B.C. fishing 2017

[gerry]

I usually post up some pictures of salmon fishing every year so I thought I would share a few with you.

The season did not start well, we had heard it was going to be a dismal year and for the first time ever we were banned from fishing for chinook until July 15 and were told we most likely wouldn't be able to fish for sockeye at all this year. When it opened on the 15th we caught a couple of small chinook, the numbers weren't very good for them all year.

The pink run was strong however so Maria and I caught some of them for the freezer and of course ate a bunch of them too right away. We typically use pink spoons or even better, a pink maribou lead head jig when the water allows for that kind of fishing.

IMG_20170801_105640338 by Gerhard Koerner, on Flickr

IMG_20170801_105554405 by Gerhard Koerner, on Flickr

IMG_20170801_105536361 by Gerhard Koerner, on Flickr

IMG_20170815_192044765 (1) by Gerhard Koerner, on Flickr

It turns out that enough sockeye came in that when the count surpassed 800,000 it was opened up to us to catch 1 sockeye per day. The run is usually much larger but we are thankful to be able to at least get a few this year. About 95% of the run is past by now but there were still some fish around, we noticed that they were quite skinny this year for some reason. We bottom bounce yarn for them or is the water is shallow enough I will fly fish.

The day they opened sockeye on the 23rd, they are pretty skinny this year. They still taste great though :lol:

IMG_20170823_202609839 by Gerhard Koerner, on Flickr

The coho run is quite strong this year and we have caught a bunch of them along with a few sockeye. The steelhead run is quite strong too this year so we are catching some of them, wild steelhead must be released here. We would be allowed to keep a hatchery fish but there are very few of them if at all on the Skeena system. The coho and steelhead will hit almost any type of gear, we usually bottom bounce or fly fish on the big river but on the side streams in September and October we use spoons or lead head jigs.

Yesterday

Gerhard coho by Gerhard Koerner, on Flickr

Today

Maria coho 2 by Gerhard Koerner, on Flickr

Maria coho by Gerhard Koerner, on Flickr



Today, sockeye on the top, 3 coho on the bottom

IMG_20170827_174738239 by Gerhard Koerner, on Flickr
August 27 2017 fishing by Gerhard Koerner, on Flickr

 

[gerry]

Some other pictures from the summer.

IMG_20170729_144522820 by Gerhard Koerner, on Flickr

Lots of Forget Me Not's

IMG_20170729_152626232 by Gerhard Koerner, on Flickr

IMG_20170729_152657076 by Gerhard Koerner, on Flickr

IMG_20170729_152703269 by Gerhard Koerner, on Flickr

Earlier in the summer

IMG_20170719_120318739 by Gerhard Koerner, on Flickr

IMG_20170719_120248093 by Gerhard Koerner, on Flickr

 

[truck driver]

Great pictures and some fine looking fishing makes me wish I could have been there with you. I do love to fish and have missed almost the whole summer due to the knee injury but I had a ball in June.
Thanks for sharing Gerry.

 

[salmonchaser]

Great pics, glad you're able to fish for silvers and humpies disappointed to read about your reds and kings. That's scary.
For those outside the Northwest.
Chinooks = Kings
Sockeye = Reds
Coho. = Silvers
Pinks. = Humpies
I hope your Sockeye and Kings can rebound, that river system is on of the most magnificent places I've ever seen.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[gerry]

Great pics, glad you're able to fish for silvers and humpies disappointed to read about your reds and kings. That's scary.
For those outside the Northwest.
Chinooks = Kings
Sockeye = Reds
Coho. = Silvers
Pinks. = Humpies
I hope your Sockeye and Kings can rebound, that river system is on of the most magnificent places I've ever seen.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good you posted the different names of the salmon species so people don't get confused. Closing chinook definitely had some political aspects to it. The chinook have been fished heavily for years and it shows, more needs to be done to make sure they have good habitat and there should be more invested in bolstering the hatchery fish to supplement the wild stock. It is a bit concerning to see the sockeye that skinny but they are strong and are making it back in good numbers. About 90% of the sockeye that come up the Skeena head to the Babine and a good number of those are hatchery fish. They must have known there was something a bit off with them since we heard last year it was going to be a concern this year.

About 20 years ago the interior coho and steelhead were in serious decline mostly due to the commercial fishermen catching way too many when they were mingling with the sockeye near the mouth of the Skeena. Changes were made and these days both are doing very well so with a good plan the chinook can rebound. The Kalum river and lower Skeena chinook have genetics where they can be huge, some have been found by the fisheries to weigh over 100 lbs when they check out their spawning beds so they are highly sought after.

Where you are fishing up in Alaska is so remote that it won't be easily overfished, I do hope it stays strong up there.

 

[DrMike]

You've had a great summer, Gerry. Congratulations to you and Maria for getting out and taking the salmon you have. Excellent table fare; that's for sure.

 

[sask boy]

Thank you so much for the post Gerry, I am so happy that you and Maria have been able to get into a bit of good salmon fishing this year.
Seeing those photos gives me such fond memories of last August when Nettie and I were able to enjoy some of the great fishing and beautiful scenery.
I guess when I go home for lunch I am going to have to open up another jar of your delicious smoke salmon to bring back even more memories .
Thank you again for that great time last August maybe we can do it once more before I am to old :mrgreen:.

Blessings,
Dan