grandpa/ Aunty M you are wrong... You also are NOT spokesmen for Washington Trout yet you spend all this time and effort telling us what they want then complain to me when i do the same..

Grandpa you still have failed to answer the two questions i asked at the very beginning..

1. Have you read the HGMP's
2. What specific actions do thoes plans suggest to addredd the KNOWN problems at their WDFW hatcheries.


Habitat.... habitat restoration works for some species in some situations where it can be effective it should be used..

I have relayed this story many times in this forum and others.

The Washougal early in the 1900 and latw 1800's and up until 1950's had a known population of 1500+ wild summer steelhead. This number was taked by the deprtment in index pool counts. the actual population could have been twice that number because of other pool and run timing compared to surveys conducted.. At the time these runs were going on the Washougal had it's headwaters ravaged by forest fire twice tas the subject of intense logging and mining . The river had 3 dams and a grist mill all of which impeaded fish passage. On top of that the canyon was continually filled with loggs creating splash dams which were dynamites to send the logs down river. Also the Camas papermill poured all kinds on untreeted waste directly into the river mouth... All that and every year it had 1500+ wild summer steelhead

1960's as a result of the mitchell act the Washougal hatchery is built instantly the Washougal becomes a popular fishing destination because of all the fish.. Soon it is in the top 5 steelhead rivers in the state.. Putting out fish on par with the rivers like the any river but the Cowlitz do now people caught and killed everything they kept including wild steelhead!! soon the numbers began to dwindle and the sizes of fish began to be all about the same. The fish moved from the runs and pockets into the deeper pools.. A very small group of anglers ( many of whom are now or who have been leaders in WT) banded together and after years of fighting against the department and groups like the Northwest stelheaders finially got wild steelhead release on the Washougal.. but not until wild steelhead runs were in the low hundreds and commonly under 100 fish..

Since that day the habitat in the upper watershed is no longer logged or mined all the dams are gone some of the habitat has restored itself some habitat has been restored by man. All wild steelhead must be released and still the fish are nor recovering!! Good ocean conditions and yet the fish are not recovering.. Why is it that with improved habitat and harvest conditions are these fish not recovering??????? I'll give you a hint.. It opened in the 1960's when the decline started..

On the other hand Chum salmon are very easy to restore if you don't harvest them.. all they need is clean offchannel gravel and a decent estuary enviroment. Thats why the Columbia is seeing a huge comeback on it's wild Chums

Every species has it's own needs Just cause the fishing is good for once species doesn'r mean all is well it just means a lot of hatchery fish are surviving and thats all it means..

If all a person wants id fish to bonk on the head then thats what they should say. They shouldn't make up exuses why they disagree with someone else.

I personally think that the survival of the species is more important than my desire to go fishing..