I have not fished this river in about 20 years. The first time I went down there, everybody used floats and most caught fish including me. Must have been about 92 or 93 as I hit it quite a bit while attending class at USC (University of Skagit County). I was young and thought it was great; big chrome, hard fighting fish. I didn't care about the crowds, the muck, the smell of tidal flats or lack of current.

The next year when I showed up, everybody had switched to no floats as they fished eggs right on the bottom. Most folks caught fish, I saw very few obvious snaggers. From one year to the next, 95% of the people fishing switched from floats to no floats. It was like there was a memo sent out to everybody that I didn't get. In order to go along with the crowds, I took the float off.

I have not fished there since but have often wanted to go back after hearing conditions improved but I'm not sure I could deal with the crowds now. Either way, fish can be caught on either method. It sounds like this was a measure put in place by WDFW to address a social issue, not a biological one.