These fish are hatchery plants and are returning to the hatchery at cottonwood. the june fish you are referring to run into oregon. These fish are not all downstreamers as you refer, but are dark from the tremendous distance they travel. I don't believe that if these were downstreamers heading back to the ocean, that there would be any survival rate heading back down the ronde,down the snake, and down the columbia and through all the dams. They have a hard enough time making it up. I asked the fish counter if any are natural spawners, he said the river gets so low and warm in the summer, that most reds suffocate or dry out. He said that the run is all hatchery, and that the fish are trapped and milked. The fish are not like the wild granders out on the pennisula. It is just a great camping trip, and good excuse to hang with the guys and have huge fires.
Rob, I thought that you were moving to montana. You had better get used to hatchery runs such as this.



[This message has been edited by KORE (edited 03-25-99).]