Rich G,
I will answer your questions to the letter! To bad you can't reply in the same fashion to my questions!

First off, The Toutle River is a completely different drainage system then that of the Cowlitz! Yes, it is a tributary, but it is from a total different watershed drainage. That is why both Tacoma Power and other "representatives" from the NMFS, and WDFW did not include it when they performed the "all mighty" Ecosystem Diagnosis and Treatment Method (EDT). I was their, and I know far more then you do concerning this issue, and that my friend is a fact! Like I said earlier; "…think hard before you answer…!

Granted, there still exits a small amount (according to WDFW) of wild spawning steelhead in Delameter, Arkansas and the Coweeman creeks. There may even be a few left in the South Fork of the Toutle, but not enough to rebuild any runs. At best, they only amount to hand full of "wild" steelhead.

You ask me, what questions are you not answering? You can read what questions I have asked you so please give us your answers! You also make the statement "Without the salmon, Steelhead don't exist" Well that may be true about "wild" steelhead, but that surely isn't true when it comes to hatchery steelhead is it? So who are we kidding?

Next, you say "Everything is sustained off of their death". Well that may also be true about "wild" steelhead, but it is surely not the case when it comes to hatchery steelhead is it? So lets not try to fool the uneducated fishermen into thinking that only "wild" steelhead are our only hope for recovery, nor is it the only answer or option to restoring our fishery.

Now what question did I side step from you?

BTW, we also had an early natural run of winter steelhead that also started in early November. Just about half of our fish run historically returned before the February and March runs did. One last final issue that you had raised; all of our "untold" smaller creeks have unfriendly fish culverts that pretty well have stopped all and any movement of any spawning steelhead.

Is the taste of the bait worth the sting of the hook????

Cowlitzfisherman