It is amazing to see how much money people are willing to pay for fancy boats, rods, reels, waders and everything else, but then to complain about 1-200$ for a week of steelhead fishing in paradise. I'm not sure it's as much about the money as it is to just complain about it. Most who go there to see Gods country are not worried about a couple hundred extra dollars to go. If that is your determining factor, then maybe it's not meant to be.
I have yet to spend any time there for steelhead, but can say that the salmon fishing in July/August is worth every penny of the cost in license fees that are required. The only place that compares to the size of the skeena fish in the Kenai, and that is not even close to as good of a fishery as the Skeena.