D3-
It would be my opinion that the across western Washington our coastal cutthroat populations in general and the anadromous life history in particular over the last decade have been at levels not seen in the previous fifty years. It is likely that we will not see those levels sustained; rather we are likely to see a slow erosion in their numbers largely due to the man's impacts on those key small streams in the low lands and other habitat features.

However I suspect that there is more to your concerns that just the abundance of our beloved cutthroat. In the north Puget Sound region where we have seen relatively stable numbers for the last 25 years yet I have seen a more or less steady decline in the over all fishing. A major factor in that decline of course is that we are sharing that resource with more and more rods. That increased pressure impacts fishing in several ways: 1) the number of willing biters on a given day is being divided among more of us; increase effort puts other fish down, 2) increase traffic puts down some of the fish, 3) even a willing fish like the cutthroat eventually becomes less willing to bite after being caught. and 4) even under CnR the cummulative impacts of multiple catches reduces the number of older fish in the population.

In short enjoy what you have for these are the "good ole days".

Tigth lines
Curt