Species Identification

[Busterbrown]

This year there seemes to be more of a problem reguarding species ID. The cleaning table gets real busy around 1400 every day. Yesterday there was a fisherman who had a very nice coho around 15 lbs that he was cleaning up, I commented to him that he had a very nice coho. He then proceeded to give me a lesson on how you could tell it was a spring. His reasoning was that it was too big to be a coho!!!! Earlier in the week I saw a boat with a fish in the net over the side of his boat with the fishing regs out trying to id the fish . after approx 3 minutes they brought it in board and killed it. Not sure what it was but if you are that unsure of what you have let er go.
Earlier in our trip they were MANY sockeye being cleaned before they were open. When I diplomaticaly point out that they have a sockeye, I was told they were chum or pinks .This situation repeated many times over the last month We were checked almost every day by the creel survey person who also made the same observations I have however she stated they do not have enforcement ability and do not report to DFO reguarding violations. I have called DFO in the past suggesting they may want to conduct a check at the resort however nothing has happened. Is this a common problem ?

 

[trendsetter]

It happens more often than you'd think. Some people just play dumb, some actually don't know! There is no skill testing questions when you buy a license so a lot of guys out there fishing will be taking salmon and not knowing what they are.

As for the boat you saw using the book to identify their catch in the net; I say good on them for trying. If everyone tried that hard you would see a lot less wild coho on the cleaning table.

It's not easy to tell a 15lb coho from a 15lb spring while it's thrashing around next to the boat. That is unless you've seen both many times.

I can tell a pink from a sockeye from a spring when it's next to my boat but my guests never can.

 

[Sharphooks]

I grit my teeth on this one.

I was in the middle of a fleet of supposedly "knowledgeable" fishermen when fishing Port Hardy this month (both commie guides and sporties) and during a particularly heavy coho bite one morning, I NEVER saw anyone on the net even hesitate to net their fish, twist it up into the mesh like a dead Christmas present, then bring it on board. Never a moment of hesitation to see what might be on the end of the line before making the decision to kill it

Funny thing: I hooked +/- ten coho that morning and there wasn't a fin-clipped fish in the bunch. I guess all the cool guys in the fleet that morning all knew how to rig up their gear to select for clipped fish and only clipped fish...

I was the resident idiot who brought each fish along side the boat, did a species ID and a quick inspection for a clip or not a clip, then gripping the leader in one hand, twisted the unclipped fish off the hook with a gaff when I knew I couldn't keep it, sort of like fishery managers expect us to do in a selective fishery like that...

I was really surprised, presuming there might be a degree of sophistication in how a selective fishery like that would be conducted,

Not.

Sorry, maybe this should be on a "Rant" thread...

I'll shut up now.

 

[adrianna3]

What's the quick trick for telling the difference between sockeye and chum? Even the book is kind of sketchy. I was told silver bars in the tail is about the only difference.

 

[TheBigGuy]

I grit my teeth on this one.

I was in the middle of a fleet of supposedly "knowledgeable" fishermen when fishing Port Hardy this month (both commie guides and sporties) and during a particularly heavy coho bite one morning, I NEVER saw anyone on the net even hesitate to net their fish, twist it up into the mesh like a dead Christmas present, then bring it on board. Never a moment of hesitation to see what might be on the end of the line before making the decision to kill it

Funny thing: I hooked +/- ten coho that morning and there wasn't a fin-clipped fish in the bunch. I guess all the cool guys in the fleet that morning all knew how to rig up their gear to select for clipped fish and only clipped fish...

I was the resident idiot who brought each fish along side the boat, did a species ID and a quick inspection for a clip or not a clip, then gripping the leader in one hand, twisted the unclipped fish off the hook with a gaff when I knew I couldn't keep it, sort of like fishery managers expect us to do in a selective fishery like that...

I was really surprised, presuming there might be a degree of sophistication in how a selective fishery like that would be conducted,

Not.

Sorry, maybe this should be on a "Rant" thread...

I'll shut up now.

I have fished a month this year in Pt. Renfrew. In that whole time I have yet to see a Salmon released. It's pretty much automatic over there, small Salmon is brought to the boat, fish is immediately netted and scooped into the boat. Never an attempt at identification, and the fish magically are all legal fish as none are ever returned to the water (from my observations). This was when Sockeye were still closed, and hatcherey Coho only were supposed to be retained on the outside.

My kid and I almost got ticketed because we couldn't find our licenses when checked. I told them we hadn't had to use them because we had let all our springs and Lings go that we caught. The fisheries guys said they don't hear that one in those parts very often, and proceeded to start writing us tickets. Guess they didn't find that one very believable. Luckily we found our licenses before they finished writing the tickets. They left us alone when they saw no springs or lings on the licenses and only hatchery Coho in the cooler.

"Catch and release" is not exactly well accepted on the Wild West Coast. That's just my observations from fishing Renfrew this season. I'm sure some guys must be releasing the illegal fish over there, but I guess I'm never around when it happens.