Trip Summary
This past Thanksgiving weekend we ventured out to the Fraser Valley to fish the Chilliwack River! This time of year paired with the recent rainfalls has brought in a number of Coho, Chinook and Chum Salmon into the river. This trip we fished from first light until 11:00 am and got a Coho and Hatchery Jack Chinook. The action started at first light with the Coho biting procured roe. The Jack Chinook came shortly afterwards on roe as well.
I was pleasantly surprised when I cleaned the Chinook to find red meat as most of the Chinooks at this time of year are white meat. You can see pictures of the fillet in the gallery on this journal page.
This was the first hatchery Chinook I’ve caught in the Chilliwack River. These hatchery fish have an info tag in their nose for studying. By returning these fish to the depot they keep statistics on these fish. I froze the head and intend to return to the depot the next time I’m out in the Fraser Valley. However, I’m not 100% certain where the depot is… I’m assuming the Hatchery but need to find out. If you know the location, please comment or email me (see contact page). Thanks so much! Jesse
Video
Photo Gallery
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Fishing Location
Wilson Rd, Mid Chilliwack River
Tackle Used
Shimano Convergence Casting Rod (10’6 ft)
C3 6500 Abu Garcia level-wind Reel
Maxima Ultragreen – Mainline (15 lb)
Seaguar Blue Label – Leader (10 lb)
Gamakatsu Octopus hooks – Size 2
Additional Lures & Baits used
Small pieces of procured Roe (Berry’s Bait & Tackle roe)
Additional Trip Journals
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Vedder chwk. river used to be a pleasure to fish but now because of real esrate development and huge increase in fishing pressure it is no longer a pleasure.
Developers that have advertised the great fishing should have been charged an amount to cover of increased hatchery capacity required to offset the increased fishing pressure caused by their activities.
But too late now!
It’s true that the river has become busier. In my opinion, one of the biggest reasons for this increased traffic is due to a reduced number of rivers with fish retention. I’m not saying I disagree with DFO in reducing the fish retention on these systems though. I simply think the C-V river offers a lot in this area.
In relation to your comment around developers, I’d love to see local government collect money from them to be put toward these rivers. I think the best usage of any developer money would best be spent on improving/repairing spawning areas (e.g. gravel beds) on these rivers, especially the upper C-V river.