Steelhead on the Pilchuck. A good read

[fish vacuum]

Sad times when they close Hatchery's because certain groups don't like em.

And they regularly close hatchery areas to fishing because they aren't meeting escapement. So we now have hatcheries that produce fish for anglers, but the rivers near them are closed because they can't get enough of a return to meet their spawning needs.

Steelhead have been artificially raised/planted in Western Washington since the late 1800s. Not one successfully reproducing run has ever been created that I'm aware of.

Skamania strain summer steelhead have actually done well at creating wild producing runs. The SF Skykomish and Green rivers come to mind. I don't know why the Skamania hatchery summers do so much better than the Chambers Creek winters at reproducing.

The other thing I believe, and this is from, again, a half century of observation, is that nobody is qualified to be a game agency, policy making, biologist unless they are also a true sportsman or woman who participates in the sport they manage.  I've met them and there are way too many "book smart" biologists involved in the production of information that is used to make policy.  You can't learn it all from a book, it takes first hand, personal observation. 

That goes both ways. I've worked with biologists who get tons of input from every Tom, Dick, and Harry who think they know all the answers because they've fished for years starting in the "good old days."

My personal opinion is for a  brood stock program on many of these rivers. Hatchery raising the native stock only makes sense to me. Then, if they do spawn naturally it will not be so detrimental to the native run. Yes, they will be slightly inferior to the wild fish but not any worse off than the mixed strains we have now.

I'm not sure what the point is. You admit that the offspring would be inferior. Why not let the wilds just spawn on their own? They do it for free and do a better job. Instead of taking wild fish and rearing them in a hatchery to produce inferior hatchery fish to retain, why not just retain the wild fish? Either way the wild fish are taken out of the river.

[Button Nubbs]

I will agree with you. There's probably not a pure native fish left in this state. Which is probably a factor as to why wild runs are struggling. Native genes mixing with hatchery genes lower wild fish survival rates period. Is it too late to do something about it? Maybe, maybe not, but I'd rather try than kill off a species.

I'm not a hatchery hater by any means, I like to eat steelhead but have never and will never intentionally kill a wild fish so I have to get my fix somehow. i say keep pumping hatchery fish into rivers like the cowliz as they will never even have a chance of rebounding wild stocks but leave the ones on the verge alone.

If you can find it id love to read it

Fairly substantial genetic testing has been done (I'll look for it...) on, I recall, the Sandy and Clackamas (which have had mixed stock hatchery intrusion for several decades) as well as coastal rivers in Washington. Even the researchers were quite amazed at the genetic purity that most of the wild fish still retained.

[steeleywhopper]

Anyone remember the smoking hot return of Skagit hatchery fish a few years ago? No? Me neither. Even though it was from a hatchery plant on par with the Cowlitz. Puget Sound hatchery steelhead are dying on their way out when they hit the Strait of Jaun de Fuca.

Or just maybe when they hit the gill nets stretched across the lower river when they return? Bottom line here folks is that we need fish. I don't care what anyone says, I love to catch em and I love to eat em.  I live here in the North end and my local rivers are shut down early so I don't "accidentally" hook a "wild" fish.  The Stilly had a whole bunch of hatchery fish in it when they shut it down this year. Are those the future wild fish that will show up? Good job here WDFW, cut our season so the nets can have em all!  If they keep taking opportunity from us, then shouldn't our licenses get cheaper? 

[WSU]

I will agree with you. There's probably not a pure native fish left in this state. Which is probably a factor as to why wild runs are struggling. Native genes mixing with hatchery genes lower wild fish survival rates period. Is it too late to do something about it? Maybe, maybe not, but I'd rather try than kill off a species.

I'm not a hatchery hater by any means, I like to eat steelhead but have never and will never intentionally kill a wild fish so I have to get my fix somehow. i say keep pumping hatchery fish into rivers like the cowliz as they will never even have a chance of rebounding wild stocks but leave the ones on the verge alone.

If you can find it id love to read it

Fairly substantial genetic testing has been done (I'll look for it...) on, I recall, the Sandy and Clackamas (which have had mixed stock hatchery intrusion for several decades) as well as coastal rivers in Washington. Even the researchers were quite amazed at the genetic purity that most of the wild fish still retained.

Google is your friend.  There has been quite a bit of genetic study done on various rivers.  Some shows integration with past hatchery plants and some shows that wild fish are very distinct, genetically, from the hatchery fish that have been released.

[fish vacuum]

The Stilly had a whole bunch of hatchery fish in it when they shut it down this year. Are those the future wild fish that will show up? Good job here WDFW, cut our season so the nets can have em all! 

The Stillaguamish Tribe did have a netting season for steelhead this year, but nobody participated in it. Zero nets.
Regarding the earlier closures, I wonder if WDFW is doing it because of federal involvement due to the ESA listing. WDFW has a little less flexibility now with the PS wild stocks listed.

I'm not anti-hatchery. I like fishing for them as much as anyone and without them, we wouldn't have any winter steelhead fisheries around here. I just don't think the answer to our fisheries problem is as simple as dumping more fish in the river.