( clouds part, sun beams in) sigh. you are preachin to the choir mang. Yeah i got zippers. caught my first 20 lbs in a zipper. then everyone told everyone about it and its F****** loaded with yay-hoo's. another zipper i have had 15 summer fish days. not a sole around. hahaha hyes vince is the king of research and exploring. But man are his spots awesome. Most ppl arent as dedicated as most of us on here. they dont have time to do hard research on the internet or calling hatcherey's ( yeah, done that) or they are just plain lazy. thats why you keep it " in-house" I know that i can tell Vince every spot i know and not worry about it turning into a zoo. pick your fishing partners.


One of my zippers was the best river all around for steelhead. little river pretty local. then it started to turn into the owlitz with every other yay-hoo comin out. shoot, the small parking area would be packed an hour before dawn. I just shook my head. then one day i was fishing on the SkookumSKunk river and these three guys were just Blabber mouthing this river in loud voices in front of 10 or so yay- hoo's


i walked over to him and asked him how he found out about that river. As directions can be tricky, you pretty much have to drive someone there to show them hoe to get there. In fact i am personally responsible for tearing out some signs that ppl put up to create directions to get there. He said some guy told him about it and took him and a couple of his buddies down there and they hooked a bunch of fish. I said

" dude, do you fish the cowlitz?"
"yeah"

" do you enjoy the crowds?"

"F888 no!!, pain in the ass jet sleds and bank maggotts you spend more time tying up from the sleds and other bankies then you do hang up on the bottom"

" So why are you just shouting about a nice river with low crowds?"

" uhhhhh... just talkin with my buddies about how good of fishing it was."

in a quiet voice " Well thats why that river is packed full of ppl now. ppl like you telling everyone and there brother about this "hot" river has turned it into a zoo. do you know i used to fish that and be THE ONLY PERSON on the river??"

" no way, your kidding me, theres alot of ppl on that first stretch by the parking lot."

" yeah i know, i spent alot of time driving these loggin roads and callin hatcherey's and internet research to find this road and river. Now its the mini cowlitz. "

" wow"

"yeah"

" So i would appriciate it if you could keep your success to yourself. Unless you like crowds."

" I guess i never thought about it"