting 3or 4 pipes in the lake and go over the weir ,what the fish like is the cooler water from the bottom of the lake there is 20 miles of water ,if you raise the weir the water leavel the water will be in the trees around the lake and people would begetting there land flooded at the winter times
Fishmyster
Well-Known Member
Those seals are trying to catch fish just like you are. Who does more damage to the future steelhead populations, seals, otters, mink, birds or you? If seals could talk they would blame you, otters, mink and birds. If birds could talk the would blame seals, otters mink and you...........and so on.
I personally blame nobody for the change in environmental chemistry conditions that killed off the productivity starting with bacterial decomposition, insects and so on up the food chain. Without supporting ecology there can be no fish. Nobody is to blame for that. All the predators that have evolved with steelhead are suffering from the fish decline too. I am optimistic in that as the chemistry has been improving there will be enough supporting ecology to create fisheries for all of us and predators to enjoy bountiful harvests. Here's to hoping!!
If I was allowed to harvest seals, mink, birds or otters I would be doing so to help steelhead because I like steelhead more than the rest.
Fishmyster
Well-Known Member
Please tell me who causes more damage? Is it the two people who catch and release 100 fish and angle 5 days per week or is it the two people who fish five days per year to catch 10 steelhead which they take photos of??
Wildmanyeah posted a picture of a steelhead that looks like a seal almost made a meal of yet it survived to be comfortable enough to feed and get caught. Do you think the guys getting photos on the Vedder are causing more lethal damage than that? Have a look at the Gold river thread. There are some hero pictures there. Do those fish look like they are going to die because we photographed them?
Any angling method produces mortality.
Have yet to hear of one that has died this year with the Vedder brood stock program and the anglers who are using good c and r techniques.
Your fish in your pics ? Who knows the mortality of them? You would think that with how many fish you Have caught the fishes well being should be your number 1 priority. What I do know that as an angler, I will try and reduce my impact on the fish I am targeting.
-zero out of water time
-zero flopping around in the shallows
- fish handled and released into deep water.
And im sorry I understand you are not familiar with the new age LM angler...the 10 fish that the hero angler.catches beaches on the rocks, bear hugs and then is held out of the water for a minute or 2 is in way worse than how ever many I hook and release in a season.
It's obvious that if anybody or any argument doesn't buy into your insect ecology thoughts, you have an issue with it.
Have yet to hear of one that has died this year with the Vedder brood stock program and the anglers who are using good c and r techniques.
Your fish in your pics ? Who knows the mortality of them? You would think that with how many fish you Have caught the fishes well being should be your number 1 priority. What I do know that as an angler, I will try and reduce my impact on the fish I am targeting.
-zero out of water time
-zero flopping around in the shallows
- fish handled and released into deep water.
And im sorry I understand you are not familiar with the new age LM angler...the 10 fish that the hero angler.catches beaches on the rocks, bear hugs and then is held out of the water for a minute or 2 is in way worse than how ever many I hook and release in a season.
It's obvious that if anybody or any argument doesn't buy into your insect ecology thoughts, you have an issue with it.
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wildmanyeah
Crew Member
will see what the snorkel surveys produce
Big Green Machine
Well-Known Member
That’s a pretty good season, you must be on the water a lot. How many of those hundred were wild? Not trying to pry but would be interested to know. You don’t keep any hatchery ones to eat?
There are definitely harbour seals that enter several rivers following migrating salmon/steelhead. It is nothing new. I have read accounts of this being normal from nearly a century ago. What is perhaps new is the extreme ups and downs in water levels that we now experience and are to blame for. I do agree of a cull of those particular seals that have made targeting salmon made available due to our actions, whether it be low water or mass fry outputs by hatcheries. Seals are smart, and will teach these habit to their offspring.
I believe a tradition first nations hunt should be done in lieu of some of the non traditional hunts they now partake.
I believe a tradition first nations hunt should be done in lieu of some of the non traditional hunts they now partake.
Aces
Well-Known Member
california
Well-Known Member
It seems just a little hypocritical to me that people participating in a fishery that has caused herring to become commercially extinct over most of the BC coast, and now remove 200 million or more of a foundational species in the last area they still have some decent abundance are pointing fingers at seals and seal lions.
I agree that water is definitely an issue on many streams on the coast. It is also obvious that seals are not the only issue here, and i am open to the idea that they may not have been the reason for the demize. but with very few numbers left as a result of all the issues, seals become a much more important one, and they take a bigger bite out of a smaller population.
Coldwater intakes in the Cowichan is not a terrible idea, but taking the lake down lower and lower during the summer is not the greatest, as this will have impacts on lake shore Coho rearing areas as the water is moved away from riparian vegetation. I will also point out that increased lake storage will have little to no effect on maximum high water in winter, lake shore property will have slightly less foreshore area only in the summer, that is often land that they don't even own.
But overall as far as water quantity the Cowichan is excellent due to the storage and management of water, more recently temperatures are becoming more significant problem.
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