HOOK said:
could that mean this is a big chum year :

last year was nice because there was hardly any in the Vedder so it made fly fishing nice LOL
From what we are seeing on the Kitimat and B/C chum numbers are not looking good for this year. I am hoping that the problem will stay on the north coast and we will be OK down here.
Chum are a little bit annoying when targeting other species, I totally agree. That said they are very important to our rivers and if they start to decline we will be in big trouble. They bring a huge amount of nutrients back with them from the ocean, in the form of their booted out rotten carcasses. They also take very little from the river as juveniles since they outmigrate as fry.
A wise man once said it takes 10 chum to raise a steelhead smolt, something to think about.