It was great to be back on the river finally.........kinda-of ? I was first boat to the launch [ Lewis st. ] arriving at 3:10 am to make sure I wasn't pressured as I was launching alone and remembered last years fiasco. The next guys showed up five minutes later and were really cool helping me with the boat, from then on it was not so cool in fact it was a circus. I have never seen so many boats on the river with the only exception being the every other year Humpy navy. After everyone spread out it was manageable and turned out to be a beautiful day, sunshine and mid-seventies after the morning clouds burned off. The fishing was slow and we didn't touch a fish and saw no hook-ups in any of the guide boats, then at about 11:30 I hooked into a monster Steelhead which was without a doubt north of twenty pounds! After a great battle I lost the brute after it's third major run when it went about four feet in the air and did a crazy spin move at the peak of it's jump, what a rush! After that it seemed everyone was hooking up as a wave of fish passed through, we managed several more take downs that resulted a couple of bright hatchery brats, and a nice native King of about 12 pounds that was safely set free. All fish were hooked bobber-doggin using E-Z eggs with a small orange lead corky to hold them down, I love those things no mess and they stay on forever and at least for today they out fished shrimp and real eggs. While the crowd was manageable there were several guides that seemed to forget all their river ethics and would cut off our drift, had their clients cast over us and just about swamp a couple of shore guys that I know took water over their waders. C'mon fellow guides you know better that that and you're not teaching your clients the real basics of being on the river, there is more to the experience than just racing to the sweet holes and fish in the boat!