I know this flies against the grain on this forum - but here's the letter I wrote to the WDFW on the issue of the Steelhead Moratorium.

Whether you agree or disagree however is not as important as letting the WDFW know your thoughts on the subject.

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Dear Commission Members,

In regards to the Moratorium on retaining any wild steelhead, I would ask that you reconsider your position.

I should first say that I have not kept a wild steelhead in years, and plan on doing my personal part for the fish by not doing so in the future. I would venture that a huge percentage of steelhead fishermen in Washington feel the same way.

However, a state wide moratorium flies in the face of scientific management. Whether or not wild steelhead are kept in any given river should be determined on the strength of the run in that given system. If a wild run is healthy, or becomes overabundant, in a given system it only makes sense to give anglers the opportunity to harvest some of the fish form there.

Another wrinkle has to do with the definition of wild steelhead. From an anglers point of view, whether a fish is wild or not doesn't have to do with whether or not it was raised In a hatchery, but whether or not it has a clipped adipose fin. In some river systems (The Wenatchee is an example), hatchery fish do not have their fins clipped. The reasons for non-clipping vary, but sometimes it appears to do with how much money is available for this function in the WDFW budget. To deny an angler the opportunity to keep a non-fin clipped fish from a run that is experiencing an healthy or overabundant run of fish in this case would be simply unfair.

All of us want wild steelhead to make a comeback and be healthy in the rivers of our state. However, imposing a blanket moratorium on retaining them is not the answer. Instead, I would ask for careful management of these fish (to include limited or no retention where warranted) on a river by river basis.

Thank you for considering my opinion on this matter.