I've got mixed feelings about the new laws re. wild steelhead release.

You see - here in the Upper Columbia, we've been under Endangered Species Act restrictions since 1997. However, hatchery fish have been dumped into the Wenatchee and Methow Rivers non-stop during this time.

During the last three years, we have had record or near record runs. The Methow has opened for limited fishing, the Wenatchee and the Entiat Rivers have remained closed.

Here's the rub - the majority of the fish caught (or available) in the Wenatchee and Methow are not fin-clipped - but they are hatchery fish. The WDFW has made a conscious decision to not clip the vast majority of these hatchery fish to help the run as a whole.

The science is a little fuzzy to me - we must release steelhead that are not fin-clipped, but the number that are clipped are determined by the WDFW - and are not reflective of the native fish in the river. The question of "when is enough fish enough to fish for" has never been answered except for a count of the fin clipped fish available - which is an arbitrary number.

Science - sometimes...it's not a good thing.