Nanaimo River open

[saltybeaver]

I think it has been closed for the last 5 years for steelhead and opened feb1 on a trial bases, I have not even seen a fish or heard of anybody catching anything.
Anybody been fishign it? River Hunter have you tried it ?
Chris

 

[Oglthorpe]

Been out a couple of times, not even a sniff. I am interested to hear if anybody has heard of one being seen.

 

[MyEscape]

The river has been open for C/R of the 1600 released brood stock steelhead for a few months now and they are taking just about anything. Talk to the guys at Peters Sports they might give ya a few hints on where there hiding. To bad really but they finally gave up hope and shut down the steelhead recovery program due to such limited returns in ratio to numbers released.

Cheers ME




Edited by - MyEscape on 02/09/2006 16:03:32

 

[vince gee]

Kev,i think you might be thinking of the puntledge ???

Just Bring it!

 

[MyEscape]

oops. Ya was refering to the Puntledge. I can't remeber the last time the Nanaimo was open????

Cheers Kev



Edited by - MyEscape on 02/09/2006 16:13:32

 

[Eagle Eyes]

i think the nanaimo may be better for cutties, or simply going for a walk with the rods as theres only about 100-200 steelies in there.

as for the punt. it was quite good as recently as early jan for me, 2 trips there, once got 7 and another got 5. however none were over 6 pounds. but on light gear fun and quite steelheadish nonetheless.

 

[Mickey Finn]

I hear the Oyster was open again for steelheading,C/R,from the Little Oyster to the Highway19A Bridge,anybody else here this,someone said they read it in a CampbellRiver paper,article written by the Ardent angler.Probably the same all over with recent openings,release a bunch of brood stock,hopefully they return to revive the steelhead fishery on the east side of the Island.

 

[Eagle Eyes]

because of school i got to spend some time at the duncan trout hatchery (does all the steelhead on the island outside of the stamp system) so heres the lowdown

the punt. was given 400 living gene bank hatchery brood stock "steelhead" (basically like domestic bows) in 2004, and then 1200 in october 2005. these were the last of the living gene bank as the program was shut down, and apparently will spell the end of hatchery steelhead on the island outside of the stamp, cow, and possible marble. as for the openings, the fish in the puntledge were put in purely for sport and they think its unlikely they'll sucessfulyl reproduce in any great #s. the nanaimo and oyster were opened for sport only, not because of an increase in fish. according to the guys they said conservation hasnt worked so their being opened so people just have a place to go try...

all in all pretty sad, and very disheartening. its plainly obvious the straight of georgia is sick and something, ANYTHING needs to be done or the way things are going it will be coho, then chinooks soon going the way of steel...

 

[MyEscape]

Thanks for the information Eagle Eyes and I do agree with your point about the fish outlook on ECVI. More has to be done and done now not later.

Cheers Kev

 

[magnum]

My partner and I spent 7hrs. on the Nanaimo yesterday and only managed 1 trout. I realise that we haven't fished the Nanaimo for steelhaed since they close it but we were a little disheartened. Water height was great and the colour was clear.Nothing"0"not even a good take.
YA YA I know that we aren't the best steelheaders around but it's only "HONESt"info that I'm giving you.We've only been fishing it since 1964.

Hope you have better luck than we did. Lots of the holding spots are gone and it just means we have to learn it all over again. We just expected a tad more thats all. Best of luck to all that chases the chrome.

 

[Eagle Eyes]

might hit it one of these fridays if i can get out the dam lab early enough...

hopefully off to greener pastures (north island) for reading break next weekend though...

 

[Graham]

Skip your lab, we did it all the time to go fishing when I went through that program.

tell Jenny I say 'hi' haha

 

[IronNoggin]

This is simply UNBELIEVABLE!

These little flows have been closed for a considerably long time, in an effort to protect the extremely low numbers of returning fish - numbers so low that survival is suspect, let alone recovery. Now the ProvGov in it's lack of wisdom opens them again?? This dispite all indications the numbers are continuing to plummit!! What is the agenda here?? Kill the remaining few fish by pincushioning each and every one over and over by those who think there is no problem in doing so??
For SHAME!! I, for one, will not touch any of those fish, and sincerely hope more people begin to think this way! Is your desire to hook a steelhead strong enough to overcome your concerns of perhaps killing one of the last of a dying run in the process? I certainly hope not!!

Unbelievable!!

Still shaking my head!
Nog

 

[chevyshaulass]

I was thinking of trying it because i figured that they had opened it because there was a better return of fish or that they released some LGB's or something but that is not the case. For one its probably a waste of time and also whats the point in harassing the few fish that might be in there.

 

[Eagle Eyes]

like i said before- for steelies it would simply be a walk with the rods for anyone who thinks about it.

could have some pretty good sea-run cutties though, that is really the only logical explanation i can come up with for opening this system and the oyster.

all in all both should stay closed though because we really shouldnt be harrasing the basically endangered steelies left in there. but if your gonna fish cutties then all the power to ya.

 

[fishman69er]

this is what i have heard, they opened the nanaimo river because the winter water level is just to high to do a swim to get a count, so they are going to try to get some numbers together from the fishermen, to bad the govt would not just put some money into enhancement for the ECVI steelhead, it was once a great fishery, i tell ya if i was a man with a poop load of money i would start somthing myself but i am not, so i can only look to my memories of what was once a good thing, ensure the future C&R

ensure the future

 

[Oglthorpe]

fishman69er-That is not the case. They opened it to please some anglers, and they are hoping to open some more east coast rivers.

river hunter-NO, the spring run is worse off, if you can believe it. And yes soon some spring run chinook will be moving through, but their numbers are worse than the steelies.


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Edited by - Oglthorpe on 02/11/2006 21:44:05