Given that all the chinook, silvers and chum that enter the Skokomish must come from the salt, how come all the fisherpeople are concentrated on the river from the bridge up into the canyon. Why not fish the mouth?

I guess it would be feasable if you had a boat. I believe that that the land around the mouth is either part of the reservation or is private. Not to mention the fact that it is a slack-water estuary, and is pretty marshy and probably very difficult to wade through the mud. When the fish come in on the tide, they usually scoot right up to the first hole below the bridge before holding up. Unfortunately as well, snaggers like holed-up fish much better than moving ones, so that explains why certain holes are so popular.

I've tried locating fishable water near the mouth, and I haven't found anything to really excite me. The river braids as it hits the Canal, and the channels seem hard to find and figure out. They are shallow, which is part of the problem, I guess. Another discouraging factor is that there is a lot of floating eel grass and lettuce and stuff that would make trolling difficult.

While I think the estuary should be good, I'm not sure how to go about it. I think the best solution might be to run up the river a bit, find a place to anchor and fish bobbers and bait. Maybe trolling a Kwikfish in the very lower river itself would be the ticket. I'd like to give it a whack fairly soon if the silvers ever get there.

the bridge to the gorge is closed to salmon fishing. the reason most people dont fish tidewater is that the access is limited and the north side is indian reservation. that limits you to half as much area. i have seen several people in boats fishing tidewater.