Not knowing all the facts this thought. First it is not about numbers coming in but rather low flows and the fact that the fish staged up hard low. That mob of fish was huge and unlike the last few years where the fish got into safe reaches with rain this year they did not. They came in without rain early and stuck in close to tidewater areas which is not good.

This summer weather has not been around for a few years but it is a normal pattern. For many years the high risk area was below the South Elma Bridge to Fuller Bridge for Chinook. What is different is all of us. When I was younger it was locals and some sportsman and that is again the difference. Sure we had crowds then but nothing like now. To add to the misery the manner in which people conduct themselves shall we say has deteriorated more than a little bit. A lady I worked for when I was 16 used to say " most persons are decent but people are a quarrelsome, destructive, ill mannered thing". Then we have and ever growing bunch of guides crowding themselves into a already small area to fish.

So unless the preseason forecast was and is total garbage it is not a numbers thing. It is about the fish and the fact they staged up low with little water in the tribs. The bay and lower tidewater the fish have water and acreage to use. Above South Monte it gets dicey but they do have water, tides and room for now. The tribs and mainstem above fuller hill the fish are trapped and it was proper to do this. I do worry that if the fish keep stacking up in the Fuller Hill to South Monte we could loose that reach also.

One final thing this and other years the area few miles down stream below Schafer Park it has been a real problem with fishers snagging and harassing Chinook, just saying.