Are there any Steelhead Rivers in Washington where the Steelhead do not encounter a man-made dam or gill netting on their way to the spawning grounds?

Lots of streams, but no major ones outside of a few decent sized streams in SW Washington. All the big rivers either have dams or gillnetting, or both.

Fish on...

Todd

Snohomish basin. Virtually no netting.

Guess there is a couple of diversion dams though. Never mind

Yes, and those wild steelhead populations' status is basically the same as those where dams and gillnets are present, with a few exceptions.

In SW Washington, the East Fork Lewis and the Kalama would fit. There is alot of netting on the Columbia (obviously), but generally not when the steelhead are actively migrating (winter, and late spring/summer). Neither river has any dams, although there are several dams on the North Fork Lewis.

I would agree with Sg, however, the East Fork Lewis wild steelhead may be in worse shape than some rivers with gill nets and dams. Not sure why. The habitat is decent (National Forest lands), although not pristine. But then again steelhead don't need pristine habitat to spawn successfully.

All the SW rivers are effected by gill nets in the lower Big C..........Regardless of when a net is in or not......I really couldn't tell ya what system is not effected by a net or dam...................Hmmmmmmmmmm.Gotta think about this.My guess is there isn't...which is your point.....Good luck,

SZ