Yeah Chum Man, what's your prob with fly fishermen? Are you manual dexterity challenged or something?

The wild steelhead issue has become a pretty simple one if you look at a little history. I've been steelheading over 35 years. When I began, there were harvestable wild steelhead in 160 or more WA rivers, according to the state. Now it's down to 10 or 12 on the OP, and several of those aren't meeting escapement on a consistent basis. Not killing wild steelhead costs me nothing, and maybe helps a run meet its escapement goal that otherwise might not.

Sound science is nothing more than the systematic advancement of human knowledge. There's no mystery. What science supports the idea that killing wild steelhead is good management?

Don't know what your fly fishing bias is about, but FYI, the NF Stilly became the state's first fly fishing only river in 1940. Fly fishermen regularly killed the wild steelhead they caught there into the 1980s. And that was probably for too long, as the population crashed in the late 1960s and early 70s, mainly for habitat reasons I believe. The upshot is that fly fishermen weren't so far in the lead of other gear types as far as recognizing the benefits of not killing wild steelhead.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.