I'm old enough to remember fishing the Cow as a kid in the 50's and early 60's before the dams. Course there was lots of great fishing everywhere then But the Cow was always where we went for late bright hogs. Even after the dam(n) hatchery era began, this was still the place to go for late fish clear into the early 70's. I was probably one of the first to fish a home-made glowball at night below the barrier dam on the far shore (believe that must have been about '69 or '70 during spring break). The crazies I fished with had a little rule - land a fish and you had to chug a beer. We went through cases of beer and generally either the beer gave out or we gave out way before the fish did. Finally those late fish pretty much died out and all that were left were tons of early dinks, which I still enjoy fishing for but not nearly as much as the last of the projeny of real Cowlitz fish. Myself, I want those late fish back and if we have to give up the glut of early dinks that all return in one week and are dark the next, then so be it. In other words, I like the new plan and I hope it works, although on this, the most dam(n) screwed up river in the state, I have my doubts. For one thing, there is very little fish habitat left below the dams, and if you throw a million cows into a pasture that will only suport 1000, they pretty much are all going to starve to death and die - works that way for fish too. For the other, disease problems are almost assured in a highly controlled river where natural flood cycles are not allowed - I can't remember the whole story, but a hatchery manager of my aquaintance has a pretty convincing argument, based upon the enhanced survival of a snail that carries a significant salmonid parasite in rivers like the Cow that are no longer allowed to flood. So, two things to think about - more hatchery fish does not always equal more returns, and most likely will result in less, and if you ruin the habitat you ruin the fishing. <img border="0" alt="[fragile]" title="" src="graemlins/fragile.gif" />