In my opinion, the Satsop is no zipper, and I don't go there looking for solitude. This reminds me of the day I drove down to the Satsop one October day in 1992, after having moved back to the area. I fished the Satsop a lot in 68, 69, and 70. By 1992 it had become a lot more popular. I drove by all my former haunts, from the mouth to Shafer Park, where I ran into a guy I knew from Issaquah. I asked him what he was doing way down here when he had such good rivers near home (there were at least 20 rigs parked at Shafer). He said it was well worth the drive to come and C&R a bunch of chums in a day - and less crowded than Hoodsport, in his opinion. I told him I'd driven up and down the entire river that day and counted more fishing rigs parked at the usual spots than I'd seen in all of three years back when I fished it regularly. And no one I knew ever fished for chums on purpose - anywhere. I only knew of fishing the Satsop for cutthroat, silvers, and steelhead. It was the first time I ever parked at Shafer when there was another vehicle there, if that's an indication of its increasing popularity - or my increasing age. And no one was learning about it on the internet, either.

Seems interesting that the fishing isn't as good as "it used to be," but there are ten times as many people out there doing it. So what does it mean to say a river cannot take the pressure? That too many surplus hatchery salmon will be caught? Or the quality of the experience is diminished because of the crowds?

Sincerely,

Salmo g.