Greetings From Across the Line

IronNoggin · 02-28-2004, 07:22 PM

Hi and Hey!
Greetings too all from across the pond/line from up here on Vancouver Island! I get down to the Olympic Peninsula every now and then to chase the irons, LOVE the place, it's rivers and fish. A buddy suggested this site a day or two ago, so thought I'd investigate.

Yup, we do have steel on the Island! Here's a pix of me with a decent one:

For more Canadian Steel, check out my picture site (if you're interested that is):
http://fish.ssni.ca/gallery/IronNoggin

Hope to hear from a few of you diehards, and perhaps share some info over the passing weeks.

Cheers,
Nog :grin:

B-run · 02-28-2004, 07:26 PM

Howdy fellow metalhead.
How is the driftboat ride down that chute in the background? :shocked:
Nice slab.
Hope to fish up your way someday.

Fish Hawg · 02-28-2004, 07:42 PM

Welcome To Ifish

alsp thats a nice fish [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

.....Ross

sparkleboy · 02-28-2004, 07:47 PM

Howdy IronNoggin. Great moniker!
Yeah, all those pictures of beautiful fish and beautiful rivers make me a little jealous...

cutt plug · 02-28-2004, 07:49 PM

Welcome to Ifish.

Nice pic. Thanks for sharing.

GOT2FISH · 02-29-2004, 12:26 AM

Welcome nice fish

and pretty cool background there [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

IronNoggin · 02-29-2004, 10:31 AM

Thanks for the welcome gents! Appreciated.

B-run, the drifter can't quite make it down those falls, BUT we HAVE rappelled her down the cliff on the opposite bank from the photo to drift that flow. Wild ride, and loads of fish in the early season. Keeps the guides wondering how we get the non-powered rig up above them through the white

SparkleBoy Thanks! Been wearing that handle for more than a few years now. Created to allude to my main target species (well, OK, at least through the winter that is

) as well as a rather thick-headed attitude at times (what, that's not impossible! Watch THIS!!) :grin:

Got2Fish, aYup, the Island is like living in a post card. Something we locals tend to forget until one of our frequent visitors points it out, then "aYup, guess it is rather beautiful, now cast o'er there"

Saw more than a few post card settings down your way last trip. Looking forward to the next!

Cheers,
Nog

Stz ll · 02-29-2004, 01:04 PM

Great picture! Nice fish!

Welcome aboard!!

First Bite · 02-29-2004, 01:17 PM

Welcome IronNoggin. How's the steelhead runs doing up there on the island?

Mark

NorthRiverRick · 02-29-2004, 01:35 PM

Noggin,

Welcome aboard, I'm one of those regular visitors up your way every summer. Always wondered about the Ironheads, guess I have my answer!

Rick

David Johnson · 02-29-2004, 01:58 PM

Welcome.

Isn't that on the Stamp River?

Twitchs_Tackle · 02-29-2004, 11:53 PM

Welcome! Great photo and web site! Looks like you really get into'em up there.

TT

IronNoggin · 03-01-2004, 09:21 AM

Yeah... LOL... we DO get into a few up here

First Cast Although the Stamp continues to amaze, and live up to Haig-Brown's description as one of the Island's most generous rivers, the news is not as good for the rest of the Island's flows. Returns of iron to the Stamp were again good this year, and we're still seeing more arrive every day! For some reason, the Gold, the Cowichan and most others failed to see any reasonable numbers come back thus far, and with most of the season over, that is GRIM news. This is the second year straight that the Gold has suffered poor (almost nonexistant) returns. Pretty well the entire east side of the Island has been closed for a couple of year now, due to increasingly reduced numbers. The Living Gene Bank experiment, designed to try and bring some of the more critical-status runs up in numbers, does not appear to be functioning as well as hoped. While the jury is still out on this latter, it does appear that many flows are about to witness the extinction of their runs of steelhead. :depressed:

This situation has placed an exponential increase in pressure on my local flow, the Stamp. We've seen an explosion in the number of visiting anglers, and most weekends it becomes a difficult search for uncrowded water to work. As a direct consequence, I rarely fish amongst the weekend warriors any more, preferring the semi-calm of mid-week instead.

The Provincial Government is aware of the problems regarding steelhead. Their answer has been to strip the funding and staffing levels of the mandated ministry, leaving overworked, underfunded and overstressed people (and some of them are amongst the best) to try and rectify the problem with band-aids. A tactic that will, over a very short time, precipitate the final extinction of this fine game fish from many of our rivers. A real shame. Sorry to bring politics into the discussion, but that IS what is happening. Hopefully the ProvGov wakes up in time to do something constructive before it's too late (don't hold your breath, the track record STRONGLY suggests otherwise). Or, perhaps we'll see an election in time to oust the offenders and (hopefully) replace them with a more resource-concious/oriented management regime. Otherwise, I may soon be spending a LOT more time down your way if I want to chase steel. Wish the news was better!

David Johnson Yup, the River of Dreams, the Stamp flows less than a mile from the front door! For now, it IS the Island's steelhead capitol. Hope it at least, continues to do so.

