General Evo,

Maybe you haven't been paying attention, but raising and releasing hatchery steelhead in the Cedar would be a complete waste of money. Two important factors: 1) there are few steelhead left in the Cedar because the anadromous life history strategy is failing where the resident adfluvial life history strategy is succeeding. Environmental factors, including man made, have made anadromy an unsuccessful choice for rainbow/steelhead trout. Second, the smolt to adult survival and return rate of hatchery steelhead in Puget Sound streams that don't have the additional problems of the Cedar/Lake Washington/Ballard Locks are returning in such poor numbers that they can barely meet their hatchery broodstock requirements. So it is far more likely than not that a program on the Cedar would simply die out due to lack of returning broodstock, and certainly not enough fish to sustain a treaty and NT sport fishery.

Tug 3,

A cutthroat program wouldn't require any creativity beyond securing broodstock, and that may best be achieved via hook-and-line volunteers. WDG tried hatchery SRC on the Elochoman and Hood Canal in the 1970s before discontinuing it. The knowledge of how to is there, but they might have to talk with some old timers to resurrect it.

PS SRC are doing fairly well as are PS bull trout, considering the state of their habitat. Sure, they are less abundant than historically, but that is because habitat has been degraded over time. These two species don't migrate to the open ocean and therefore appear to be surviving at much better rates than their steelhead counterparts. Harvest regulations were modified around 1990 that increased the minimum size limit and reduced the bag limit. This resulted in more spawners of both species, and their populations responded by increasing in abundance.

SRC must be released in the salt because that is a mixed stock fishery, where trout from many different streams mingle. Killing SRC in the salt contributed to the reduced population abundance in Hood Canal streams, but the modified regulations reversed that trend, and they are now quite abundant. That is, they are at the carrying capacity of the habitat as it now exists.

I don't fish the Nisqually, but my understanding is that the SRC are doing OK. Sure, 2 larger ones can be killed. But the minimum size limit ensures that trout survive to spawn at least one time before exposure to legal harvest. That large size limit of 12 or 14" for SRC and 20" for bull trout was the major factor contributing to restoring populations of both species.

Ah, steelhead gear and what to do with it. Well guess who stopped buying new steelhead rods and reels a few years ago. It's a hard habit to break, but I manage by buying some new trout gear. I even bought a trout Spey rod kit at a Black Friday online sale that I've slowly been assembling. Think I just finished the final coat of varnish on the guide wraps this morning in fact.

Wouldn't we all like more OP experience? I did make it over for 3 days two weeks ago. Now I'll fish the Skagit as much as I can for the next month and a half before switching over to trout season.