SkaGuy
I would like to thank you for fixing the fence too. That was a very kind jesture.

I have fished the skok for aslong as I can remember and only in the last few years has it begun to get really bad.(in my opinion) Before the skok reopened to kings about three or four years ago no one ever fished there. my dad used to take me down there to go trout fishing by hunters when the kings were running and we would watch hunders pass by.

Now when the river first reopened there was about a three week period where it was just a few local fisherman on the river fishing for the kings and then the News Tribune published "Skok Kings in and its red hott." after that the snaggers showed up and the fun was over.
For the most part the snaggers that are down on the skok are from seattle or tocoma(sp) Now I am not saying that all of the people down there are but most. I like to fish that river I grew up on it. Its almost like a second home to me and I hate to see it being destroyed(sp) by snaggers of any race.
I tend to be a smart ass on the river and my dad can atest to that and I have a tendancy to say things to the people who are snagging and most of the time they try to lie there way out of it but it is really hard when you say some thing like "Damn your gettin Bites every cast, man there must be a ton of fish in there" or "Wow All those hook sets and not a damn thing? you might want to let them bite instead of trying to tail hook them" Yea I do get alot of dirty looks but they usualy stop or just leave and then its back to me and the river and a few natives.

Some people on the skok think that they own the river and they are not even indians Ex.
Last year my dad and a few friends and I were out fishing and it was getting late in the morning. My dad had already caught his limit and I was jsut a fish shy so I decied to stay alittle longer well we were fishing a a hole that was jam packed with people and some smart A$$ from another hole up above saw my dad leaving and so he proceed to walk down.
This guy was about 6'1 and alot ugly'r then RT if you can picture that and he had worst taste in clothing then RT anyways back to my story
As he was doing so my dad was nice and polite and told him it was not a good idea to go down there because of what he was wearing. The guy then asked what was wrong with his clothing and my dad told him it was to bright and that he would spook all the fish. then man then told him he was wearing the same type of clothing everyone else was and my dad said everyone is wearing dark green to black down there and your wearing kackie those colors dont seem to be anything alike.
Well the guy was getting alittle hot by then and he said something esle to my dad and he kinda got alittle excited he told the out of towner that "Its A$$holes like you who ruin the river for every one else and I am leaving!" the guy said its a good thing your leaving and my dad stopped dead in his tracks droped his gear turned around and asked "WHAT" the man then started to walk off.
Well after my dad was out of sight the out of towner started to walk back down to where I was fishin and he was about to try to wiggle down in by me and there was about a three foot gap between me and the guys on either side. I turned around and asked him if he wanted a fish hook in his ear. He gave me a dumb look like you wouldnt dare and then he started to walk towards me again so I whipped my big glob of eggos by his head. I think he got the point after that cuz he walked down the river about a 100 yards or so and started to snag again. These are the kind of people who really get me going on the skok now dont get me wrong if your an out of towner and you are fishing legaly I have no problem with you its just those people who snag that get my blood flowin.

When you combined the tribe in with all that the river becomes a war zone. Some of the tribal members(sp) have the mentalty(sp) that its their river and they can do what ever they please when ever they please and if some one gets in their way then there is going to be hell to pay.

Ex. I was fishing for kings last year when a bunch of little kids started to toss rocks right where I was fishing and I asked them to stop and then out of the brush comes this big indian he started to rant and rave and yelling at the top of his lungs at me. Telling me that his kids can do what ever they want and if I have a problem with it I would have to deal with him. well I told him to swim his Happy a$$ over so we could discuss it like men and he threw his beer at me and we exchanged a few words then he heard my last name and was off. Now with experences like that most people would not want to go back to that river but Like I said it is a second home to me and so I will fish that river and I will not take $h!t from anyone there that I dont know. you said lead by example and I follow my father.

I would gladly fish other parts of western washington for kings but its kinda hard when you dont have a boat or a rig to get from place to place.
I am no where close to home right now so I have no clue how the sitution with the natives is going but I can guess that its not well.

Just my $.02
Dances out

[ 08-12-2001: Message edited by: danceswithfish ]

[ 08-13-2001: Message edited by: danceswithfish ]