I think that one thing that has to be recognized is that salmon are one fish and steelhead are another. The reason you have so many snaggers during salmon season are these two reasons. First salmon tend to pile up in specific holes due to lower water conditions or there destination being reached (a hatchery). The second reason people snag salmon is that they are tougher of the two to catch (salmon, steelhead). You can stress all you want about snaggers, but the problem is they will always be out snagging, and the reason these people choose to snag is the lack of education they have about catching salmon legally. So if you're going to ***** about snaggers take it upon yourself to show them that these kegged up defenseless salmon will bite.
As for steelhead, the only rivers you'll ever see me post about are the larger rivers ie. North Fork of the lewis, Cowlitz, etc. Steelhead are much more aggresive fish and typically your average person will catch most of the biters on the smaller creeks. The last thing that I will say as mentioned earlier is about your confidence level. If you are confident in yourself and your abilities to catch fish you'll never worry about being the first to a hole, or the first person down a river in a boat. You will become a better fisherman over time when you fish on pressured fish and face the facts with the #'s of people that fish the pacific NW, any river or creek you decide to get up and fish tomorrow or this week or whatever will have some sort of pressure.
Keith