I hear a lot of talk about run timing. Run timing is absolutely irrelevant. Spawning time is what counts and even that is some what irrelevant. Wild summer steelhead spawn between December and May Wild winter steelhead spawn between November amd July. Although there are very few that spawn early and late they are still extremely important because they generate the biodiversity in the run. By all accounts early and late fish were once more numerous. They would be again and in short order if hatchery fish were kept from spawning in the system. Wild steelhead recover very quickly when we let them. WDFW has never let them. When WDFW quit letting hatchery fish above Kalama falls the wild steelhead rebounded dramatically. Same with wild steelhead on the wind river when that was no longer planted. The effects that hatchery fish have on wild fish during spawning is well documented and is no longer a theory it is a fact. According to genetic studies there has been no tracable interbreeding between hatchery and wild fish in theNorth Puget Sound ESU. That means that hatchery fish that spawn in the Skagit system never have adult offspring and when a hatchery fish spawns with a wild fish it's just like killing that wild fish because it will not successfully spawn and WDFW cannot control where their hatchery fish go on the Skagit.

Also The release of 500,000 ADDITIONAL( it cannot be fishing enhancment without more fish) steelhead smolts will add an unnatural number of juveniles to the system. The while it may be great for the larger dollies it will force all wild juveniles into poor quality rearing habitat and create an false abundance and increased predation.
There is also a small but growing body of scientific evidence that during years of low ocean productivity the overabundance of hatchery fish causes low wild salmonid survval at sea.
Then there is the money we all know the money could be better spent in another way. Enforecment, habitat, anything but another hatchery especially on a system that is already in trouble and during a time of WDFW budget cuts.

(((my opinion))))
Having said all that... The Cowlits is absolutely NOT NOT NOT NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! a model of salmon and steelhead managment. I call it the worst possible senario. We do not need more rivers like the Cowlitz and i would fight to the bitter end to keep any other rivers from becoming that way.
The vast majority of Washington steelhead and salmon anglers do not fish in terminal fisheries yet that is where most of the money goes and where most snagging occurs The only reason more violations don't occur there is the numbers of people there. terminal fisheries promote bad things for our sport and for our fish. it's certainly not the case with people on this board but most people who fish at terminal fisheries would not fish at all if they actually had to work at it. Our rivers would be cleaner places for it too.