Did you all know that there are 50% fewer steelhead fishermen today than there were in 1968? According to the official WDFW data, there were 202,750 steelhead permits sold in 1968, and only 83,142 permits sold in the 1998 - 1999 season! The same decline is true for Salmon permits.

I have seen several people complaining about crowded rivers in the past few weeks, and they all refer to the "good old days" as being less crowded. Since there were so many more steelhead fishermen back then, I find it hard to imagine that the rivers are more crowded today than they were back then.

I'd love to hear what you all think on this topic. Is this a case of fewer fishermen on more rivers? Did the majority of the fishermen only fish the "meat holes" back then? I'll bet Blue Creek and Reiter were real zoos back then!

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Steel-Addicted