I think that is it with most folks. If he was an average Joe his case would have been quashed, but because he had the connections he got the favors.

Lets get back to fishing---this other stuff is usually reserved for Summer when we are chomping for a new season.
This unusual season has generally ended cept for the typical Steel fishing so lets reflect on what happened.
IMHO the season was VERY late and Kings came in slow with no big pushes or decent pods from where I was ( and I was up and moving a LOT)
 Cookie cutter Hos were OK for a while and seemed to drop off and Steel from 14 inches up to the teens were in pretty good for a while and have dropped off into a normal routine.  Browns were here and there but not in big numbers.
Generally however, the season was somewhat late and NOT all that impressive even though enough seemed to have  made it up to the hatchery.
Seemed to be only a couple of weeks where a few Kings along with nice numbers of Steel and Hos were around.
Even then moving  Kings only seemed to be ones and twos.
Kings were real late and ended pretty quick- my favored November was generally a skunk.
Hos came in nice but  generally disappeared quick too.
Looked to me like fish liked the water levels and shot up pretty fast as very fresh fish were readily found upriver for the short run.
Seems to me if it was like this all the time the river may loose its appeal to many- folks  were here for their one or two annual trips to find no fish at all running in normal times.
Those of us lucky enough to be around a lot did Ok but John Q generally got a little stiffed this season.
What the heck happened ?????
Open to any theory or fact based ideas.
 

Gotta add something else here- might not be so nice.
Although I no longer fish there I have given a lot of print here and there to the fact that the DSR is giving accurate reports of activity.
Kinda think that in this slow season that may be morphing back to days of old though.
Am wondering if some reports of  hookups are from regulars who know the river very well and from river guides who also know every rock and run.
Those experience may often be far different from the average daily pass holders who make up the bulk of folks down there..
The one day I stopped in 3 guys walked out quite vocal about what they paid after reading fair dailys and having been skunked.
In DSR defense it was later reported as a slow day however for those three is was a NO day.
There is a big diff between slow for some in the know  and a skunk for John Q.
After so long saying how different it is there with fresh fish coming into  a limited area and still being bunched up am starting to feel I have to 'read into' reports.
When shops used to say stuff like- "they are spread throughout the river" or 'the regulars are getting some' it meant the fishing was lousy and stay home.
 Perhaps just me being down a bit and remembering all those HOT days of old-- buttttt----

You pays your money and you takes your chances!
 
How did the cleaning stations do?  It was definitely a late year, but it seemed to me that a lot of fish were around from about right after Chartist left until my last trip up 2 weeks ago.  For the crowds 2 bob and I saw in town on the first trip, a lot of fish were going through a heavy gauntlet, with quite a few still around to get upriver.  I think it was just late, and it's too early to classify the steelhead run as it cones in over a long period.  
 
L13 

 
 
Y

I'd say its the worst salmon season I've ever seen in my 25 years. My old man who is 35 years at it said the same. Rg I agree that it may impact future fishing pressure to an extent.

I believe the whole thing with dsr went to court almost 20 years ago. Maybe the overzealous guides who tried to fight it ruined it? Two Bob, I've spoken to the senator himself a few years back and he did mention the garbage and trespassing was the start of it all. Then it was a struggle to try to make it work. Now it has grown to what it is. How much was a gallon of gas in 1990 when it was only 10 bucks to fish in there... Maybe folks should try to take the case back to court if they're so concerned. Even if the day comes where I deem it too much money for my season pass or not worth it, I assure you I won't complain. That land Is his bottom line. His rights date back to before the fishery. As well as the folks who lease to him.

I think mike millers reports were the best... Clear cut and dry..

dimebrite2
 Maybe the overzealous guides who tried to fight it ruined it? 

N

I thought there were more steelhead and browns this year and maybe arrived a bit earlier than usual.  I fished that whole first week of October.  I brought 8 newbies with me...Some definitely won't return, a few might have got bitten by the bug.  I saw one run that first weekend of October down near the Joss hole.  It was a decent size run with dorsal sprays visible all the way to the estuary.  The church hole had plenty of action, and fishermen, during that week.  And there were a lot of fish in that spot.  Looking down from the bridge in Altmar, I didn't see the huge numbers from past years.  I think we all agree the king numbers were way down.

I heard there was a Three Stooges convention in the DSR. The Ohio chapter was well represented apparently.

Super vision there Chartist.  I'm amazed that you could see "dorsal sprays" from the Joss hole "all the way to the estuary."  You might be able to see from Joss to the Spring hole but beyond that is BS.