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[islanddude]

 I had been away from the river for a number of days. Fishing had not been so good the Sunday before with quite a few fishermen on the river due to weekend,
 Pulled into to the parking lot above the bridge on the dump road. No vehicles and it is 9:30 in the morning. I thought fishing must be really slow even for cutthroats.
  Cloudy,plus 5 Celsius. Nice, no gloves today for these old hands. Walk up the trail to the Forestry pool where in the good old days if you were there first, most likley you would hook a steelhead.  First cast down goes the float, cutthroat comes to the surface and spits the hook. Three or more casts a steelhead smolt take my offering. I land about a 12 incher. No more fish fall for my presentation.
 I walk up the river probing the various rock pools and runs that may hold a fish whether a cutthroat or steelhead. Approach the run where I had hooked a chrome bright steelhead   6 days before and saw another fisher there. Long legs, blue feathers and a pointy beak. I guess he was a solitary fisher for he flew off when he saw me.
  After numerous casts  another steelhead smolt takes the offering. I cover the water methodically  and am rewarded with a hatchery cutthroat around 3-4 lbs. which I keep for a couple of real old timers that live in the same trailer park. No more fish so move on probing the fishy looking waters for any thing that will bite.
 I look at what once was a meandering, narrow deep river that  now has shallow straight runs with very little holding water for steelhead. They move through the lower river only on high water and waste no time reaching sanctuary in the upper river which is closed where they mate and reproduce.
 I fear that their species is in dire straits. The aquatic insects and flora have been wiped out by the devastating flood. I wonder what there offspring will feed on when they emerge from the gravel? We have had such a poor return this year not only here but on other island rivers also.
 Fished way up to the boundary pool. Caught and released numerous cutthroats and one nice resident rainbow around 3 lbs. It is now 1 pm. and I have had the river to myself. What a rare day.
 

[Every Day]

 I fear that their species is in dire straits. The aquatic insects and flora have been wiped out by the devastating flood. I wonder what there offspring will feed on when they emerge from the gravel? We have had such a poor return this year not only here but on other island rivers also.

Not to bash on your report at all, but I'm wondering where you got info that "we've had such a poor return this year... on other island rivers."

This has been the best start to the season I've seen being on the island in the last 6 years. Every high water brings in numerous fish on nearly every river I've fished and have been fishing. Honestly, the only river that hasn't been having a good year from what I've seen, and the reports I've had, has been the Gold (and even then, I haven't heard much in the past 2 weeks and it's very possible it may have picked up). Most rivers that I keep up on have been having their best returns in a long time (some old timers have said best in decades).

Maybe the only problem is indeed that they are just shooting up on every high water to the non-fish-able section. That's the main problem with East Coast flows, all the holding water in the upper rivers are closed, and you need to be very lucky to hit a moving fish in the lower end either during rains (on the bump) or just after the bump within 2 days of the drop.

[islanddude]

 What do you call a good return?
 I am going by my experience on the Quinsam over the last 35 yrs. The river flow at high, medium and low water events. Talk to a lot of fisherman and the hatchery staff and the returns on this system have been poor compared to the last couple of years. The Gold has been low and the reports I have heard are few fish.
 I have heard of a few fish on the Oyster and Puntledge  systems. The Stamp has been good and maybe the Cowichan but they are big systems with the Stamp a hatchery river. I see the Quatse has  a hatchery limit of 1 fish now. When I fished it it was 2.
 There where major floods in the late 80's and early 90's. In 1993 and 1994 the return of steelhead to most island rivers plummeted  and in 1997 they closed all but the hatchery rivers to no steelhead fishing even the Quinsam.
 I fished most rivers on Vancouver Island and quite a few on the mainland from Vancouver to Prince Rupert.
 You are seeing the remnant of the steelhead returning to most rivers here on Vancouver island.
  Lets hope that this flood event we just had is not a repeat of the nineties or you will be just talking about the few fish now that are in our rivers.

[Every Day]

I'm basing the "good returns" on my catching anywhere from 4-12 fish an outing, not only on the Stamp, but a number of others rivers as well (which I obviously won't be posting here). Obviously some rivers will not be doing well or less well than others. As I said, the Gold hasn't been doing that great, which to me is surprising considering what I've seen and heard elsewhere. I'm not doubting your experience on the Quinsam - I was focusing more on the "other island rivers" mentioned in your post (rivers like the Quinsam IMO are toast - urbanized, sedimentation, pollution, etc).

Buddies up North island, and down island as well are reporting the same as I've experienced. Great numbers of fish, most of them are getting 2-4, up to 11 fish per afternoon outing they are doing. Probably not as good as the "good ole days" back in the 80's, but it sure as heck is a positive outlook compared to the last couple of years we've had. The fish are way larger than average this year too, we've hit quite a few now in the 14-18 range.

Hopefully the up trend continues, last season was a real downer.

[islanddude]

 Sure a ray of sunshine to hear that other rivers still are reasonably populated by steelhead.
 The Quinsam is not all that urbanized the big problem is the private lands that it flows through.
  I wonder how many east island rivers took a beating from last Dec's flood.They still have a boil water advisory in effect in Courtenay. Of course the owners of the private lands deny that clear cutting the watershed had any thing to do with it.
 

[islanddude]

I thought it was a trout bite on the first cast. Another cast in the same place and another bite but this was no cutthroat. A fish I would estimate over 15 lbs. flashes up the pool and then jumps clean out of the water and rockets down stream.
 I hadn't fished for about 5 days and wanted to see how low the river was so I just put on my rubbers boats and took my trout rod with me.
 I was standing on the bank above a fair size bush, I had to get around the bush for the water was to deep to wade in the river. Finally got my rod through and around said bush. My line was on the other side of the river, Line was tight to the fish or so I thought. Snagged on a rock or stick? I proceeded to break off when I felt a give in the line. Maybe the fish is free. Nope, Saw it flash under the water and gone.