Eric ... guess what? Things are just going to get worse. As fishing opportunities decline around the state's population base, people are going to look elsewhere. The Seattle metro population has nearly doubled in the last 25 years. As south sound populations explode, you're going to see a huge increase in pressure down your way.

F&H News has been around a long time, so has STS, so was the TV show 'Fishing the West'. How many countless other articles and reports have their been? How long have the Seattle papers given a report for out here? A long time

Publicity for the coastal rivers has been around a long time, longer than either of us have been fishing them. I honestly don't think that (with perhaps the exception of some very small waters that no one ever knew about) you can pinpoint the major increases in pressure solely to any form of discussion about them. As one who spends hundreds of days on the water, I've seen what I'd call a "selective increase" in pressure.

Opportunities that cease to exist in one area shift pressure to another, reopenings or renewed opportunitues serve to relieve it.

Cases in point: hatchery steelhead traffic on the N. coastal rivers has decreased since I've been fishing out here, despite all the hub-bub you point out; our recent full C&R season here on the coast saw a sharp decline in outside traffic. Coincidence? Doubtful, fishing was outstanding that whole native season and plenty of people knew about it, yet, with the same regs as other areas, meat / trophy hunters stayed in their local areas. Did you see an immediate decrease in traffic on the Hump with the king / wild silver closures a few years back? Any coincidence that the Queets saw a large increase, especially in the upper end, when it was pulled off of C&R last year?

That being said, I don't like seeing "fish behind this rock in this hole" discussion ... it's one of the reason that with the sole exception of well-known terminal areas that I don't put such information in my reports ... a little info doesn't hurt, we've all been in need of it at one time or another, but you gotta walk a fine line My $.02.