Somewhere in my slides is a picture of me standing next to a Striper my Dad caught in the Sacramento in 53/54. It was longer than I was tall. I only caught a couple, and mostly by accident.

Also have a picture from a year or two later of a nice Monterey Bay Chinook.

Take away the Stripers and what do you have, though? Not enough cold water for salmonids, not enough stream miles to access. If we can get rid of the Klamath dams there will be salmonids there (assuming decent management) for another century or so. The Central Valley will be given over to Stripers, pike, and other warm water species rather soon as there is simply not going to enough cold water.

Many of the coastal creeks and small rivers, if they can be protect from diversions, dams, and warming should hold out on salmonids, too.

Hank's illustration of what not to eat transfers well up here, too. Except, don't eat PS resident salmon. Also, I suspect that when the walleyes really boom in Lake WA (another decade or so) they will be primarily C&R due to mercury and other chemicals in the lake. Top predators concentrate them nicely.