After last week out west I can confirm that the future is not conventional gear or Washington state anglers. At the take out on the "Q" river were 3 Montana 2 Idaho and 1 Colorado 2 Washington plates. There may have been a few ahead of me but as far as I know most were fly angling. Middle upper "H" was much the same story out of state plates and guilds. I really don't think a bait ban is nessisary it's naturally being phased out by current evolution much as retention did a few years back. Pretty much everybody just quit bonkin em and have switched to fly gear.
The bright spot was the lower Quinault, water was perfect and a fair number of fish. 4 of the 8 were hatchery that were all low to middle teens. Too bad THAT can't be what the future looks like for Washington state.