Chehalis River Area October 2006

1599 Views 18 Replies 9 Participants Last post by Rib, Oct 31, 2006

Rib

Discussion Starter · Oct 5, 2006

Hey guys, just wondering if anyone has any reports good or bad from the other side of the fraser??? Also, one other question...about the lower stretches of "new" river, does anyone have first hand knowledge of these new stretches of water? pm if necc.
thx,
rib

1 - 19 of 19 Posts

Marsman

· #2 · Oct 5, 2006

Some guy's of a buddy camped up there last weekend and said it is down to a trickle. Fish can't get up. I would try the Harrison in the next week or 2. Fish will start to pool there.

Cheers, Rob

DanTfisherman

· #3 · Oct 10, 2006

Walked it on Saturday.
Mombo lowness.
Seen about 25 Coho, with 2 out of every three being dark and somewhat colored.
Couple of the fish had silver blades trailing from their tail fins :x
Likely tail hooked in the Harrison system.

Lots of Chum spawning in the tailouts of runs. Some dead ones already lying around.
When I found the first group of Coho, first three casts with a blade, they chased it down and head-butted it. From there, a few fish followed it for a few casts, but made no attempt to take it, then they would just watch eveything drift by. Water was much too clear.

By the end of the day, I had managed 2 jack coho, a young Steelhead (large smolt size), and one nice Summer Steely.

Awesome day to be out, but needing some rain.

Dano

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Rib

Discussion Starter · #4 · Oct 10, 2006

thx for the reports guys, this will likely be the first place I go once the rains come...did either of you or anyone else check out the flow below where the river blew through? I've heard an effort at re routing the river was made, and some dredging was done...
until the rains come, it's a waiting game for me. 8)
rib

steelynightmare

· #5 · Oct 11, 2006

how many black bears did you see in the lower, usually see 2-3 down there this time of the year. Congrats on the summer run

Rib

Discussion Starter · #6 · Oct 27, 2006

Any Reports out of the Chehalis the last few days? Water must be coming up fairly quick one would think....

Steelie Trav

· #7 · Oct 27, 2006

I would like to hear some good news as well! I haven't been to the chehalis since steelie season and am looking forward to a nice canyon hike! Probably going to head up there next sunday, this sunday would be better but I think I will t be too hung over to make it, Its my B-day/Halloween party the night before. I will end up on the lower fraser this sunday with a bottle of pepto and my bar rig :wink:

G

· #8 · Oct 27, 2006

Well no good news yet, the harrison sucked and well.....so has the chehalis! But there is a shitload of chum this yr......

Mike <"))))))><

Steelie Trav

· #9 · Oct 27, 2006

Well hopefully the rain will hold out for another week so the river can get some freshies in! I'm worried that all of the coho have turned to tomatoes while witing out in the harrison :?

young gun

· #10 · Oct 27, 2006

U and me also, i hope i can fish it this year! Man this elninio summer really is effecting fishing alot, The vedder is low, the T is a trickle of water, the Chehalis is a creek, and the Fraser has 4 feet of visibility! There is something wrong with this "picture", i hope there will be enough water in the next few weeks for the coho to make their way up!

G

· #11 · Oct 28, 2006

Like I said, the harrison has sucked so far too....coho wise.....there is NO COHO! in the Harrison or Chehalis! Only, well.... lots of Chum! Coho are few and far between on the fraser from the harrison down to the vedder.......horrible.....but there is coho in the vedder, just not a lot being caught as the "Flossers" are spooking the hell out of them.... :roll:

Does elninio reely have anything to do with the coho not showing up on the harrison or chehalis? The springs, and chum seem to be on time and in huge numbers....no????

Mike <"))))))><

Rib

Discussion Starter · #12 · Oct 28, 2006

Nobody really nows why coho numbers are in decline...el nino may explain current fishing conditions, but it doesn't necessarily explain why returns have been so low the last few years...just explains water levels as far as I'm concerned... who knows why coho #'s are so low? Ocean mortality, in river mortality, maybe vast numbers are being intercepted out in the ocean by some foreign fishing fleet and nobody knows about it? It sucks. Having said that, these fish do go through cycles, just like any other species, and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if the years that have higher than normal returns of spring and chum, would have lower than normal returns of coho...and vise versa. So, what's that? A fancy way of saying maybe next year? :roll:
I might be hitting the chehalis on monday, maybe a few will show up just for me...

(Anyone know how the water levels are in there this weekend?)
thx,
rib

marko

· #13 · Oct 29, 2006

Not a single fish on my saltwater,not that I haven't tried ,so I think I 'll hit the mouth of the Stave first thing.

