Jakedog,Your exact words were " the rivers without dams have the best fishing" Out of that comment I figured "best" also could mean superior fishing!!!!! Next time I will just quote you verbatum!! In defense of Bowers, boys you should know that he is a friend of mine and that in the last decade fished more than most full time guides!!! So ya, he is just alittle bit familier with how our system is being run..The reason he had to move was because he was fishing to much and not making enough money to get into that extreme tax bracket!!! I think everytyhing is fine now that he cannot fish anymore!! Enough about him!! R.T., I have enjoyed your wisdom and experience you have brought to this board, but I want to ask you one question.You don't personally have to answer hopefully there will be someone out there that can answer for all of us. In comparison, at what percentage is the Kalama R. returning Salmon and Steelys today versus 50 yrs ago. Compare this in percentage against the mighty Columbia 50 yrs ago.. Everyone wants to blame the dams as the immediate savior of our fish runs, I think the immediate savior is to eliminate ALL indiscriminating netting first then lets see how we do. ONE STEP AT A TIME, LETS TAKE THE OBVIOUS FIRST!!!! maybe a better example would be the Hoh or the Bogy, these rivers have zero Columbia influence..Please somebody post these numbers!!I be looking them up myself also..