Neanderthal,

I used to believe this as well. And I know a lot of fisheries managers feel that putting fish on the pedastal of trophy fish status should be done only when all else fails. It is somehow considered a failure of management. Two things changed my mind:

1) The success to the north and south of us. Both Oregon and Canada have system wide C&R regulations in place and their runs are doing so much better than ours.

2) Population growth in Washington is such that it no longer appears practical to allow take. I don't necessarily mean growth in anglers; as I mentioned in an earlier post, license sales through the nineties decreased steadily. I mean the amount of development necessary to service the population. Urban, suburban, and rural development has taken a toll on spawning and nursery habitats in our streams. As a whole, they just don't have the same carrying capacity as they used too.

Imposing population restrictions in the State is not going to happen. There is also only so much that will be gained (or tolerated) regarding restrictions on land development, agriculture, and logging. So what we are left with is a situation where we have to find a new suitable balance with an overall smaller population of steelhead. A lot of folks think that State-wide C&R is the first step in that new balance.