Aunty,

There are not as many fish in the river to be caught as there are tags to be filled.

Here is another way to understand it.

Today there were about 20 boats fishing the Oregon City area of the Willamette. there was about 8 fish caught. Would it have mattered if it were a two fish limit today. Would more fish have been taken from the river? Not at all. The pressure still exsists from the anglers, but the willingness to bite from the fish, or lack there of is the only reason 8 fish died. No matter if the limit was two or four, those 8 fish were dead no matter how many you could keep. A springer that sees a bait is dead. They are very aggressive, and most biters will die.

If everyone that fished the Columbia river caught there limit everyday, the quota would ahve been meet on day 5. You put 1500 boats on the water with three people in each boat, you got 4500 fish being taken every day. The amazing thing is the numers are not that good. One of two things is going on.

1. The river doesn't have 4500 biting fish in it that day. (Very likely)
2. The fisherman are not good enough to catch them. ( very unlikely)

The fisherman outnumber the fish something fierce and no matter the limit, the river is only gonna put out so many fish per day, period.

Does that make more sense?