the issaquah hatchery is basically set up for tourists. you cant fish the issaquah creek and this hatchery helped eliminate the entire native steelhead run on the creek. i got my first steelie in that creek about 20 years ago. there are none left. wonder if it had anything to do with their wiers forcing all fish into the hatchery?
and that hatchery as helped pass on the lie to voting tourists that we have more salmon than ever. there are absolutely no native fish in that system left. wheyerhouser wiped out all of those fish back in the 30's.

sometimes they let some excess coho run up past the hatchery but nothing has ever been done to create any sustainable wild spawning population. it is another disgusting example of hatchery mis-management.

of course my first steelie from there was a native buck about ten pounds and i bonked it so I was part of the problem too. maybe if people could actually fish for these fish, they would have the funding to keep it open. personally i wouldnt mind if no salmon returned in the creek because the hatchery was closed. then the 200,000 people that come for "salmon days" festival would learn the truth instead of a half truth and start voting for conservation and protecting our ESA listed wild fish populations. hatcherys are not the answer...... no nets are the answer!