The river level have dropped dramatically on the McKenzie. As a result, the fish are concentrated into the very predictable, classic holes. This eliminates the need to even consider about 85% of the water you float over. Also, because of dismal returns this year, many anglers have put their their springer gear away til next season. As a direct result of drop in angler pressure on the fishery, we experienced some great fishing this past week. The cumulative total of hook-ups in my last 3 trips came to 20 big fish (salmon & steelhead combined). Yes we lost fish, and yes we turned back natives, but we had relatively good action considering how tough our season has been. Still, it'll never hold a candle last year's incredibly magical spring fishing. While many of the fishermen I observed this past week were fishing bait under floats, we had great success on plastic. Go figure! Fly fishing for trout continues to be great sport and many local guides are now running the very productive, summer Smallmouth Bass trips down on the Umpqua.