Missing Chinooks......

[SpringVelocity]

Weird exactly what we are seeing.... I wouldn't care normally but I am picking up large arches even more than that same 150-300 feet down. I know in CR they fish very deep for them....I need a commercial opinion IronNoggin? You still tired? Have an opinion?

 

[IronNoggin]

Weird exactly what we are seeing.... I wouldn't care normally but I am picking up large arches even more than that same 150-300 feet down. I know in CR they fish very deep for them....I need a commercial opinion IronNoggin? You still tired? Have an opinion?

I usually have an opinion on damn near everything SV!
Don't always share that though... LOL!
Getting slowly over the "tired" thing, but as I get older, recovery seems to take a bit longer each and every time...

Even in the colder water up off Esperanza, I was running 40 fathoms (240 feet) of wire on all lines. Large springs were hitting anywhere from that depth, right up to 4 or 5 fathoms from the surface. Biggest concentration was the lower end.

Years back when we targeted on springs over the edge of the Big Bank (80 - 100 fathom edge) we ran 60 fathoms of wire (360 feet). In that application, the vast majority of the fish taken were hooked at depth. It is a hassle to run that much wire, but sometimes you simply have to Go With The Flow in order to enjoy any success.

I understand there is a "lull" on the inside, CR is well down in spring interceptions for this time of year. Methinks that has a little to do with water temperatures, but even more so with the Massive Wall of humpies & sox literally jamming the access routes to the inside. That and of course ALL the rivers and creeks are but a ****-trickle due to the lack of sky-water. Should hopefully rectify itself soonish...

On the outside, catches are picking up. Water is cooling a tad, and these fish are chiefly home-bound to the Island and the Fraser.
The US origin fish continue to be elusive, again I believe due to running at great depth well offshore.

Salmon do not like warm water in any way shape or form. They will sound and travel at depth to avoid it, and only come up due to bait presence / feeding activities. Under these conditions, Go Deep!

Cheers,
Nog

 

[Degree of Freedom]

This August has been the best Chinook fishing I've experienced in my 30 of fishing the ECVI. Not big numbers of hogs, but very consistent fishing for 10-20 lb fish.
Also had 2 of the best days I've had in Ucluelet on my annual trip at the beginning of July.
If the only marks you're seeing on your sounder are down deep...why wouldn't you drop your gear deeper?

 

[Seafever]

Nog......what method do you use to check water temp at depth?

 

[IronNoggin]

Nog......what method do you use to check water temp at depth?

On the sport rig, I use a sensor that is attached to the cannonball and wired back up to the Hummingbird display.

On the Big Rig, we can't monitor that exactly. The sounder usually lets us know where both thermacline, and the fish happen to be...

Cheers,
Nog

 

[seadog19]

found this in seattle Times, a report on the returning Springs (kings)

Fall chinook set daily records, but fall short of Bonneville forecast
Posted by Seattle Times staff
Yakima Herald-Republic
BONNEVILLE DAM — It’s crowded in the fish ladders this week at Bonneville Dam.
A record-setting 67,521 fall chinook salmon passed over the Columbia River dam on Monday, besting the record set the day before and bringing this season total to 435,135 and counting.
Despite the daily records, the fall chinook are not on track to hit the 1.5 million fish run that scientists predicted for 2014.
“Currently, it looks like we are not going to get that record-high abundance, but something closer to last year, which was still a really big run of fish,” said Stuart Ellis, a harvest biologist for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission.
Last year, a record 953,000 fall chinook returned to the region. Most headed to the Hanford Reach, and there’s a growing population in the Snake River, Ellis said. Only 7,000 made the sharp left turn required to come up the Yakima River last year.
Despite falling below the forecast, this year’s run is shaping up to be well above the 10-year average of 389,000 fall chinook.
Ellis said the large runs are likely a result of changes by dam managers to improve conditions for fish, habitat restoration, and favorable conditions in the ocean. A fall chinook hatchery program run by the Nez Perce Tribe is growing the Snake River population, too, he said.
Right now, recreational fishing is good. As the season continues, fisheries managers will adjust restrictions to reflect the actual run size, not the overblown predictions, Ellis said.
Using that data is an advantage fisheries managers in the Columbia River system have that un-dammed coastal rivers don’t, Ellis said.
“While dams are arguably not good for fish in a lot of ways, in the Columbia we are fortunate that we have a way to count fish on their return journeys,” Ellis said.

