As a fly/jig/spinner fisherman, I gotta say Thumper, better come down off that soap box before a good fly fisherman knocks you off. Sure, you can catch more fish in more places with floats, but in the right place and time, a fly can be fished as well. I had a slow day on Oregon's North Coast last winter when I fished float/jig 8 hours with no success. Fished 2 with the fly and landed a 10 pound native. My 8 weight saved the day. This fall on the Deschutes, I did better with flies than spinners. The conditions do have to be right, but it works! I usually save a few ideal holes for the fly rod when fishing for winter nates. Guess what...I have about the same success ratios with either technique! Of course, there are many holes that you just cannot fish well with a fly, so a good fly fisherman has to select his water carefully.
As for the idea that we're going to lose all our wild steelhead......Here we go again! Isn't this fun!? Anyone out there tired of this one? Maybe we're lucky here in beaverland. Still lots of nates, although the mid 90's were really scary. My home river, the Clackamas had a return over Rivermill dam in '96 or '97 of 122 wild winter steelhead after averaging 1000 to 2000 in the '70's and '80's. ODFW then discontinued planting hatchery trout and steelhead in the upper river. Since then, it's been rebounding slowly. I think last year, there were about 800 wild fish over the dams. On the North Coast, oh man! These are the good ole' days! I've not been skunked in my last 8 or 10 trips going back to 2000. Lots of nates, many big nates. Of course, I target wild fish, so I'm fishing rivers that are known for their native fish and in some cases (Trask, Nehalem), are managed by ODFW for wild steelhead. More power to ODFW! Great fishing in February and March and those fish don't cost taxpayers a dirty dime! Fight twice as hard as brats too. That's all from me tonight.