Great thread Steel! It sure seems evident while sampling many rivers over the course of the year that whatever is hot also draws the masses. I suspect that itlCLEO's point has excellent merit!
More people back in the day coupled with spread out fishing opportunities left the illusion of having solitude for the most part. An interesting comparison could be made with data from fishermen to hatchery output ratios from today to match up with those good old days.

Less people are fishing even fewer producing rivers...
Could the cycle ultimately result in nobody fishing as productive rivers have become a thing of folklore! Our current path of riding this out of control spiral will leave many wondering at what point could we have finally put the greed aside and righted the sinking ship.

If the state has chosen not to further fund the stocking of hatchery fish over the vast selection of already diluted ecosystems for purposes of saving native fish why not designate a group of rivers where native runs are non existent and increase opportunities there in a fashion that would give an equal shot to everyone over a spread out field.

Just my .02 and hoping not to get smolted!


FJ...out.