1999-2009 saw the most summer steelhead, spring chinook, summer chinook, fall chinook, and coho to cross Bonneville Dam for any ten year period since that dam came online in 1938. This summer broke the record for summer steelhead over the dam. Sockeye returns were the greatest since 1955.

In contrast, chum and pink salmon, once abundant in the Columbia system, are now almost nonexistent.

This winter's return of steelhead to Oregon coastal streams is good so far. I don't know how it stacks up historically, but it is impressive compared to the last few decades.

In Southwest Washington, defined as the Cowlitz to the north and the Klickitat to the east, I have landed more than 300 summer steelhead three times in the last decade. I have landed 5+ winter steelhead in one day in five different years over the last decade. In two different years over the last decade, I landed 5 or more wild steelhead in one day, multiple days, on streams WDFW does not plant.

I understand there are streams and watersheds, such as the Chehalis, Skagit, and Puget Sound streams, that have fallen on hard times.

I also understand that the Wenatchee, Grande Ronde, and Methow have had fantastic summer steelhead returns this year.

In some areas the good old days are, in fact, now. In some areas, not.

More historical perspective: Lewis (or Clark, I'm not sure which) wrote on April 17, 1806 while camped near Beacon Rock: "the salmon not having made their appearance proves a serious inconvenience to us." 204 years ago, already there were problems with salmon returns!