Opening day and late in the season are like night and day. There are fish around both times but people have this illusion that they will likely be the first one out to snare the easy fish on the opener. Now, you get 300 boats and bankies thinking identically and you have a mob scene, litterally, that frankly, isn't very fun to fish.

What boggles my mind is that guys pursue this mob scene knowing full well thats what they'll be greeted by. The wynoochee has not been "red hot" by any stretch of the imagination on any recent opener. Yes, fish are caught but there simply aren't the numbers to constitute this percieved guarantee at catching fish and it's hard to understand what draws the huge numbers of people.

There are many rivers that have better openers.

Maybe there's just a new generation of fishermen out there who don't know any different and are content to fish under those conditions. I don't know that that's what constitutes a good day for me. I'd rather explore in relative solitude for fewer fish on lesser known, unpublicized rivers-they're out there!