kri, thanks for piping in on this. finally someone did other MF. you have some very good points. the seeded smolts will not be clipped. at i'm not certain if the YIN will clip any smoltz.

the yakima has always had a native returning strain to the system. not big enough to support a sport fishery. the YIN had thier own set seasons.

as for the steelhead in the yakima i'm clueless to it's strength. i know that guys would catch them while whitefish-ing. but no season for sportfishers in 30 years i believe. i still remember the last steelhead i saw taken. it was by a indian fishing below the toppenish spillway/dam. he was using a "spinning rod and caught it on eggs". this was, say, 80 or 81. it was a very thick bodied 15#er.


before i moved out of yakima in 01 the YIN opened the river to sport fishing. there was plenty of silvers to keep things fun. every year since the cle elum facility was put in, the YIN when certain they would have a surplus the river has been opened to sporties. this i give the YIN a thanks to give us a oppertunity to fish the surplus.

i have talked with several guys who still live in the "palm springs of washington". who while duck hunting have found silvers spawning in creeks that years before were barren of spawning salmon. so the system of seeding the yakima drainage is working.

evidently some folks prefer thier fish raised in whiteman cement troughs...