Jerry/Eddie
Since we are all steelheaders by definition we are nuts.

In fact since we endless debate the nuances of that passion we call steelheading it is probable that most of us have a short circuit or two in our neurological systems.

Isn't it grand?!

Eddie -
Your mental exercise in estimating the tribal catch of wild steelhead appears to be good enough to define the relative magnitude of tht catch.

As you point out there sports community has an additional impact (resulting in dead fish) on the wild resource from hooking mortality of the released fish. There are about 80,000 steelheaders in Washington and if each of us released 1 wild fish per year and the hooking mortality is 5% that would mean an additional 4,000 dead steelhead. I would not be surprised if the number of wild steelhead released by the readers on this site didn't approached 10,000 fish a year.

Tight lines
Smalma