Mike -
great to hear that there are good numbers of kings in the Skagit. However before you get too excited about lost opportunities you may wish to check some facts.

While there are decent numbers of hatchery spring chinook in the Skagit (2004 forecast was 2,116 hatchery and 1,168 spring chinook) there are relatively very few hatchery summer/fall chinook in the Skagit (the fish you are seeing rolling now in the middle river- the springs are all up river spawning right now. The 2004 forecast for summer/fall fish was 461 hatchery and 20,354 wild - would not say that the river is exactly full of hatchery fish (97% wild). While the above figures are just forecasts and the actual run will likely be different the relative % between hatchery/wild should be about the same.

Regarding the coho fishing starting on the 16th - unless are ok with keeping wild fish you will likely have to sort through a fair number of wild fish for each hatchery one - forecast 22,788 hatchery and 155,814 wild. Or nealry 7 wild coho for each hatchery and that is before any of the selective fisheries in the salt.

Tight lines
S malma