We did great. I was happy to see WDFW delayed the opener to let a higher percentage of sub-legals escape Puget Sound and get to the Straits. Smolt/shakers are released from hatcheries in the late winter, and when the season is opened in March, they are still concentrated in the Sound. Last year they closed the season for hitting the sub-legal threshold numbers. With this year's delayed opener, we caught more legals, but hit another threshold for unclipped/wild encounters. If its not one threshold, then its another.

Our wild encounters did not seem excessive based on the apparent healthy numbers of wild/unmarked fish. And the wilds were big (10) and strong, and released without apparent mortality. My thought is "How do they estimate "wild encounter thresholds?" It would seem they'd have to estimate an existing population of wilds in the area, then base the encounter closure limit as a percentage of total population.
BUT.... What if there are more wilds than they estimated?? Then the encounter percentage would be lower, and we shouldbe able to stay on the water longer.

I think that's what happened this year. There seemed to be an abundance of wilds, and the encounter threshold ESTIMATE (%) was too low based on what I saw out on the water. In my opinion, the season could have been longer based on the health and number of wild fish available.

Not sure if what I typed makes sense, but it's what came off my keyboard and I'm sticking to it.