More on white springs from AK

The early run on the vedder is reds, currently whites are in the vedder. There's a few more than just the Harrison. The vedder whites tend to be in the 10-20# class. A mid 20s is a rarity as I understand for this run.

Def some good numbers of harry whites out there with some good size to em!
 
Hey Fogged, the whites we encounter along the Gulf of Georgia and WCVI are almost all Harrision/Chilliwack origin. There are whites in rivers along the mid and north coast of BC and AK. However, those fish do not frequent the southern waters generally. In most years the Harrison run is quite large by comparison to other river stocks, which is another reason we tend to refer to the whites we catch as Harrison fish.

...and, we can't always believe everything that is posted on the internet. Here's a completely false account of how white chinook have white flesh. http://www.fishchoice.com/buying-guide/chinook-salmon
White Chinook salmon get their lighter flesh color because its food source consists of sardines or anchovies compared to pinkier flesh from salmon that consume mostly krill. ;)
 
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searun said:
Hey Fogged, the whites we encounter along the Gulf of Georgia and WCVI are almost all Harrision/Chilliwack origin.

Searun
can you please provide proof of what you say.
My point is this;
in about 50 years of fishing inside and outside waters of Vancouver Island I have encountered White Springs in every area including in River Mouths such as the Cowichan River, way back when it was open.... where it is VERY unlikely you will find fish other than those originating from that river.
I also use the example of the Victoria Breakwater fishery in August and September which is mostly fish from the program sponsored by the Esquimalt Anglers which introduce annually about 90,000 smolts from the Nininat hatchery. Some of these fish as well are white and clearly are not from the Harrison.
Yes, there is a run of White Harrison Creek fish, however there is a genetic variance that exists in many other river systems that result in White Springs as the article states.
It is foolish to suggest "the whites we encounter along the Gulf of Georgia and WCVI are almost all Harrision/Chilliwack origin." as you posted.
The article posted by Cuba Libra offers the best explanation I have seen.
Click to expand...
 
Look Nitinat aren't common to be white. Its widely known and accepted that Harrison river and that system along the Fraser has white fish run especially late season. The late August fish always migrate in JDF through either mid Aug to mid sept..The sizes of the fish are also quite large... This year I suspect Victoria saw some of them as if you notice Sooke would have a wave of them it would go quiet and then they were at waterfront within a few days.

The Harrison has transplants on other systems. I am sure someone has data like dfo on migration. Truthfully I can't say all of them are whites especially early season but I am saying those late ones your getting pretty sure those are. I have been fishing Sooke for years and those fish come in like clockwork same time every year.

Here is PSF article on Harrison: https://www.psf.ca/sites/default/fi...0-%20Balance%20Ecological%20May%202010_81.pdf
And another article on Fraser: http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas/Csas/status/1999/D6-11e.pdf
 
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I have received a letter from the bio station in Nanaimo with my hatchery head return info.
3 hatchery heads turned in this season, so far. The first fish from Howe sound in March was a "no pin" type, (red) probably from Puget sound. 2nd fish, from south of Bowen in April was a Chilliwack white. third fish, from Gabriola island in May was a Chilliwack white.
 
Here is another cool article..... Interesting you know I dont think we are all wrong. I guess the commercial fleet used to get nothing for them, so they did there own study, but this is from 70's... How can you tell I am bored tonight... In particular read the comments on the summary page at end of document. At that time there were questions not about Canadian fish but US fish could have whites but they didn't track them at the time.. very interesting read..

http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/Library/73898.pdf
 
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Thanks Spring Velocity, that DFO stock assessment article pretty much outlines the Fraser River Chinook stocks and the origin of white chinook as predominantly in the Harrison...although there has been hatchery transplants in some tributary rivers, most notable being the Chilliwack. I appreciate that we may encounter whites near river mouths, but that is not evidence those rivers have runs of white chinook. That is not to say there cannot be straying from river to river; that is widely known to occur. So we shouldn't confuse that from where the river of origin is for these whites we encounter in our local fisheries.

Case in point, one of the Chinook heads that I returned from the Alberni inlet this summer was of Washington State origin...all that means is the fish likely strayed a bit following some local Somas fish into the inlet. More likely than not, that fish would have eventually wondered out of the canal and headed for home.

Notwithstanding, the crux of the original article posted was to explain how this specific genetic stain of white chinook have white flesh as opposed to the usual red flesh in most chinook families. It wasn't (as I read it) trying to position a science based reason why/how chinook from "all" rivers could develop the white flesh. These whites are from genetically specific families of chinook, and not spread widely across all river systems from my experience and read of any scientific papers on the subject.
 
Thanks to all for the wonderful info. From about 2003 - 2010 we were catching lot's of big white's out of Ucluelet at the SW corner. There were all large; greater than 25lb. In 2011 they were absent. A friend told me that the draggers were getting them and large numbers of Sardines out in 400ft of water.
FYI on the Columbia there is a river named the White Salmon River.
 
One thing I have found is they usually fight harder and smell different from the reds, regardless where they may come from.
 
Back in July I had an opportunity to fish 30 miles offshore out of La Push, Wa. For Hali, Coho and Chinook. We did manage a couple of whites out of the over 20 Chinook landed. Seemed pretty far south for BC fish.
Stosh
 
I believe Columbian system has been using some of the whites in there hatchery system were any of them clipped?
 
most likely would be a Harrison or Vedder fish right now.. I have caught on weekend 4years ago when Barkley was really good in July a clip Vedder and Chehalis river whites the same day...:)
 
searun said:
Thanks Spring Velocity, that DFO stock assessment article pretty much outlines the Fraser River Chinook stocks and the origin of white chinook as predominantly in the Harrison...although there has been hatchery transplants in some tributary rivers, most notable being the Chilliwack. I appreciate that we may encounter whites near river mouths, but that is not evidence those rivers have runs of white chinook. That is not to say there cannot be straying from river to river; that is widely known to occur. So we shouldn't confuse that from where the river of origin is for these whites we encounter in our local fisheries.

Case in point, one of the Chinook heads that I returned from the Alberni inlet this summer was of Washington State origin...all that means is the fish likely strayed a bit following some local Somas fish into the inlet. More likely than not, that fish would have eventually wondered out of the canal and headed for home.

Notwithstanding, the crux of the original article posted was to explain how this specific genetic stain of white chinook have white flesh as opposed to the usual red flesh in most chinook families. It wasn't (as I read it) trying to position a science based reason why/how chinook from "all" rivers could develop the white flesh. These whites are from genetically specific families of chinook, and not spread widely across all river systems from my experience and read of any scientific papers on the subject.
Click to expand...

We have all caught "Marbled hatchery Springs"that pretty much explains the genetic influence of cross breeding strains white and red IMHO.

kronic
 
cross breeding???
Is there a story I don't know? I have no idea they have ever cross bred them.
Perhaps we need some expert help here with this question.
 
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