Been a lot of chatter lately about the decline of steelhead and fishing for them in BC and WA. Apparentlyy some of the conservation NGOs in BC have just noticed that Noah had more steelhead on the Ark than BC rivers.

According to what I have been seeing it, both DFO and BC have essentially given over steelhead in preference to salmon, which also is congruent with FN goals. Look familiar?

Lots going on in both countries but there is very little recognition or concern for recreationalist contact with steelhead unless it is looking at them from afar.

Steelheading is becoming more a thing of the past. When I am fishing the rivers for salmon in the fall guys I talk to talk more about catching a steelhead than a salmon. I tell the young guys I talk to on the rivers that there won't be much steelhead opportunities in the future for them and their kids. Maybe pink or chum should be made the state fish instead of steelhead.
And now you will have to buy an extra endorsement license this coming year to fish the Columbia and it tribs for salmon and steelhead because of cuts of federal funds for fisheries there.

I'm afraid you're right. Steelhead are just too hard for the managers to deal with. Plus, they are not really abundant enough to make a valuable commercial go of it.

Pin k and chum, unfortunately, are the future because they need the least water on an annual basis and don't need as much terrestrial habitat protection. They're a win-win for developers.

Lifter, that Columbia/trib endorsement is due to state budget cuts, not federal. Easy to confuse as there's lots of budget cuts, both state and federal.

In British Columbia, it's mainly DFO that wants steelhead gone, nuisance species that they are. BC Ministry of Environment (BC Fish, Wildlife, and Parks) is pro steelhead but is powerless against DFO. Woe to any steelhead that overlap with a DFO managed salmon fishery.

Canadians are such nice and law-abiding people. Years ago I urged our BC steelhead fishing friends to dump chlorine in the artificial sockeye spawning beaches at Fulton River on Babine Lake. Getting rid of the "enhanced" sockeye would force DFO and FN to manage for wild sockeye, meaning lower harvest rates and saving more steelhead. My Canadian friends admonished me for suggesting such unlawful behavior.

Speaking of pink and chum, with this latest atmospheric river, by the end of this week pink salmon egg to migrant fry survival will most likely be in the 0.002 to 0.02 range, which does not bode too well for the 2027 runs. Not all the chum have spawned yet, so if some can hang on until the rivers recede, there may be some viable chum salmon spawning yet this year. But not looking great overall.

Good to see the site back up and running! Thanks to those that make that happen. How do you see or witness a grey ghost? Even in summer low flows they are hard to spot. I remember on the Kalama one June AM, sitting waiting for daylight in the tackle grabber hole above Mahaffey's. I could see slithering Summer Steelhead were moving up into the beginners hole tail out, in that low light at my feet. Then it got light and I banged a couple that stopped there. If you can't see our great state fish to enjoy what worth is it to have? At least offer C&R everywhere to notice they do exist? Otherwise they are not worth much to anyone. Seems WDFW and now BC seems the great Steelhead is a lost cause. Sad indeed! And I'm afraid no one can change this trend.