SteelheadMan and obsessed:

Lack of plants are not due to low water conditions(nice theory though!) I've been told by reliable sources that certain coastal rivers do get limited plants of summer fish IN ADDITION to what the WDFW web site states. These may be federal or tribal plants, though I'm guessing on that one.

Some of the penninsula rivers also get quite a few stray hatchery fish from other systems. How and why this happens is not known.

Another reason for low s-run plant numbers is WDFW doesn't want these fish competing with wild fish in the same systems as directed by the Wild Salmonid Policy. That one was told to me face to face in a chat with a biologist out of the Montesano office.

And we mustn't forget the abundant funds our generous legislature appropriates to the hatchery division for meaningful recreational opportunity that we pay for (tongue-in-cheek and sarcasm intended!)

It's a crappy situation because when plants were higher in years past, there was some excellent fishing to be had. That's not to say it still doesn't happen but it's alot harder now to find meaningful numbers of fish to target. It's like they hooked us with a quality fishery in years past and now are pulling the rug out from under us and saying "just kidding!"

I guess something is better than nothing. Sorry to ramble but it's a topic dear to my heart.