same rule in Id. as WA. to not take wild steelhead out of water?????

[snocohunter]

just a heads up, im pretty sure hogquest fished the cowlitz before that rule was around

True. Guess it's wrong to assume it was recently taped. Maybe guys just shouldn't say where the fish was caught if they wanna be *censored* enough to post the picture on the internet. Hard to prove a cropped pictures is from a washington river

[whacker1]

Wow, what a fun and exciting topic.  The best way to make aany fisherman angry is to have a dry fly with rod in one hand and eggs with a baitcaster in the other floating through the same whole.  of course illegal, but would get an interesting look from anyone.  our fishing crew has a bit of a drinking problem, so we typically get dirty looks for the obsessive laughing and voluminous consumption of beer.

[KimberRich]

Kimber....You say you do not keep steelhead, hatchery or native. On some rivers, you are breaking the law by releasing hatchery fish. They give us a season on the methow and okanogan strictly for removing the hatchery fish due to the limited spawning grounds. Thus causing more spawning water for the native run of steelhead. WDFW can easily kill all hatchery fish at the Wells Dam adult trap to guarentee spawning ground availability. By releasign hatchery fish, you are breakign the law on these rivers which may take our fishing privelidges away from us. I know they discussed not allowing fly fishign on the methow due to their large catch numbers and low harvest. A majority of fly fisherman release all catch.

I know the rules and don't break them but thanks for the info.  I don't fish either of the rivers you spoke of.  All my steelheading is done on the westside and in rivers that I'm allowed to release all fish.