The bay's not usually as crowded as the river, and I bet that's especially true now. The bay's not as much of a concern anyway, because it's got lots of room for fish to move around and cooler water. I'm mostly concerned about the lower river.

Could be plenty of reasons the fishing was slow over the weekend. Full moon, east wind, hot weather, dour fish; take your pick of bad indicators. I sincerely hope it wasn't slow because the early run is underperforming or has already been overharvested, but I kind of doubt that. Maybe just crappy fishing. I know the guy you fish with doesn't like those big tides....