"Fish Stuff" on Wood Lake and Okanagan Lake

I was copied on the following e-mail and thought it may be of interest to some.
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"10APR10
Good Morning Mayor Baker (James),

Re: An Appeal for Volunteers Interested in Helping with "Fish Stuff" on Wood and/or Okanagan Lake - > Boat counts and creel survey

I thought the following might be of some practical interest to you and perhaps, to some others, in the District of Lake Country.

Wood Lake, because of the efforts of volunteer community stewards, including residents like yourself and others, over the past 30 or more years, has now become a "preferred" angler destination, mostly for Kokanee. In 2003, a Lake Country Calendar article estimated that the annual contribution to the "local" Lake Country economy from the Wood Lake Kokanee fishery was $250,000 - $350,000/year. "We" can safely say that annual economic contribution is considerably higher in 2010.

A Little Background Trivia...should you be asked:
Winfield Creek, Middle Vernon Creek (MVC) and Upper Vernon Creek (UVC) are "nursery" streams for Wood Lake Kokanee. Recall that in 1983, before the Oceola Fish & Game Club(OFGC) volunteer lead Kokanee incubator enhancements kicked in, the "official" Kokanee stream spawner count in Middle Vernon Creek (MVC) was (9) nine fish... Last fall's Kokanee stream spawner count in MVC was around 5,000...down from previous years, mostly because of beaver damming and re-damming activity above Beaver Lake Road, preventing access for successful Kokanee stream spawning in upstream sections of MVC and UVC...

Any help you provide, to help "us" to focus on this "appeal", will be genuinely appreciated.

Rick Simpson.
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09APR10
Good Afternoon, All,
Re: An Appeal for Volunteers Interested in Helping with "Fish Stuff" on Wood Lake & Okanagan Lake - > Boat counts and creel survey

For those "fishy" people interested in helping out with Wood Lake, in particular, and/or Okanagan Lake, please see the following Email from Dr. Paul Askey, MOE Fisheries, Penticton asking for our help.If you are interested in participating, please contact me for additional details.

Paul is looking at starting this fishing observation and counting initiative in May 2010 on a pilot basis to see how it goes. For those people interested in general background information on a "creel" survey, please refer to: Module # 13 Creel Surveys...in The Streamkeepers Handbook: A Practical Guide to Stream & Wetland Care.
See: http://www.pskf.ca/publications/Module13.pdf I look forward to hearing from those people, particularly regular anglers, who might be interested.

Thanks for your help.
Rick Simpson
volunteer chair, fisheries committee, Oceola Fish & Game Club, Winfield, BC
www.oceola.ca
Email: rls@telus.net
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09APR10
Hi Rick,

Re: Boat counts and creel survey

I am looking for help to estimates of angler effort and catch rates on Wood and Okanagan Lakes this year. I was hoping we may be able to collaborate with clubs in the area on this. Potential ways to help are:
1) Club members provide boat counts for Wood Lake. I have set series of standard weekend days over the summer when flights normally occur. I would like to replace those flights with ground based counts (with binoculars).
2) Angler surveys. Interview anglers at boat launches and take catch and fish data. This is a bit trickier, requires some training and commitment to ensure data quality. I would only like one or two individuals to work with on this to provide consistency and quality of data. There would be a minimum commitment of 6 survey days to make it worthwhile. I would get Jason Webster (Chara Consulting Ltd., Vernon) to train the person(s).
3) Funding.
I will be able to provide some creel coverage of Wood Lake because of Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation (HCTF) funds and student involvement. However, I am still waiting for a response on funds to cover Okanagan this year. If there is any available funding with the clubs we would put this directly to fishery monitoring on Okanagan or supplementing Wood. Feel free to call me to discuss this further.
Thanks
Paul
Paul Askey, Ph.D.
Stock Assessment Biologist – Okanagan Region
102 Industrial Place
Penticton, B.C.
V2A 7C8
Tel: (250) 490-8267
Fax: (250) 490-2231
Email: paul.askey@gov.bc.ca