Cracker, the Sky is also my "home" river. I like it so much I moved from the Shoreline area to Monroe. As far as getting past the cracker stage I'm sure your doing one of the best things and that is practice, practice, practice etc. One thing I suggest is maybe spend a little money and go with a guide for one trip. I highly recommend Rod Bush or Sam Ingram both who know the Sky like the back of their hands. There are many other qualified guides for the Sky also. Tell the guide what areas you need work on and they'll be glad to teach you better technique.
If you want to get even more involved, join a club. Our Chapter (Sky Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited) has many fishers who specialize on the Sky and once you get to know them, they'll take you for a drift for free and let you pick their brains (what's left of them anyway.)
Our Chapter was also a major factor in helping with the Reiter budget problems this last time around and we also co-op a small coho hatchery with the Seattle Poggie Club that puts out about 50,000 FIN-CLIPPED coho a year. We can get you involved in other habitat restoration projects like Haskell Slough which opened up 3 miles of off-channel rearing habitat for coho, steelhead and summer chinook.
We meet on the third Tuesday of the month at 7:00 PM in Monroe. If you want more info or Rod or Sam's phone #s, e-mail me at gbeezer@aol.com.

Gary Bee
President of the Sky Valley Chapter