The sockeye flights were back when there were sockeye in the Fraser. The Adams was plugged, as was the lake where the river came in. Bottom of the lake was simply a large red blob. The Horsefly was in its first really big year, a million fish distributed evenly over miles of river. It was at peak spawning with few schools waiting for space and few carcasses. Just even distribution. The At the Chilko were were a tad late for a all the sockeye but the river looked like it had been carpet bombed by Chinook. Huge holes, 5-6' deep, where they Chinook had spawned. There were still Fraser Chinook back then.

Back in the mid-80s WA had a really huge pink run, at least in the the Skagit, Stilly, and Snoh. I took the folks I worked with up in the WDF Beaver and we flew those rivers so they could see what escapement is supposed to look like. A Beaver is almost a fixed-wing helicopter in the hands of a good pilot.