How about a river like the Lyre. The bulk of the river flows through the park so the habitat has been fairly stable. I could be wrong but I don't know of any tribal netting there. Yet the steelhead have all but dissapeared there. Can the lyre river decline be put mainly on the shoulders of sporties overharvesting? There could be other factors I'am unaware of but the Lyre really stands out in my mind as a river that has declined due to nothing more than harvesting with no tribes involved.
Are we speaking of wild or hatchery in this instance. If wild fish are suffering in this tiny little rivulet I'd guess a major culprit to be overplanting of hatchery fish. Just how is a wild juvenile steelhead supposed to survive to smolt stage when he has competition for food 1000 fold!
Hatchery steelhead? Maybe ocean conditions or maybe they found bypassing the straights to stray up a much more comfortable river like say the Bogie where 3 fish limits are the norm would suit them nicely. All kidding aside however it does bring up the question of smolting timing. Sometimes or correction...many times, wherever the fish was raised from egg to smolt can have an effect on where the fish decides to swim. Case in point mucho adult hatchery steelhead supposedly bound for reiter will show up on the snoqualmie or Wallace rivers instead. Haven't looked into where Lyre river steelhead are raised but it could be interesting to find out. Or not.....just an uneducated theory anyway.
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