Rossiman -
You said

"A great river lost once again to mismanagement/overfishing."

Wonder on what you base that statement? From what little I know about wild steelhead and the Skagit/Sauk I don't think the data supports that position; what am I missing?

For more than a decade the estimate of annual wild steelhead fishing impacts (netting, hooking mortality, etc.) for the Skagit has been less than 4%. While the numbers of fish returning to the Skagit/Sauk (as well as the rest of the Salish sea populations) have gone up and down over the decades it appears marine survival is by far the largest driver in those population swings.

Since the mid-1990s the Skagit wild winter steelhead have been one of the most conservatively managed in the state. The escapement goal for that population is 150% of the best estimate of MSY levels with an additional hard cap on total exploitation for runs that might be well above escapement needs.

For me the single best spring season on the Sauk was in 1983. Not only was the fishing outstanding the numbers of exceptional sized fish had to have been experienced to be believed. The basin escapement that spring was almost exactly what was seen in 2013 (30 years later). BTW those escapements were near the best estimate of the average wild steelhead carry capacity for the basin.

The returns in 1983 and 2013 were rebounding from low levels the previous generation. The post 1983 runs continued to improve for most of a decade; have fingers crossed that we will see a similar trend post 2013.

Curt