stamp 2010

S

steeliecore

Guest
Anyone been fishing the slide pool or above the falls with any success? Going out in a couple days and have been successful lower river but getting sick or it. hoping the upper is producing.
 
I drove right past the Stamp last weekend because I thought it was closed?!
Went to Ash lake instead and it was weak.
 
Should be plenty of fish above the falls by now. Lots of fish pushed in over the weekend. They weren't sticking around for too long either. They were on a mission during that rain.
 
Fished Black Rock on Sat with no success. Lots of fish but like Highlights says they were on a mission. Talked to one guy fishing just above Moneys and he was doing well up there. Should be okay just below Ash also.
 
Started slow on Sunday morning but by noon we had played at least a dozen fish between myself and a buddy. Coho, springs and some old sockeye in the bunch.

Definitely waves of fish moving on through quickly.
 
Latest counts:

OBSERVATIONS:

Stamp falls counting facility has been fully operational since September 2.

During the past 9 days Chinook adult numbers have ranged from 320 to 914. Coho adults have

ranged from 234 to 925 and Sockeye adults have ranged from 33 to 841. Total escapement

through Stamp Falls to September 22 is 10,436 Chinook, 12,874 Coho and 32,468 Sockeye.

Sockeye escapement through both Great Central Lake and Sproat Lake counters requires

further analysis at this time. No additional data is available at present.

Stamp Falls enumeration has been fully operational so far with no shut downs.

River flows have increased over the past few days and are above average for this time of year.

River temperature has cooled to 15oC and is below recent years average.

2010 EXPECTATIONS:

Sockeye: For 2010, the initial forecast return of Somass sockeye was 600,000. The

escapement target for this run size is 371,000, giving an expected surplus of 229,000 sockeye

available for catch. Expected stock composition was about 57% Great Central, 43% Sproat

sockeye. Expected age composition was about 55%, 35%, 9%, and 1% for age 42, 52, 53 and 63

adults, respectively.

Chinook: Approximately 43,000 Somass Chinook are forecast to return to Barkley Sound and

Alberni Inlet in 2010. The predicted adult age composition is 27%, 41% and 32% of 3, 4 and 5-

year olds, respectively. Given the age composition, about 33,800 spawners are required to

meet the 57.2M egg target for the system. Therefore, about 9,000 Somass Chinook are

available for harvest in the ‘terminal fishery’ from Alberni Inlet seaward to Barkley Sound.

Coho: For the 2007 brood year, 415,000 coho smolts plus an additional 227,000 unfed fry were

released from the Robertson Creek Hatchery and there were about 38,000 natural spawners.

Given the forecast survival rate of Robertson Creek/Somass Coho for the 2007 brood year is

low at less than 1%, the total expected return to Somass system is about 10,000 to 15,000.

However, there is considerable uncertainty in the survival rate forecast, and models predicting

the survival rate of the wild WCVI coho indicator (Carnation Creek) are much higher (e.g.

~10%).

Chum: Pre-season forecasts for chum returns are highly uncertain. Over the last few years,

returns of WCVI chum have been well below long-term averages and this trend is expected to

continue in 2010.

PROGRAM OVERVIEW:

Fish counting operations on the Somass system are run by the Hupacasath First Nation in

collaboration with DFO.

To estimate the escapement of Somass Sockeye, automatic fish counters are installed at the

Sproat and Great Central fishways in mid-May. Twice weekly visual calibrations are used to

validate counter data as well as to determine species and age (jacks versus adult) composition

of escapement. A portion of the Sockeye escapement is biologically sampled at the fishways.

Of interest are age at return, *** ratio and fecundity. For Henderson Sockeye, escapement is

estimated through a series of swim surveys of the main spawning habitat (Clemens Creek and

nearby beach habitat). These surveys are conducted in September and October.

Page 2 of 3

Counters are removed from the Great Central fishway in early September when Chinook begin

to migrate upstream. After this, all salmon passing through the Stamp Falls fishway are counted

by trained and experienced observers. They identify fish to species, estimate the portion of

jacks by relative size and estimate the portion of marked (adipose fin clipped) fish. Migration

through the fishway is videotaped for later verification of daytime real-time counts and species

identification and for enumeration of night-time migration. Real-time observations are typically

greater than 95% accurate for counts, species identification and mark rate.

Below, are a series of figures that express 2010 escapement observations relative to average

escapement timing from 1999 to 2009 for Chinook and Coho. Although informative, in some

years observed escapement rate relative to average escapement timing may be a poor

indication of final run abundance. In contrast to ‘run timing’, (the return of Chinook/Coho to

Alberni Inlet) escapement timing tends to be more variable. It is influenced by the impact of

fisheries and environmental conditions, such as river temperature or flow.
 
hey guys was out this morn river still little high seen a few chrome coho jumping but must be moving right through dosent seem to be big schools either managed to hook land a release a hatch chrome summer doe .... well wasnt skunked anyways
 
Waters up but needs to cool off a bit to get things snapping more. Good #'s of summers in the upper from the hatch down thru blackrock. Nice to see they made it thru the sockeye gauntlet!! We need a little cold snap, get the eggs washing and game on...;)

Pass the Pack
 
With the ocean survival seeming to be on the upswing and the massive sockeye return to the SSS this year. Things could be shaping up for a big #'s this winter. Let's hope the spread out a little more this year...:D

Pass the Pack
 
Somass River Escapement Bulletin
Observations to Oct 3, 2010
OBSERVATIONS:
Stamp falls counting facility has been fully operational since September 2.
During the past 11 days Chinook adult numbers have ranged from 282 to 778. Coho adults
have ranged from 249 to 689 and Sockeye adults have ranged from 4 to 72. Total escapement
through Stamp Falls to October 3 is 16,943 Chinook, 17,872 Coho and 32,805 Sockeye.
Sockeye escapement through both Great Central Lake and Sproat Lake counters requires
further analysis at this time. No additional data is available at present.
Stamp Falls enumeration has been fully operational so far with no shut downs.
River flows have gradually dropped over the past few days but are still above average for this
time of year. River temperature has increased slightly to 16oC and is a little above recent years
average.
 
still not hearing about any hoes being caught if this is any indication on what the steele will be like then we might as well not even venture out cause im not sure that this river is producing half aswell as it has in recent years but others like to differ oh well can only tell ya what ive seen an been on the river everyday since last wedesday no hoes for me one steelie dead river if ya ask me thats from a guy whos covered over 200 kms water last week up an down an all around no fish getting carried away anyways everyone practice catch an release this season good to see lol ....
 
Despite numerous requests at local SFAC meetings, steelhead numbers still dropped from the reporting. Why were they dropped, and why have they not been reinstated, and why oh why is DFO ([xx(])unresponsive?

Too much water, too little time
 
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