Bent -

Western Washington will NEVER reach the quality of in-river trout fishing that the warmer dry states do. Scouring floods, little sunshine and cold summers equals pretty much zero in-river bug life here. That's Ma Nature's call and has nothing to do with what the WDFW does or doesn't do. That's why the Yak is about the best this state will ever offer. Controlled flows and HOT during the summer to grow the bugs big and juicy. That's ALL of the rivers in the dry states. God, I miss banging Hoppers into the grass on a hot summer evening.

I'm jealous of all the guys that were raised here and got to fish for Salmon and Steelhead during the "good old days", but during that time I was pounding to CO / WY / MT / UT Blue and Gold Medal waters (and zippers that were and still are....just mind boggling). I remember one backpacking trip where I set up on an alpine lake and stream and proceeded to land over (500+) 14" - 18" Brookies in a single day without another soul in sight for 25 miles. So conversely, I've had some guys from here get jealous of me and my "good old days". Simply put, there is no comparison for regular trout fishing. So the guys that want that are going to leave the state. You might as well wish we had better Marlin fishing up here so guys don't travel to Kona or Key West. You go to where the fish you want to catch are. Which is why Washington is no longer a true S&S destination state and everyone goes to Alaska (to catch our fish that should be caught here).

I'm just kinda pissed because I SPECIFICALLY moved here just to fish for BIG ocean going fish, which I couldn't do growing up in CO. I just hit the very, very end tail of it. I've seen a HUGE difference between 2005 and now. I should have kept going further north I guess....