Plant numbers have been the same since 2009. We have been directed to move some of the plant numbers upstream, but we continue to plant smolts at the traditional sites along the 'nooch.
That directive came down 3 years ago. When I first got to Aberdeen, the fish seemed to staging in the middle stretch of the river. Then 1 season, they stopped that and started staging other places within the system. Could not figure out what they were up to, went and spoke to the former manger about it, to see if we were having some effect on their return timing, staging, etc.? He told me that winter-runs tend to come back to within a few river miles of where they were released. Summer -runs tend to do whatever they want and they aren't interested in your opinion about it. If anyone out there keeps a journal spanning 15+ years, I'd be interested to see when they started seeing good numbers returning. What has anyone heard about other summer-run rivers this year?