 

[Bifmalibu]

Really though...why can't we get our hatcheries going like the yanks?? It's sad how our fisheries get raped with no attempt at replenishment. Our government is a big, pathetic flop.

 

[Klob]

To bad he doesn't fish. I wonder how much they spent finding the Franklin ship?

 

[Grizzz]

How about the miniscule #'s of red springs? I know a guy at a fish plant who says almost no red springs this yr. Is this a result of bait or lack of? Just curious?

 

[Aces]

How about the miniscule #'s of red springs? I know a guy at a fish plant who says almost no red springs this yr. Is this a result of bait or lack of? Just curious?

Say what?? I only caught 2 whites all year

 

[Degree of Freedom]

Less than 10% whites on my boat this year. Pretty much on par with every other year.

 

[cohobankie]

Here on the coast of Washington we were killing it out in the deep water. Easy limits. 180-250ft of DR cable in 300ft+ of water. Couldn't buy a fish in the San Juan Islands and Puget Sound was toast pretty quick. You guys need to ramp up the fish in the fraser like they have done in the columbia.

 

[littlechucky]

Here on the coast of Washington we were killing it out in the deep water. Easy limits. 180-250ft of DR cable in 300ft+ of water. Couldn't buy a fish in the San Juan Islands and Puget Sound was toast pretty quick. You guys need to ramp up the fish in the fraser like they have done in the columbia.

That just makes way too much sense for us to actually do it.

 

[finaddict]

Here on the coast of Washington we were killing it out in the deep water. Easy limits. 180-250ft of DR cable in 300ft+ of water. Couldn't buy a fish in the San Juan Islands and Puget Sound was toast pretty quick. You guys need to ramp up the fish in the fraser like they have done in the columbia.

Give us a chance to to kill off the last of our dwindling chinook stocks first,then maybe we might gather enough intelligence to do something about it.

 

[SpringVelocity]

Or allow the salmon to vote. LOL

 

[seadog19]

I only caught one white spring, all the rest were red...I had more whites last year.

Thriftys has fresh RED wild spring fillets on sale for 13.49 a lb...this week.

 

[Karlo]

After a very average year by West Coast Haida Gwaii standards, featuring many days after about mid-August where there was a pattern of hours of zero spring action followed by a scorching hot 45-minute bite that you'd better be on, followed by another spring shutdown, I decided last week to just leave the trolling gear at home and target bottomfish. As you'd expect, the few boats still working springs were on a hot bite when we passed The Wall, and there was still good action there three hours later when we came back by on the way home with our halibut and lingcod.

Although a series of brutal storms has shut all fishing down since, that was a big rush of fish for this late in the season. The surface temperatures were way down, which may have had a lot to do with it.

As for the red vs white spring ratio, as usual, there was about a 25-30% presence of white springs around in April-May, but from June on, they weren't much in evidence. Maybe the absence of red springs one guy noted reinforces the idea that the stocks he's used to fishing in his area were offshore, in deep water, or both, leaving only more inshore runs in his area.

 

[Sharphooks]

Hey Karlo

Just out of curiosity, during the slow periods did you ever go out into the deep (200 feet +) ? I fished Central Coast and it seemed slow in the normal spots. I found a few fish when I went deep although nothing consistent.

Last week of August out of Ucluelet on the outside, all my fish were at 200 feet (or more)-- The normal 60 foot water column had zero bait---any sign I saw was DEEP. I also noticed the commie trollers were working the deep spots