Well - Its January and the Steel fishing has been  slow. We all have differing opinions and theories so lets throw out some of them- Certainly NOT professional ones ,I am sure, but interesting perspectives from fisherfolks. Some  will be rhetorical but it might be nice to see them on one place lol.
 My take--
Seems to me we started out the year with a banner , almost early, King run. All who saw this 'epic' run seemed impressed.
  Problem as I saw it was that with the low water the big numbers never seemed to go much above Pineville. That left kinda normal fishing up top. The Hatchery even  reported difficulty getting enough Hens in for egg recovery.
  This seemed evident to me personally as I never saw Hos and Steel in any kind of numbers up river where I have fished for years.  Many places they normally spawn were high and dry. Heck -  saw Hos spawning in early to mid Oct in mid river. Few if any observed in their usual haunts up top later on. Not many early Steel up there as usual either and far fewer King beds observed.
  All kinda theories were presented such as the fish running in and out again and for some reason staying in lower river areas. Not just in SR but many feeders along the Lake system seemed to have similar reports.
  My take was that it was a banner year early on and that the water levels kept the fish from the 'normal' spawn cycles we are used to experiencing. Clearly the fish didnt 'like' the low waters up top.
  Kinda gotta wonder if this is the 'issue' with Steel this year- Might be all wet but believe they come in early following the big spawners for the readily available food source the eggs provide, With  less upriver spawning  it seems IMHO to have affected the Steel holding up top.
  There are fish there as some food is available but gotta wonder about little fished holds down river where the spawn did take place this year. We are used to them 'running' the river to the top. That didnt happen this year so it may do us well to shift to the pattern the fish were on- more downriver action- even in Winter.
   The fish clearly were there early and tried- conditions altered their 'normal' movement IMHO -we should adjust too.
  Gonna be real interested in seeing what happens with the Spring spawn- Will they hold back then come in the spring ??? Some always do.
       One odd  guys thoughts.

i think the fishing is just fine up top, maybe not as good as some years, but just fine
the salmon run was alittle slow and the steelies came in early and got beat up (or carried out on yellow ropes) but there are fish up high.....i have noticed they are in different water than years past....some places they are holding have never held fish before and other areas that used to be top notch are not worth fishing....all part of fishing the river i guess

Hi Bear-
 A guide friend has told me the fishing is improving up top in recently. Gotta wonder if those releases had to do with it. He  advised that although often seeing good numbers from the boat they seem unusually tight lipped all too often. He has had some great days though.
  Was strongly suggested however that flies other than egg imitations may work best due to the lower number of natural eggs-  his feeling is the fish are geared to more bugs now as they are the most prevalent food source after the poor upper spawn ( stones etc).
   May well be up myself for a try late this week.
 
  Hey -point gotta be made Bear-
 You and several others here are what I consider 'river masters'. Its what I like about this place- hearing from you guys. You and those few others can IMHO catch fish in the Mojave Desert.
  While the rest of us are splashing water with no results your end of day report is much differet LOL   90/10.

From the looks of things there doesn't appear to be any shortage of steelhead, big or small, on the OZ.  Perhaps water, or lack thereof, is the overriding factor on the SR this season. 

lol
thanks for the compliment, but i am far from a river master
it has been a very hit and miss season.....best example was in salmon season, did awesome in the barrel stretch one week and there was not a fish the next week
i just think there are still good numbers, but distribution has been spotty

Bear-
    That was kind of my King experience  too  Its why I shifted down to places  never fished before in over 30 yrs on the River. I  LOVE upriver but not when EPIC reports abound below.
  Down river was as described- EPIC. Took a few trips moving ever downward till finding them and then it stayed that way- for quite some time too. They just never seemed to move on up which is kinda the point of this thread.
  Early on we threw out all kind of opinions on water levels, temps and 02 levels having impact. The big run stopped those conversations. Somewhere, somehow, some, if not all those issues may well have had ultimate impact.
   Carps point listed below most certainly was an issue as well. Even above the Ballpark areas though  many Kings abounded right through Pineville but  did not show upriver.

In Nov. Good weather + extreme fishing pressure + low water = Dead Fish (On a rope or from being hooked several times)

i did get a bunch of kings in the school house/ barrel hole/ unemployment line.....i wonder if the new gravel from the flood that changed things around (including holding lies)didn't give them a place to spawn before they reached the hatchery
i was up there the last week they took eggs and the hatchery was loaded, but the next week i didn't find a fish til pineville

  Early on Bear when they had the LFZ closed for the extra month it was loaded with fresh Kings- looked to be an outstanding time. Bout when  it opened those fish moved up and few followed --go figure ??  Then there were the reports that the Hatchery didnt get enough King Hens. Those earlies mostly seemed to be natural spawners too with the fin as I recall. 
  Last year bout this time we were talking about still seeing Hos up in the zone- folks were a bit surprised.
  Sittin here  doin Politics and jumping back and forth to the Forum be phun.

Bear, totally agree with the sporadic fish upriver. They seem to be in specific holding lies, not spread much at all. I've also found that unlike past winters where I could still get fish on estaz flies, they seem far more keyed into flesh flies and very drab  glo-bugs. Blue sacks still working- so what else is new.   I've been happy with the less people, but the best little hole-within- the holes   are taken early.   Trev, most of the early Kings I saw upriver were clipped. That don't mean much, but I'm thinking many of   the wild fish don't migrate the whole way.  I'm VERY curious to know how many steel are left to run from the lake and how the early  spring shakes out. We'll see.  MANY steel have gotten roped this fall, I do know that.