The boat still has some gas in'er and the wheather 's not bad. Going to launch out of Fort Langly and see how far
up I go, maybe as far as Srawberry Island just for kicks.

The extra hour should help us early risers get the beautysleep we so desperatly need, the fountain of youth
as it were!

G

· #14 · Oct 29, 2006

Rib: I hit the chehalis today for 1.15 hours, lost 1 chum, and that was it, lots of chums around, and very little coho, apparently there was 3 or 4 seen this morning. River conditions were surprisingly good....

Mike <")))))><

Chris

· #15 · Oct 29, 2006

Cool, I'm going to head that way monday or tuesday, I'll report back.

Rib

Discussion Starter · #16 · Oct 29, 2006

thanks mike...did you fish any of the sections below the easter seal run?
What I want to know is how much has all the debris and bush, and log jams cleared up in there? If there's no path through to all that water down there then my options change somewhat, and I might head into the canyon....

Also, is there much water down the hatchery way? I know they rerouted it so that a good portion goes through there now, but is it enough to actually have decent flow, depth and fish coming through that side?

Can anyone fill me in?
Thx,
rib

professori

· #17 · Oct 29, 2006

ribwart said:
Nobody really nows why coho numbers are in decline...el nino may explain current fishing conditions, but it doesn't necessarily explain why returns have been so low the last few years...just explains water levels as far as I'm concerned...

Actually Rib, El Nino is responsible for much more than low water levels in the fall here. Due to very high ocean temeratures for several years (interspersed with the occasional La Nina, or very low temperatures.) plankton growth seems to have been affected. Some authorities have reported perhaps a 1/3 die off of world plankton. This is the equivalent of 1/3 of the grasslands in the world drying up and blowing away. If the plankton is reduced, the organisms that feed on it are likewise reduced. This effect travels up the food chain until it gets to species like salmon. I am not saying this is the cause of lower returns, but it is having some effect. Last week there was a story in the news about a number of killer whales that have dissappeared and are presumed dead in local waters. One of the speculation is that these resident whales, which live on a diet of salmon, might have starved as a result of lower numbers of fish for them to eat.

Rib

Discussion Starter · #18 · Oct 30, 2006

Chris, if you are going monday, maybe I'll see you up there...

Professori, good point, and I guess as coho juveniles spend up to two years in freshwater before their seaward migration, then if the water is warmer in our rivers and creeks during their stay, then they might die out before they get out there....so yeah, el nino could very well play a big role in survival...

I wonder at the effects based on the fact the coho stay in freshwater longer too though...if you compare their numbers to springs and chum, it definitely seems the coho numbers are way down??? Why aren't the numbers down all across the board I wonder? All those species swim in the same ocean...

If the coho are around, they are going to come up the rivers regardless of whether conditions are right for us...they'll still come up in low water they might school and wait, but they would still be around at some point, and yet it seems that those that are around are far fewer in numbers than even as recently as 2 years ago...

I'm taking several courses in population ecology, resource management at ubc, and in my discussions with the profs, it seems that the opinion right now is that great big variable, "ocean mortality" , is affecting returns more than anything.
I wonder at migration routes of the various species, and think maybe the coho take a different route from the others?
I'll look up what info I have here on ocean migration routes and see what I can come up with....

It's interesting, I certainly can agree that el nino is playing some role, but how big? It just doesn't quite explain the whole picture, I get this feeling there's got to be more to it than that...but it could be a combination of freshwater stay, migration routes, and el nino....
what do you think? Anyone else add something to this little dilemna?
good point prof, I shouldn't discount el nino so flippantly that's for sure...
interested to hear more theories on the subject...
rib

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Rib

Discussion Starter · #19 · Oct 31, 2006

2

well, fished several parts today... I did get into fish...not a lot, but good enough for me...not many people out, I got to the river late...only fished for about 5 and half hours...there are some fish around if you know where to look but they are somewhat finicky now as the water levels are coming down again....water was really good today, but from what I was told was already down about a foot from saturday...I was curious to see what fisheries had done with the lower river diversion and so walked down through the hatchery at the end of the day to check out the water. I took some pictures for those of you who might be wondering if the dredging they did helped with river flow at all through there...here are those pics:

here's the man made channel just above the hatchery...

and here's a view of the river below the spawning channel...

all in all some improvement in flow, and nice to not really see anyone at all out there...

but with no more rain coming soon, I fear the river will soon drop below optimal conditions...maybe just 3 or 4 days more good fishing before things get really low again...
thx,
rib

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