Not sure how old is old enough...but I caught my first steelhead in the Sammamish River in 1977...plenty of stories from there as a kid, but alas, no steelhead there any more.

Upper Quinault was not often much of a numbers game...three or four a day was a good day, but the percentage of 20+ fish in the mix was the best anywhere...the last few years that I fished it consistently the percentage of big fish hadn't changed, but catching more than a fish a day was a struggle, and there were a lot of blank days.

As per the National Park Service when they closed the area of the upper Quinault to match the WDFW closure dates...

"The 2021-22 forecast for wild steelhead in the Quinault River system is expected to be 1,756 wild steelhead, which would be among the lowest return on record. These regulation changes are being implemented in cooperation with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife."

That's the entire Quinault system, less than 1800 wild fish.

Fish on...

Todd