As predicted, the red numbers fell through the floor ... by roughly 90%.
The run was certainly sub-par, but I wouldn't call it a bad run. One thing that many don't realize by only fishing for a few days is that the bulk of the run shifted early this year.
We were hooking 30-40 fish per trip on the 1st and 2nd (we honestly just lost count) of June. This is about a week early for the peak. The peak also only lasted a few days rather than a week to ten days as is the norm. extreme warm weather in April that sped up most of Ma Nature's spingtime plans may have been responsible partly for this shift.
Things definitely headed downhill after that early June peak save for a few spikes last week.
Escpement not yet reached in CC, but it is roughly four miles or so from the Crooked Creek confluence to the weir, so it will take some time for those fish to make it up the creek for a good idea of season numbers. It appears they move rather slowly once they hit the creek talking with bios.
We visited the weir a couple of days back and got a nice tour of the facility from Jeff Brakefield who showed us how they're doing things this year to minimize handling.
'Doc ... I don't know if beach seines would work given the tidal influences. perhaps boat-based seines are the answer, but it will be a tough transition given the long standing sites that are currently in place.
I think we got fed a little grease though after all the squeeking in recent days. Sport bag limit has been doubled for the first time in memory. PU netters got an extra day, and dipnetters already have the okay to net to the bridge once that fishery starts. So at least the remainder of the user groups will get to shar in the fatter pie vs. last year when the dipnetters only got a few crumbs near the end.
Should be a bonus for local biz and limited impact on sports king fishery. Go catch them reds before they get across that counter !!!