Darin, don't know how old you are, but I grew up in Redmond too and I don't recall Bear Creek ever being open for salmon or steelhead. In the 50s and 60s they used to plant it with rainbow just before the stream opener in May. In fact, I don't recall the Slough (which Bear Creek flows into) ever being open for salmon back in the day. I know because I was checked by the warden while fishing for cutts. Bear Creek does still produce viable runs of wild salmon - one of the most important spawning streams in King County. The bigger ecological disaster was the diking and channelization of the Slough. The Army Corps basically took a wild, meandering valley stream and made it a ditch with no habitat.