...I have sort of a follow-up question to this...last weekend my buddy landed a 9lb hatchery hen well below the hatchery on the Stilly--looked all the world like a fresh fish, but when he held it up a stream of clear liquid ran from its anus and when he cleaned it it had no in eggs in it to speak of...I don't mean loose eggs, but NO eggs at all. The skeins seemed intact, but emptied. He got a buck out of the same hole. Why would an otherwise bright hen have no eggs? Did she spawn and fall back, or spawn and keep going?

Seems I remember one low water year on the Nooksack, when all the kings and chum were spawning really low in the river...

Thanks for your input...

As to egg take, I'm surprised the state doesn't close more water immediately adjacent to hatchery intake/outlet paths. If they established 1000' deadlines or so, it'd drastically improve the chances of those fish that make it to the honey hole. The Cascade and Fortson come to mind...and perhaps in the case of Reiter and the Cascade it would allow them to keep the rest of the stream open...

thoughts?