I lived in Coos Bay for 10 years and the Elk was one of my go-to rivers. Caught my first 20 pounder there (released it too). Can't say I ever saw too many other fishermen releasing fish though. I did see the day when drift boats outnumbered steelhead about 10 to one, and I have never fished it since.

The good news about all this is they didn't close the river, they just allowed only C&R. And what happened? Only the greatest recovery of a fishery ever seen, it sounds like - I sure saw it at it's worst. What does this mean? CATCH AND RELEASE WORKS