Originally Posted By: fish4brains
it's a problem when the rivers are at record lows with no rain in sight. the river get's closed because salmon are not able to go up with any semblance of normalcy. The rest is people's imaginations and assumptions. Notice how as soon as we had one decent rain and were close enough to a forecast of rain that will bring flows back to normal, the river opened up? Snagging is one of the things that happens in low water, but not why the department closes rivers.


Two problems with that generally correct (IMO) statement:

1. Flows on the Queets went up sooner and more dramatically than in any of the Grays Harbor streams. If flows were the entire reason for the closures, those rivers should be open, but they're not.

2. The statement from WDFW cited "recent fisheries activities" as the reason why those rivers are still closed.

I don't suspect any sort of foul play or ill intent; I'd just be interested to know what really happened there.