Salmo g.

I think that your statement "the steelhead don't all migrate to the same places once in the ocean" is a poor excuse.
The fish go where the the food is. So my arguement was that if the fish are returning to Oregon rivers, but not to Puget Sound rivers than I believe the problem to be something other than "poor marine conditions". If it was poor marine conditions than wouldn't the Coho, Chum, and Pink salmon runs be impacted too? I don't see as big of an impact on the Salmon (excluding chinook) returning to the Puget Sound rivers as I do the steelhead.

I can't tell you exactly what the WDFW is doing wrong but I can tell you that they could do more. For example; they could close Reiter Ponds for awhile. They could place some logs/boulders in the river where the water gets especially low in the summertime. They could see about planting more trees along the banks to control water temperature, and create ideal holding areas. I don't think any of these ideas are currently being done. I'm not rambling on because I like to complain. I just love to fish and I hate to see the steelhead in trouble on a rive that has so much potential.