"Skokomish River slob anglers may force the state to shut down salmon fishing on the popular river.

Thousands of salmon anglers flock to this Hood Canal river every August and September to catch one of the earliest chinook salmon runs of the fall.

But a lot – not all, but more than enough – of those anglers are slobs.

They dump their trash, fast-food wrappers, beer cans, monofilment line, lure packaging and worse right along the river.

They can’t be bothered to walk to the nearby portable toilets, so they defecate and urinate along the river banks.

The state Department of Health said “human waste from sport fishers” was why the shellfish beds, owned by the Skokomish Tribe, must be closed.

I stopped by the river on Friday, and the stench was clear before I even stepped out of my car. "

Get the Story:
Chester Allen: Skokomish River slobs, putrid conditions soil anglers’ image (The Olympian 9/1)

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