Quote:
Originally posted by Salmo g.:
Dizzy,

Sorry about putting you on the spot, since you've lived in WA only 4 years, but please tell me exactly what WDFW has done, or not done, that has let this river system go to hell in a hand basket.

The Snohomish system has among the healthiest wild coho, pink, and chum salmon populations anywhere in the state. All Puget Sound steelhead populations, hatchery and wild, have been in the bucket the last few years, and the proximate cause appears to be something in the marine environment that WDFW nor any other natural resource government agency controls. So for clarity's sake, please advise what WDFW's doing wrong, as I know people there who can change things.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.
I'm not talking about the salmon I'm talking about the steelhead. How can you narrow it down to poor ocean conditions. It seems like that is everyone's default answer. When I lived in Oregon I fished rivers with the same characteristics as the Skykomish and the numbers were always there. I have many friends that guide in Oregon and they seem to be doing fairly well. The fish that return to Oregon migrate out to the same ocean that the steelhead returning to Washington rivers migrate to.