You can add Kings on the Sol Duc & other Forks area rivers to the list. When I say that to younger or newer fisher people over there, some look at me like I'm nuts. Had the conversation with a 30+ year Forks guide on Friday. Not nearly the # or size for the last 15 years +. He said the main attraction used to be the Kings. Now it's Coho. And if last year is any indication, Coho could be going down hill ass well.

20 years ago an oldtimer, (he was in his eightys then) told me that by the time I got as old as him (not quite there yet) that I would be fishing for trout sized salmon. He appears to maybe be right. I have seen fifty pound plus salmon in Wa State but not latley.

Remember freinds catching steel head in creeks back in the early 60's around DesMoines, millers creek, and some others. The cedar river was a favorite, Green River always had steelhead. We fished fresh water bay, Sequim, Port townsend in the 70's always catching large salmon. My dad and uncles all had boats and every one fished, WestPort was always a destination for the clan in the 60's. As a youngster in the 50's we lived in Marble mountain on the skagit and during the King runs we had to be escorted outside cuz of the bears feasting on Kings that were bigger then me. Oh back in the days!!
Its sad to see the decline in salmon.
I have made 3 trips to cathlamet this month and have caught 3 keeper Springers for 9 days of fishing, it totally sucks. I have seen very few fish being caught???????????

It just isn't fish.
I can recall getting limits of crabs without having to use a pot. Just walk a eel grass flat and it was easy limits using a shovel handle with a loop covered with chicken wire.
We had many a big seafood cookout on a friends property on the canal. Geoducks, oysters, steamers, crabs and salmon all on the same day.
Some of the best times I ever spent with my folks and brother.

That is an awesome picture, thanks for sharing dude.





Tyler

Don't be eating those cutts.....

All those things are still here just like the fish, just not nearly in the abundance they were when I was a youngster in the 60's.

Godammit! this thread is depressing! when I first started salmon fishing in the 80's the tillamook kings were very thick, you could see salmon boiling in every tail out....Tidewater fishing in the 90's was epic to say the least.. now, not so much

Where the fuckk is the prozac??

Heck, I'm one of the young guys and it wasn't very long ago when MA6 halibut was open for months. Down to 12 days now.

My favorite fishing was March on the Skagit/Sauk and the Samish. I would give up any other fishery to get them back.

Dave, I used to to bs. alot with Floyd Remlinger when I would park at the farm. His fishing buddy for years, who I lived next to in Preston was Ed Stevenson, who was "the man" on the raging river. Did you know that Floyd won that farm in a poker game. I didnt know Floyd fished spoons, all I ever saw them use was eggs. My parents were best friends with Pete Howe and his family on the David Powell road and he taught me the art of spoons. Oh those were the days, but I still have the bug!

Nate

That is fascinating info. I had no idea he won the farm in a poker game. I saw him several times up where I fished, several miles from the mouth, at what was called The Cabin Hole. Everytime I saw him he had a pocket full of spoons. That would have been around 1979 plus or minus a few years.


I would love to fish that hole again, but its all private property now. I still fish the old car body hole every year just for old times sake. I haven't caught a fish there in years, but still enjoy that run and all the memories . .

Tight lines.

like brad, i too am just a young gun.

i remember fishing the sol duc just 10 years ago and how many chrome steelhead we caught in april and may fishing for springers.

this year holy crap not even there yet and the season feels over already.



the places i cherish that are left and fishing, i rarely ever even mention to most friends. in fact i often avoid or defuse any discussion about them sometimes.

Chum runs on the Skagit sure aren't what they were 10 years ago.

If you thought the Tillamook king fishing was epic in the 90's, you should have experienced it in the 70's and 80's.

Watching chrome kings in every small feeder creek that dumped in to the Wilson, Trask and Kilchis rivers was a yearly pastime. Then there were the chums in November, you could walk miles up the Kilchis and never see the bottom of the river because there were so many chums.

To say that numbers are low now would be a huge understatement. The saddest part is, nobody comes close to realizing haw bad things really are in the Tillamook area.

I would have loved to have seen the Big Narrows back then.....

Rivers all up and down the coast have all but collapsed as well.

Cannot help but wonder if a 5 year closer would help matters...?

The worst part about nobody realizing what has been lost is that it is led by those responsible for managing and restoring the runs.

They will probably say that conditons have changed so much (and some have) that it would be impossible to come close to those numbers.

While we may not be able to get back to 1850s numbers, or 1750s, we can do a whole lot better than we are doing now.

This is a truthfully depressing thread, and shows some of us younger fishers what we truely missing, you guys are right on when you say that we dont know any better because to us it has always been this way for us... I would love to have a chance to be able to fish some of the sound rivers and streams in march and april in the 70's when there were still lots of fish. unfortunately those days wont happen for me, but as i have only been fishing hard for ten years or so i have some more recent memories that may never happen again like fishing the small north coast rivers and streams the last two weeks in february, which are all closed that time of year save one. I also work in this industry which to me feels wonderful being out on the rivers or in the sound on a near daily basis is what i live for but it also exposes me to the ugly truth , that these once magnificent abundent runs of salmon and steelhead are just a way to create revinue for those who are really managing/ regulating .

While not like the old days, its not all bad news...

Pink returns in PS are at historic peaks.

Columbia smelt returns are the highest seen in many years.

Chinook returns in coastal OR are slowly responding to increased escapement.

Sea-run cutthroat are doing fine in most of Puget Sound.

Silver fishing in PS was actually pretty decent last year.

Shrimping opportunity increases this year in most areas.

Razor clamming has been excellent.

You can still dig a nice pot of steamers if you know where to go.

Was it just the Cowlitz or the Columbia too that had the horrible return a few years ago? Why the rebound or collapse?

I've been 12 years strong here on this site...

Had someone told me when I first joined hatchery fish were the demise of native fish I'd have laughed them outta the thread...

I'll say this today and it hurts like a bitch saying it as most really don't want to believe it... The hatchery fish are the demise of the native fish.

Examples:

NF Lewis River fall kings - no hatchery supplementation in over 25 years, run is still strong with 21 river miles of habitat with nearly 1.5-2x the escapement returned over most of those years.

Other SW WA rivers have had MAJOR hatchery steelhead plant reductions and those rivers in recent years have had amazing winter native returns compared to the 1990's-2000's...

Coincidence, perhaps but I'm becoming a believer...

Keith