Making a river as big as the Skagit "fly only" and "no boats" doesn't make much sense. And Johnny beat me to it; the only accessible fish would be those sitting on redds in the margins of tailouts in April and May.

And since the tailouts are the only accessible reaches for bug tossers, there wouldn't be many conflicts with boat traffic, so why exclude them. And why would you need a lottery for such a hugh river. Oh yeah, because everyone would be crammed into the tailouts. Too much of the resource would be wasted from a users view. Why manage a river of this size when so little of it could be utilized.

Now if the North Fork Stilly were to go fly only year round, I could go for that. I rarely have the opportunity to go after winter brats with the bug rod. C&R of wild fish should be a given.

[This message has been edited by obsessed (edited 11-17-2000).]