Originally Posted By: Tug 3
I see that the Skagit and Sauk are opening for C&R. Isn't it strange, that both those rivers have steelhead listed as "Threatened", but WDFW has worked with the tribes to get this fishery, while most Oly. Pen. river steelhead aren't even listed (yet). Stranger yet is that the Cowlitz and Kalama, and other S.W. rivers that have "Listed" steelhead in them are open to harvest three hatchery fish along with C&R on wild fish. Total inconsistency between Region 6 and Region 5. Why aren't we fishing with C&R guidelines on the O.P. rivers? (It's somewhat a rhetorical question, isn't it?)


Thanks for mentioning this Tug. I was about to start a thread on the topic in case some fishermen missed it.

It might seem strange that the Skagit has a season while the OP doesn't, considering that we have had mandatory wild steelhead release statewide for quite a while now. As one of the technical advisors to Occupy Skagit (OS), it isn't that surprising how the Skagit season came to be. First, Skagit steelhead are a victim of geography. If the Skagit were in B.C., it would be the healthiest wild steelhead population on the lower mainland. Being in the U.S. and in Puget Sound (PS), it was lumped in and listed under ESA with the rest of PS. Therefore, the Skagit couldn't open to fishing unless there were an ESA approved management plan.

WDFW had no intention to create a plan. There is no incentive for most bureaucrats to think outside the box or color outside the lines. Making a decision can negatively affect a career. Apparently never making a decision never harms a career. OS took its case to the WDFW Commission and explained how a season was possible. The Commission was very receptive, but WDFW took no action. It took 2 years of going back to the Commission, at which point the Commission ordered the Director to have the agency draft the Skagit plan.

The Skagit tribes, particularly the Upper Skagit Tribe, were supportive. The Upper Skagits catch incidental steelhead in their spring Chinook fishery and needed ESA take coverage for that. So the Skagit plan was developed and allows incidental take for treaty fishing and incidental mortality during recreational CNR fishing.

My point is that WDFW had to be prodded into action.

It's interesting that recreational fishing has continued in SW WA (lower Columbia, but not mid-Columbia) and in northern CA with no special ESA plans beyond the usual wild fish release regulations of both states. I've never learned how they pull that off. It might be fruitful to look into that.