Dunbar Residents' Association News and Events

It seems to never stop, the Adams River Run is not letting up , they continue to move through Johnston Strait and Juan De Fuca in massive schools ! My prediction of 10 million Sockeye has to be revised to a 20 Plus Million , the numbers coming in from the Test The Sockeye fishing yesterday at both marine entrances were staggering in numbers ! Area 13 off Hope Island and Roller Bay at the top of Vancouver Island had a test seine boat catching 52,200 Sockeye for 6 sets of the net, that is a unbelievable catch ! The Skipper reports Jumping and Fining Sockeye for miles around !

I wait for the end of the run to pass by the entrances for it should happen now and it does not , they just keep coming and coming in from the Pacific Ocean ! The Fraser Rivers outer Banks in about 30 fathoms are the collecting place for these great schools of Sockeye. We can only hope that the river water temperature can return to about 17 to 18 c and provide a easy swim home for the 6 pound Sockeye !By about the Aug. 26 the waiting Fraser River Sockeye will be hard to catch as their attention will be on moving into the river, the migration home and of course spawning !

Yes I have found that many Adams River Males and Female Sockeye in the past paired up off the mouth of the river before starting the big river Migration ! What triggers the move into the river by the bulk of the Adams run is sometimes the week of a “Full Moon” and a big flood tide usually in the evening ! So now they keep coming and waiting in deep water off the river for the right time to ride on a fast moving “Salt Water Wedge” that fans back and forth in the river !

Its a kind of mysterious magic time ,” The time to “Go Home from the Salt Water ” has been agreed upon, the air is electric and the smells of migrating Sockeye is in the air and on every river wave they fin and jump ! Yes it is a happy time for all that have escaped the nets , sealions and seals, their challenge now is the Fraser River ! The river is running with a volume of about 22% less than average for this time of year, yes it will be a difficult river migration ! I know those paired Sockeye can make it home , for” Sockeye Love” is also something very wonderful and special for me !

Terry ” From the North Arm of the Fraser River”

Hi Sockeye Friends

Yes the cooling trend in the river is a good sign, the Adams Sockeye run is hopefully going back to their old migration timing and that is great news if it happens !

The F. R. true late runs of Sockeye have been entering the river very early over the past 2 cycles ! Late moving straight into the river means more time in fresh water and with this comes pre -spawning mortality on a large scale ! For some unknown reason the sockeye are back close to the old inriver migration timing !

The run is very large and the Sockeye are fairly small for Adams Sockeye around 6 pounds and are Acclimatizing to fresh water . They will quickly become” Water Marked”, Turning to Spawning colors and are less desirable visually to the consumer as a Fresh Sea-run Sockeye !The rush to harvest “surpluses to spawning needs” will be taking place very soon on the outer banks !

Taking out the harvestable surplus now and a very hot Early Sept.,this could quickly develop into much higher river temperatures and sockeye death ! The inriver Pre. Spawning death of huge amounts of Sockeye Salmon that could spawn sucessfully, now could become a reality !

This is again a mixed Sockeye Run of many sub dominant runs of fish and of course all will be harvested no matter if some of the small runs need to be conserved ! ! ! When will the Adams and other true late Sockeye enter the river on mass, well that is a very tough question for the scientists to answer, “Only the Salmon Know” ! The run stalling out off the Outer Banks of the Fraser River is a welcomed return to a normal Adams River Sockeye Run migration pattern, but they must not wait too long as they did in 1958 and other years !

A big soaking B. C. rainstorm event, one week before or after a Full Moon ,on a big flood tide, that is my crystal ball in river migration prediction !

Terry ” From the North Arm”

Locally Sockeye are now jumping all along Bowen Island and into English Bay, is this a F. R. Sockeye season like in 1901, sure is starting to look something like it ! Give them Adams Socks. lots of cool water to spawn in and get ready for a spectacular event on the Adams River and the near by lake shores ! One big evening tide under a full or Waining Moon in the mouth of the Fraser and the huge river migration will begin ! Do not miss it ! Its the” Full Moon River Tide” either in the end of Aug. or the Harvest Moon of Sept. when the big run of Sockeye will move into the river,Yes for sure it will happens only if the water conditions suit them ! Give them about 12 days to reach home from the mouth of the river, if conditions are favourable ? Need lots of Big Rain all over B. C. and we need it soon !

