Plunker -
The punch card catch summarizes go back to at least the winter of 1947/48. I have a partial collection of the reports going back to that time. There are some holes in the 50s and 60s. If you and/or anyone from WSC (Jerry, Larry?) wishes to look at that information just give me a call and we can set a time.

It is my understanding that steelhead have been planted in this state for at least a 100 years. However it was not until more was learned about the life history and fish culture of steelhead were true steelhead smolts released. Much of that ground work occurred in the 1940s with the first significant release of smolt at the aproximate correct size and release timing occurred in 1950s. I think you will find that the begining of some of the hay days of steelhead trace their origin back to those early releases (Puyallup?).

It was not until the use of extensive creel surveys and catch sampling could the hatchery and wild catches be reliably separated - remember all the samples the creel clerks used to collect. The wild/hatchery catch estimates are Dependent on when an individual river was first surveyed (and many have never been surveyed). The first release of mass marked steelhead smolts was in 1983 if my memory serves correctly.

If you are looking for Skagit specific data the Grandy Creek Hatchery EIS (1994?) has quite a bit of background information but I suspect that you all ready have that information. If not I also have a copy.

Tight lines
S malma