Another recent report showing the effects of hatchery plant cuts to zero. The writing is on the wall for the future of the hatchery and broodstock steelhead. It's just a matter of time for those rivers that don't have any way to regulate them off the spawning beds..

Keep in mind I fished this river since the mid 1980's, you didn't see wild summer steelhead in it and if you did you might have caught enough to count on one hand from March to July in a year but most were just non-clipped hatchery fish. In that same time frame the wild winter numbers were decimated as well. Oddly, they planted somewhere to the tune of 120k hatchery summer steelhead through the late 90's and about 100-140k hatchery winter steelhead as well but started to reduce plants from the 2000's on and down to near zero for the last 8-10 years.

EFL steelhead numbers

Keith