Fireman ... you bring up an important point: "...when they started keeping records."

H2O mentions discussions from old timers in the Forks area. Several members of our Guides' Association have been fishing these rivers for more than double the timeframe in which we currently have record for.

Their "stories" of fishing from yesteryear shed more light upon the long-term changes in the runs on the Forks-area rivers. Unfortunately, since records were never kept, we only have the many stories of how many fish, where, how big, etc.

Fewer people is not going to happen. As other runs in the state have fallen by the wayside, anglers have shifted to toher streams that still have some sort of run going ... so we can throw that by the wayside.

No nets? Not in our lifetime. It's quite conceivable though that through a lengthy process to re-assess our management goals and keep tribal harvest to where it should be as madated by the Boldt Decision. So let's throw that one out.

What's left for a management option to support more and more angler days without the harvest going through the roof? Hmmm, it starts with C ...

"Wealthy out of state folk on guided boats ..."

An interesting comment that may perhaps reflect your unfamiliarity with the situation. While I don't know of any source of exact information on this source, I'd likely think that our clientele base in terms of where they come from is pretty much the same as any other guide service in the area. Where do these folks call home? In steelhead season over 90% are from Washington State.

One can only hope that the Quillayute graph will not represent the Skagit graph in another 20 years. If it does, many a business that many may currently know in the Forks area will no longer exist.

We'll see C&R seasons only in the few years that runs may be strong to enough to support the mortality of the fishery ... maybe every other year ... so don't make any vacation plans.

Will they hire any 50 year-olds as firefighters? Hopefully, since I too, would be be looking for a new line of work ... although I may have more fun in court suing the pants off a number of establishments that seemed to think these fisheries could never cease to be healthy