2014 Sockeye

B

Busterbrown

Active Member
The gillnet fleet is all heading to Barkley sound for an opening on Monday. Any news on when or if a sport opening is happening??
 
It's open now. But it may be difficult to catch any significant numbers until mid-to-late June.
 
Is that coast wide or just Alberni? I'm thinking area 19/20 to be more specific.
 
Libbs said:
It's open now. But it may be difficult to catch any significant numbers until mid-to-late June.
Click to expand...

Mid June is probably the latest given the projected run size. If they open the seiners like they've done in years past, you better have most of your canning done by July 1.
 
tubby said:
Mid June is probably the latest given the projected run size. If they open the seiners like they've done in years past, you better have most of your canning done by July 1.
Click to expand...

Seiners come every year, it is a highly restricted fishery. By that I mean the fleet pools their catch and hires a small number of boats to fish for all. That keeps the conflicts with other users to a minimum. We also have negotiated a seine free zone, Dunsmiur Pt to Franklin Narrows, for recreational use and to help keep the conflicts down. This is all worked out at the Area 23 Harvest Round Table between the sectors. With 1.6+ million fish coming it will not be possible for the rec fleet to catch their allocation. So there should be no worries about catching your fish. BTW, there will be both gill net and seine openings weekly once the fish roll in. And, as in prior years where fish are abundant, there will be lots of fish all through the season unless the river gets high and draws them into the lakes. So...don't panic.
 
anyone running out to barkley sound , be very careful during this fishery. It can literally cause you to zig zag all over to get through certain areas. and in a breeze the small white floats can be difficult to see.
 
yup, will be out there doing the funky chicken weave to avoid them on Tuesday. I actually have more issues with the way the gill net fishery is managed than the seiners. They should be forced to only net on one side of the canal and leave the other free for navigation. Man some days I would dearly love to be driving a freighter, just to get a little respect. That said, some of the guys are really good about helping point you in the right direction to get around the nets...others, well...worse than bottom feeders.
 
Simple concept to avoid major conflicts with gillnetters. Run down along the beach and go around the end of the nets. Yes it takes a little more time and no you may not be able to run full speed but you can easily avoid running over their nets if you do this. As an ex gillnetter I hated having some guy run over my net at 30 knots and then complain. As a mariner be responsible and remember that guy gillnetting is trying to make a living, it is not a pleasure outing for him.

Going to be some great fishing in Alberni this year, looking forward to it.
 
i wasn't implying anyone should run at 30 kts and get angry because they cant....definitely looking out for the guy making a living!! there are just so many that it can be a maze, and dangerous!!! even entering bam once, the barkley and i sat for atleast a half hour until the mouth was open...
 
used to work commerical gillnetting long time ago...changing tides cause problems at times as with so many nets in the water, nets drift down with white floats, hitting each other,and then commerical fisherman have to pull his gillnet away to avoid hitting each other.
 
searun said:
Seiners come every year, it is a highly restricted fishery. By that I mean the fleet pools their catch and hires a small number of boats to fish for all. That keeps the conflicts with other users to a minimum. We also have negotiated a seine free zone, Dunsmiur Pt to Franklin Narrows, for recreational use and to help keep the conflicts down. This is all worked out at the Area 23 Harvest Round Table between the sectors. With 1.6+ million fish coming it will not be possible for the rec fleet to catch their allocation. So there should be no worries about catching your fish. BTW, there will be both gill net and seine openings weekly once the fish roll in. And, as in prior years where fish are abundant, there will be lots of fish all through the season unless the river gets high and draws them into the lakes. So...don't panic.
Click to expand...

From my memory the seiners screw up fishing for at least a day (or 2?) following a opening, not withstanding the poor or non existent fishing during the opening. Why? Pretty simple, seining disrupts any schooling fish so it's makes no difference if a 'seine free' zone (unless it was up canal of the opening area) is present or not. I do agree that given the projected run size that (hopefully) due the shear number of fish the seining will have minimal impact but I'm not convinced of this as yet. All I can remember from recent years past that once the seiners started, fishing sucked for a define period following.....jmo.
 
12 seiners at swale rock area today and another dozen at the mouth of bam harbour..
 
Gillnetters, not seiners. They will be fishing until the end of June on Tuesdays outside of Pocahantus. Seines don't get to fish out there, they will get inside opportunities if the run materializes.
 
oops ,, ya .. gillers, busy ,busy!!
 
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