I live in Bellingham and do 90% of my salmon fishing in BC. Yes, there are fisheries in the lower 48 that are very well funded - but these fisheries are largely funded by the dams that destroyed the salmon habitat to begin with. Up until just a couple years ago, you could still legally kill wild steelhead in some Washington rivers. Nearly all of our native Chinook runs are endangered, and most of our Steelhead runs as well. They allow the retention of "wild" coho on most rivers down here because they realize the wild stocks are really already gone anyway - so they don't even bother to fin clip coho on some rivers. There is very little public shore access on most of our rivers, and a few more boat launches really can't make up for that fact as most people can't afford a river boat anyway.
Flossing is not legal in WA but is an accepted fact on many rivers and streams anyway (Whatcom Creek chum, Samish River chinook, Puyallup river for all salmon) and is pretty common on most rivers with sufficient current down here, even if it is disguised as a more legitimate method of angling like side drifting or drifting a pegged bead. And I believe flossing sockeye in the modern Fraser river style most closely resembles how they are sport caught on the Kenai river in Alaska as well - in addition to dip netting. Don't forget they also frequently have legal snag fisheries in Alaska for salmon where you are allowed to rip weighted treble hooks through large schools of salmon indiscriminately.
On the freshwater side of things, most boat launches down here require either a Fish & Wildlife Permit (which you pay for when you buy a fishing license) or a Discover Pass (which is an annual pass for Washington State Parks). I was really disappointed when they instituted the Discover Pass system as it really bothers me that we must pay to visit our own State Parks. And I have never heard of a saltwater boat launch down here that is free.
Yes, BC is growing quickly, but it still has amazing fisheries. That is why you will continue to see US boats lined up at the border heading north to fish, and why you so rarely see people coming the other way to fish. And thank you for having us!