Terry “From the North Arm of the Fraser River”

Hi: My dad and I  had a very close relationship for many years with a Great Blue Heron, that all the Gillnet fisherpersons of Celtic Slough in Southlands called Big Foot !  The male Big Foot was a great fisherbird and was a wonderful provider for his mate and young  offspring  that usually were still in the nest during early July !

Yes but sometimes the Great Blue Guy was lazy, especially during the Peamouth Chub and Early Fraser River Stuart Lake  Sockeye Salmon season !  Now all of the kids from around the Blenheim Flats now called the” Southlands Equestrian Village ” oh what a  posh name”, they all came  down to the Gillnet floats with wet slices of White G. B. Bread and a can of worms on the weekend, to fish for Big Foot ! Now you are not going to believe this , the Foot knew when there was going to be kids fishing action on the wharves, it was usually on the weekend ! I would swear on the rocker arms of my Easthope boat Engine,   he could count days and when my dad and I would Knock off work at the shipyard and I swear he also knew when the Sockeye seasons weekly opening days for Sockeye gillnetting  were ! Yes ! I know you are not going to believe this , it was the  sound of the 4.30 Shipyard horn that made him Swoop down and wait at our boat cabin door for us to either fish  Chub for him or gut a few Stuart lake Sockeye on the dock !  He liked the Sockeye scraps from all the gillnet boats best of all , he kind of filled up to the Top with Sockeye pieces , the last ones sticking out of his beak and then Bigfoot had great problems taking off to go to the nest and every one laughed with his attempted takeoffs !

The greatest picture of all was when all the kids were lined up on the dock fishing and catching nothing on the weekend , now I am not lying, Big foot would Crook and Crook some more, turning his head to watch the Chub bobber on the kids fishing line and when the chub were biting he would dance on the dock with his wings out, it was a dance of great anticipation ! The kids all squealed and laughed and threw him live chub, Bigfoot liked the attention of the kids and of course a big meal of Chub ! A picture of Bigfoot doing this is  in the Kiosk in Fraser River Park, have a look !

Bigfoot became a very close friend of Dad and I and near the end of July after all the nesting and raising young was completed he crooked and crooked some more to get our attention one day and some thing great happened , I am crying now , he walked down the Dock and watched us very carefully out of one eye , you are not going to believe this , he picked up small pieces of wood from the river, threw them up in the air and tried to catch them, he strutted like a proud new parent and I think he was showing dad and I how happy he was ! 

Bigfoot died when the Slough and adjacent lands and all his feeding habitat was dredged out and developed for a expensive housing project !

Terry Slack “From Celtic Island and Slough”

It was the 15th of July in the Early 1950ies and my Fraser River Salmon Gillnetting family in the lower North Arm were noticing the Corkline floats of our Early 9 inch Spring gillnets were just bobbing slightly on every drift !

Granddad said Big Sockeye going through , change nets ! ! We immediately  hand pulled into the stern of our boat the” Puff” 60 fathom of 5 and three quarter inch. Sockeye Net . On every low water “Slack” tide for about a week we pulled in really big Green Backed Sockeye and a  few Steelhead from our hand made nylon mesh gillnet !  About the 21st of June the run had passed and we went back to gillnetting for  Early Fraser River Chinooks” Spring Salmon ” ! My grandfather said this strange early , early run of big Fraser River  Sockeye, were probably a distinct unknown  North Arm Run of  Pitt Lake Sockeye ! These early run N. A.  Sockeye and Steelhead came in great numbers in 1947 and 1948 and Granddad caught them in the tidal channels of the Point Grey Booming grounds, including Musqueam Channel !

After 1952 the sockeye and steelhead run did not come back, the North Arm by then was heavily polluted by sewage and chemicals and most the  salmon migrating through the North and Middle Arms were effected .

There was one exception, that was the Early Stuart Lake Sockeye Run, who for hundreds of years  took the North and Middle Arm Fraser River Estuary migration route home !  But I will never forget those” Mysterious mid June Sockeye “ that paid for our tickets to immigrate to Canada, from Nottingham England !

Terry ” From the North Arm of the Fraser River”