Edit: OOPS! A lot of the pix on my member's site (FishBC) were taken on the Stamp. The photo above was actually shot at Waddy's Pool on the Sproat River, a major tributary to the Stamp. FYI: The system here has a somewhat convoluted name regime. From the Salt up to the confluence with the Sproat, the flow is named the Somas River, From there up it's called the Stamp, therefore you'll quite often see the whole referred to as the SSS system.
Cheers,.
Nog

[ 03-01-2004, 10:25 AM: Message edited by: IronNoggin ]

Ramstrong · 03-01-2004, 10:52 AM

IronNoggin,
Good to see you over here from fishBC. Now you've just got to convince Ian to come over and it'll get real funny around here. Keep us posted when the sox show up out in the chuck this summer.

Dragfreedrift · 03-01-2004, 12:42 PM

Noggin-

Welcome aboard...I've fished many of the rivers up there you have mentioned. Its a cryin' shame the word extinction is being thrown around up there...WHAT HAPPENED?

The Gold used to be incredible.

HC

IronNoggin · 03-01-2004, 01:51 PM

HiYa RamStrong

Yeah, Ian would likely find this enjoyable, another forum to entertain, as he usually does! Will letcha know when the sox start bending the rods! Quite looking forward to the ultralight FUN with these guys again!

Abalone, it would appear that you might have a better chance this year south of the line. Hope for next!!

SKP Two hours north of Victoria flows the Stamp. That's one of the reasons I hunt over on the Olympic Peninsula from time to time. Convenient and close! If headed up this way, do give me a shout. Took one of your countrymen out to cure his steelhead virginity this year, with great success:

Photo Credit to the SteelHeader!
Rumour has it the man was going to try TimBits as a terminal - he loved them so much, figured the fish simply had to as well

half-canuck No one is really quite sure what the driving or causal agent is. I suspect several compounding factors working concurrently have driven the populations down. The grim news is that the ProvGov makes them a low-burner priority, furthering the downward spiral via inaction. A real shame! Hopefully they have it in them to rebound on their own, if not, could be some serious bad news down the road!

Cheers,
Nog

blacktail · 03-01-2004, 02:10 PM

Welcome Noggin. Thanks for the update on the situation up there. Hopefully it turns around.

Mike

First Bite · 03-01-2004, 08:45 PM

IronNoggin

That is a shame the steelhead runs are gong downhill. Extinction of some of your runs would be terrible.

You mentioned The Living Gene Bank experiment. Can you go into detail about this experiment? Sounds similar to our broodstock programs.

Mark

TillamookChinook · 03-01-2004, 11:14 PM

IronNoggin,
Welcome to IFish. And keep us posted on the fishing on Vancouver Island. I love to read about the fabled places, though the present reality may get discouraging (politics!).

TC

Abalone · 03-01-2004, 11:25 PM

IronNoggen:

I love Vancouver Island, I have Vacationed there three times on the West side Nooka and North.
I haven't tried the Steeheading but have a lot of good memories fishing for Searuns. Try not to let that place get overcrowded. Too bad about the Steelhead runs, I always figured on making a trip to Gold River for one of those Huge Metalheads.

Welcome to IFISH.

SKP · 03-01-2004, 11:30 PM

IronNoggin,

How far is this from Victoria? I have an uncle that lives in Victoria, and it the way you make it sound, I now need to plan a visit to my uncle (and fish).

SKP

IronNoggin · 03-02-2004, 09:43 AM

First Cast,
The Living Gene Bank is quite the experiment! It was developed to directly address the plummetting numbers of steelhead returning to the East side of Vancouver Island (Greater Georgia Basin). Unfortunately, the expected returns to the program have not been as promising as hoped. This said, it's still early, so of course the jury's still out.

Lately, it has become somewhat controversial in that some components of the angling community seem more than apprehensive regarding the expenditures the project consumes annually, in light of dwindling resource funding allocations Province wide (preferring instead to champion such other activities as lake stocking, salmon enhancement and so on - the "I don't fish nor care much for steelhead, therefore spend the money on what I AM directly interested in" mentality.) This latter group perceives steelhead have been placed on a Pedestal and become too much of an Icon undeserved. A shame to see this splintering amongst what could be united champions for the cause, the old [i]My backyard First[/] mentality I guess.

IMHO, the LGB is a step in the right direction, SOMETHING has to be done, even if it is experimental or risky in nature. Non-action is much riskier for the resource of concern.

For more information regarding the Living Gene Bank Experiment, see:

http://www.bccf.com/steelhead/living-gene-bank.htm

and

http://www.ariverneversleeps.com/bac...ecialrpt.shtml

Cheers,
Nog

IronNoggin · 03-02-2004, 10:16 AM

Just a test to see if the avatar function worked out.

aYup, did so! cool!

Cheers,
Nog

[ 03-02-2004, 11:17 AM: Message edited by: IronNoggin ]

Ramstrong · 03-02-2004, 10:32 AM

Mmmmm Timbits! I'm good for some timbits and all dressed chips whenever I'm visiting the great white north. My wife's from Nova Scotia. Between fishing and visits to the inlaws, I'm good for a few trips a year.

corkyking · 03-03-2004, 07:12 AM

IronNoggin:

Welcome
It's too bad that you have such grim news.

It seems that no matter where one is that a united front of sportsmen is perhaps the last, best hope for fish of all kinds. Unfortunately, I don�t believe that a united front is possible.