Fishing Report Archives

Report Filed: January 20, 2008

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The new year is starting off with some bad rumours surrounding chinook and halibut. Several guests have been calling wanting to know what's going on for next season, so let me dispell the myths about 2008 on the West Coast.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada is predicting lower returns of 4 year old fish to Robertson Creek this year. So what does that mean? Well the chinook that come back to Robertson Creek are 3-4-5 year old chinooks and they typically come into Robertson Creek at about 30%-50%-20%.

So if there are going to be less 4 year old fish the proportion of the run that is largest will be smaller than usual for this year.

In 2006 the Robertson chinook run size was around 100,000 fish, and in 2007 it was 80,000 fish with less 3 year old chinooks than normal. So in 2008 those 3 year old fish from last year will be 4 year olds this year and cause a drop in the run size numbers, maybe to 50,000-60,000 because of their dominant proportion.

There will still be plenty of springs being caught from Robertson, they will just be small fish and very large fish. I predict that this drop in chinook numbers on the inside in August will cause a lot more effort shifting to the outside. I think we will see a lot of guys going out earlier for halis and migratory springs instead of everyone just looking for the big chinooks (5 year olds) inside Barkley.

But keep in that is just the Robertson Creek run that comes into Barkley at the end of August. There are still the other 50+ runs of chinooks going by from May-September offshore, and that's where the fishing is going to be. I'm not sure what's going on exactly with US stocks, but usually their hatchery production is so high it ensures that good numbers are swimming past the west coast of the island.

The weather in 2007 and on into 2008 points to La Nina cycles, and the cool temperatures and associated ocean conditions will help salmon survival and give us some good fishing on the west coast in the years ahead. Our returns for this year are coming off El Nino years (remember when we had lot's of mackeral around in 2004?) so we'll have to see what effect that has on the returns this year.

Coho forecasts are better for this year and halibut limits haven't changed yet (although there is talk about it going from 3 down to 2). Stocks are still good and catches will be up.

There are still good spots left for 2008 (we're about 60% full), so give us a call to book your fishing trip for the summer.

Tight lines,
Brad