I couldnt agree more with Curt's comments. I have fished SRC's for nearly 30 years in area 13. The fishery has changed tremendously in that time. While there are still good numbers of fish, there are alot more good fisherman chasing after them. The internet, tackle shops promoting the fishery, fishing clubs and guides doing the same, have increased the knowledge and shortened the learning curve for people learning the sport. In my experience with SRC's, the adage that 10% of the water holds 90% of the fish could not be more true. I have noticed an exponential increase in the fishing pressure in some of the areas that I fish. In the South Sound, the "good old days" were about 15-20 years ago, just long enough after catch and release was initiated for all year classes to rebound. Alot of big fish, and not many people after them.

I was fishing an area that gets pretty heavy pressure a few years ago with the standard clousers, spiders, poppers, tubes etc and could not get bit. Fish were working candlefish hard right on the beach. I happened to have some frozen candlefish that I had dipped a few months back in the freezer at home. I went back to the same beach the next evening and fished it with flies-nada once again except for a few foot longs. I rigged up some candlefish on my spinning rod and simply could not believe the results; I landed 10 SRC's over 18" with the biggest taping at 23", from the same exact piece of water. This proved to me that these fish can get a lot more educated then most people give them credit for; although not too surprising when you learn how old some of these fish are-