Some of the rivers I was thinking about are the Columbia tributaries like the Wind, Klickitat, White Salmon, which, statistically, does real well for summer runs. Do any of you fish these rivers on a regular basis? I have never spent any time in that area, and none of my friends fish down there either.
As for the Grande Ronde being crowded, I hear people saying that, but when I am over there, that never seems to be a problem. Last year I spent 2 different weeks over there, both in the stretch around Boggans, and was surprised with how few people there were. I actually think that nowadays, the Skagit is more crowded on most January weekends. My time on the Ronde was during the week, maybe that makes a difference