Well here is my take on the demise of steelhead.....

Gregoire: Merge state agencies that oversee parks, fish and wildlife, 1994/95

It has been down hill since that time......Upper management of the new agency were from a Salmon background and were pro commercial. Steelhead were a sports fish, just didn't fit in with a commercial philosophy.

NT fishermen couldn't gill net on a sports fish, steelhead, so over the years hatcheries produced more salmon and less steelhead.....got to feed the commercial interests.

Steelhead, might have had a chance....but tribal increased gill netting, hatchery and native steelhead were just a "fish". OP rivers, Hoh, Queets, Quinault, Humptulips, Wynoochee, Satsop all have seen decreased runs of steelhead, native steelhead have suffered the most.

North of Falcon allows sportsmen to have a say during the process on Salmon......THERE ARE NO STATE RUN MEETINGS WHERE SPORTSMEN HAVE ANY SAY ON STEELHEAD.....so the State/WDFW has dropped the ball on steelhead in Washington State......lots of hatchery space for salmon, not so for steelhead......commercial vs. sports.....

Glad I lived and fished before the Bolt Decision, before the merger of Wildlife and salmon, before there was a dam of the Wynoochee....my sons got some good days fishing but my 5 grand kids will not have the same chance...…...grrrrrrrrrrrrrr