Originally Posted By: Lifter99
It is interesting that while most of the rivers in WA are closed for winter steelhead the rivers in Oregon remain open. I have it from reliable sources in Oregon that fishing had been quite good and is expected to be better this next month. Their fish seem to survive in the ocean quite well. So, do their fish inhabit the same part of the ocean as our WA steelhead or are we here in WA just more concerned with saving the wild steelhead? CM? Salmo? Smalma?

It is also quite interesting ,that here in WA, the Quinault (restricted) , Queets and Chehalis system are closed for winters but yet the Forks streams are open and said to be making escapement. Don't the steelhead from all those systems inhabit the same parts of the ocean? I can think of a few reasons but I would like to hear yours. Thanks.


First, I don't know all that much about OR rivers and fish stocks. Steelhead from the OR north coast rivers have roughly the same ocean migration path as WA coastal (and PS) rivers. Southern OR steelhead have a migration path that is more similar to the norther CA river systems. That difference in ocean migration coincides with the occurrence of "half-pounder" steelhead.

Second, has winter steelhead fishing been quite good across the board, or more narrowly, among your reliable sources? Sample size and type can account for a lot of variation. As for fishing ". . . expected to be better next month." is little more than conjecture, I hope you realize. It's not the same as a solid fact.

There is a lot of variation in WA rivers too, and it doesn't always vary in the same direction, either. Only two Forks area river systems are open, and we won't know until after the end of the season whether that is a good decision. In PS, the Snoqualmie, and to a lesser extent the Sky, are experiencing better than expected fishing on hatchery winter runs. Meanwhile, the Nooksack is closed and not expected to meet brood escapement needs, even though the Nooksack smots have a straighter shot to the open ocean than do the Snohomish basin smolts. Sometimes variation is not easy to explain.