that is an OUTSTANDING point, i recall that quite well. i never made it down there on the re-opener on oct. 1st that year, but i fished a couple days later(during the week). i could not believe how many people were there on a tuesday, it looked like blue creek in the early '90s in the middle of december, and i'm not even talking about largely popular holes. not much in the line of fish either, aside from a few scared-to-death coho blasting past everyone. i left shortly.

october 1 came and went last year, without a whole lot of change. i think that had *maybe* something to do with it, just maybe. whenever an opener is created, pressure explodes out there.

making the 100 yards up or downriver from the mouth of purdy creek off limits to fishing isn't a bad idea probably, but it'd be better spent building a lookout for wardens there(like it's hard to bust snagger dirtbags in that spot anyway).

there is a small, but growing, almost underground group of legitimate regulars around there, and they're good company. really put a hurt on those coho with eggs, too....