I used to think I wanted more summer hatchery fish vs. Winters, but now I'm not so sure. The summer runs we have around now (granted, in pretty low numbers) are getting harder and harder to catch as the rivers trend lower and warmer. On the Nooch, they all pile into deep, slow corner holes that don't fish worth a hoot, and the spooky fish bite worse than the water fishes. Kind of the same for the Kalama anymore. The Cowlitz is a different story; I never understood why they cut back the summer plants there, because that WAS a pretty good summer fishery before then....

The other reason I came to appreciate the winter fishery is that fishing for winter steelhead was about the only thing that got my fat arse off the couch in the winter months, and now that I don't have it, I'm sitting around at home, drinking too much, and getting fatter.

Without hatchery winter steelhead (as we clearly see this year), our rivers will all be closed every December-May (that's half the year!) moving forward. That may just be the reality now, and it sucks... a lot.

Time for a new hobby that gets me motivated to get out. Any ideas?