I heard a rumor that the Sky C&R season is going to be excluded altogether next time around. Might be tough to get it back even if runs rebound.

Chad Jackson, the regional WDFW biologist, told some of us that he would like to see several seasons (3, 4...?) with runs returning at or above 80% of escapement before a C&R season would be considered so we still have a long ways to go. The 2004 escapement was an improvement over previous years. I am not sure what the escapement was for 2005.

I wonder, if there was a separate escapement for each system, Skykomish, Snoqualmie and Snohomish, if the Skykomish by itself would have a healthy enough run to support a C&R season?

Another thing I have been thinking about is how many brats are actually getting caught in February? Except for Reiter and the Wallace, all the fish I've been hearing about in February are nates but a lot of people are still running bait diver/shrimp combos. Pretty tough presentation on a fish you have to release. Would you guys support a change to selective gear for February in the Snohomish system to protect wild fish?

Just a thought
Beezer