Hats off to you. People like that will ruin the opportunity for them self and all of us legal guys. I am going out tomorrow for the 1st time ever.

Patience pays off...

if the guy is down there, and you get there right at 6, and you "report" there is nothing anyone is gonna do, he could just say yup i came down here with them. so unless someone is down there and catched him in the act you cant do anything. in all reality

Rules on private property have to be respected or everyone loses.
In my young,stupid days I used to sneak out on Dr.McKinnes dock on lk sutherland.When I did I brought a garbage bag and a trunk of firewood.Before i fished I'd clean up the area and pile the wood beside his cabin.By the end of summer he had over 2 cord of wood.
One day he came down and caught me,Told me I was welcome to use his dock and appreciated me cleaning up,but please don't leave anymore wood,I have electric heat.
Since coming of age,I always ask permission and rarely am turned down,always clean up and appreciate the privilege of enjoying a day on the river.

Maybe he had permission from the Corey to walk in from down below? Then he could come in whenever he wants?

Don't remember seeing that guy with a fish, so maybe cheating not the way to go....a little courtesy goes a long way out there and most are pretty good about it...fishing was no better downriver, was there all alone, not a bite from a big fish ( jist a 10" steelie) and used at least three methods....low pressure kills the bite, wonder if it got better later as the weather got better, was supposed to .........

What did the guy look like?

From what I understand, even if you come from down below you're still not allowed to be in the Reiter fishing area (basically the hatchery area, creek area, etc.) until after 6:00am. I don't want to give a description of the guy, so as to ruin his reputation, but he knows who he is, and hopefully he'll abide by the rules like the rest of us. To be straight forward, in a way, justice was served for him that morning because, about his 3rd or 4th cast, he hooked into a nice size hen (maybe 7-8 lbs), and he was fighting it, and about 10-15 feet from the shore, the fish broke his leader line and sent the led weight flying directly into his face... within 10 minutes his eye was almost completely swollen shut. I sort of felt sorry for the guy, but hey, Kharma's a #%@&*, right? He went home empty handed, and really only able to see out of one eye, and probably had a really bad head ache, ha :) Sorry buddy

Well if im not mistaken (maybe i am) If your within the flood level of the river it wouldnt matter. I think its no trespassing through the hatchery. They dont own the river. But Im not 100% percent on that one.

Ya I can't say that I'm 100% sure how the trespassing rule applies, and where the boundaries are (if they even exist). But I know that in the past years, everyone always formed a line and entered the parking lot area right at 6:00am, and no one was at the fishing area until that time, as well. I do know that typically (usually, but not always), the fishermen that arrive to the river first will have a fish on within a few minutes. It's been a 1st or 2nd cast for myself many times, and then the fish tend to spook and scatter when they see 3 or 4 of there friends fleeing for their lives and leaping through the air while attached to a fishing line. So if someone happens to arrive at, lets say 5:00am, there's a whole group of "unspooked", "calmed down" steelies just waiting for a nice bright corkie, or jig or cluster of eggs to come drifting in front of them. If it were legal for anyone to be there before everyone else had a chance to, the odds would be for them that they'd hook into a fish, and the odds would be against the rest of us that are waiting patiently by the sign, and arrive at the fishing spot in attempt to catch a group of "already spooked" steelehead. They're a difficult fish to catch as it is, but i think that it's only fair for everyone to have access to the same odds of catching one. Otherwise I'd be there every morning at 4:30am jolly as can be, probably having a fish landed before any other fisherman even has a chance to roll out of bed. Again, I am not 100% certain that no one is allowed there before 6:00am, but if that's the case, then i stand corrected and I'd like legitimate information to prove that I could fish there anytime before then. That would be quite nice to be able to do, I must say (legally) :)

I agree with Jay Zee. If you want to fish earlier than anybody else, then fish the highway side or down river. If you want to fish the ponds, then wait like everybody else. If you have a favorite rock, then get to the sign earlier, and wait until 6. I can think of only 1 reason why somebody feels that they need to cheat.

I fished the hi way side Saturday and saw no one on the ponds side until the crowd showed up at six.

Well, this was on the morning of July 20th, which is Friday, so whether the same incident happened on Saturday morning as well, I'm not sure. But anyways, to give an answer to my own statement about not knowing what the boundaries are before 6:00am (yes, they do exist), I arrived at the sign again this morning and waitied for 6:00am to come around. I guess I never realized that, maybe, if I were to read the sign that we always stop and park in front of before entering the parking lot, then my question would be answered (duhh...). Sure enough, the sign, (with the " Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife" logo on the bottom left-hand corner) clearly states that all the "parking area", and any part of the river that is "1,500 feet above the hatchery stream", or "1,000 feet below the stream", are all closed from "DUSK UNTIL 6:00AM"! If you can't read this comment well enough, then get in your car and drive to the sign yourself (with all due respect), place your glasses on your nose, and read the larger print of the sign (which will clearly justify that what I'm saying is 100% true). So there's no excuse for myself, or anyone, to be trespassing in that area, at any time. I hope this will clear up any confusion. Good Luck!