I cannot argue against the visceral response that Todd had. I had the same initial feelings. It is so abhorant, so blatant, the purposeful illegal actions taken by some of those with rods and reels on the Skok, that to imagine a Genesis flood sweeping away the human detritus on that river is to provide ones self with some disturbing sense of justice. Fire and flames, plague and pestilence, nothing would be too much for the poachers who haunt that river which springs from the nightmares of Thomas Hobbes.

And then I took a deep breath and sat myself down someplace cool and shaded. Turning my back on such a place won't solve anything. It would be as effective as refusing to vote, and expecting some dramatic change to occur because of it. The Skokomish is the main reason I joined the LE advisory group. It is the reason Aug 19th I'll be doing 3 hours of river clean up in the afternoon, alone if need be. My shining armor is tarnished. My sword rusted in its sheath. But if clinging to my sense of idealism makes me look the fool, so be it.

It would not take an army to return the Skok to something resembling civility. One of the smaller, more notorious holes, the one right at the bend of the Skok where it meets Purdy Creek, right upstream of the pool where most of the kings are snagged, I held that corner on a Sunday morning from 9 am until 1 pm. I invited 5, 6, maybe 7 guys to either share my bait, and quit ripping hooks through the pool of fish sitting in front of me, or if they insisted on snagging fish that they would need to move along. Only one guy even spoke to me. The rest just picked up and left. The one guy who stayed actually stuck around and fished. I'm not sure I'd be so bold again without holstering a bullet launcher. But for a morning during the better part of the run, the salmon in my pool laid quiet and almost undisturbed. And though I lost both the fish I hooked, there was still a sense of accomplishment. A sense that something desirable was possible.

Todd, If you want to see what a quarter mile of a walk will buy you on the Skok, follow along with me. I will put you out of sight of any fishers, or snaggers. You can crouch low on a tidewater channel, watching as the wakes of 3 dozen kings swims towards you. Pick up your 8 weight and shoot a quick cast ahead of them, letting the small streamer swing in front of the pack. And when you've hooked 3 or 4 kings on a fly in a late evening, maybe you'll understand. I think you already do.

I'm going to keep trying. The alternative, which is to do nothing,is to surrender another river to waste, to neglect, to a mindset that has no respect for rules or ethics, it is to surrender and give up something precious. We've surrendered enough waters. I will not surrender this one.

VHawk