The Fishing Corner

By Larry Dublanko

Here we are, the salmon season is barely over and it is time to talk about winter steelhead. Actually, the general inland salmon season is scheduled to conclude Nov. 30 which is considerably sooner than in past years.

The reason it is timely to talk about winter steelhead is because they are known to make their first appearances around the Thanksgiving weekend. Depending on water flow they have even been hooked prior to that date. Anglers should start seeing steelhead invading our coastal waterways. The question is which rivers are likely to host these fish.

The Washington Coast region factors in three areas where several plants of steelhead smolt occurred in 2017 for the 2018-19 winter steelhead season.

The Grays Harbor Region takes into account three primary plants. The Humptulips River plant occurred at Stevens Creek and 127,000 smolt were released. The lower Chehalis River system realized two plants. One occurred on the East Fork of the Satsop River and the number was 64,300 steelhead smolt. The other plant occurred on the Wynoochee River and was the largest Grays Harbor plant with 175,000 smolt. The last of the Grays Harbor region was the upper Chehalis River. Three plants were completed at the following locations: Carlisle Lake in Lewis County with 5,000 smolt; Eight Creek with 24,200 smolt and Skookumchuck Creek with 87,000 steelhead smolt.

The second Washington Coastal Region area is Willapa Bay. The plant numbers are as follows: Naselle River with 73,495 smolt; North River with 9,800 smolt and the Willapa River receiving plants in two locations. Fork Creek obtained 42,954 smolt while Stringer Creek was given 15,620 fish.

The third Washington Coastal Region is known as the North Washington Coast. The numbers for these rivers varies greatly and that is largely due to the fact that some releases are associated with supplementation efforts and research. The Quinault River numbers are 202,228 smolt at Cook Creek and 286,265 smolt in Quinault Lake. Salmon River obtained 179,871 smolt supplying the Queets River. The Quillayute River System was supplied at two locations. The Bogachiel River was given 110,000 smolt and the Calawah River 55,000 smolt. The Hoh River plant occurred at Chaloaf Creek and 81,000 smolt were released. The Independent River Basin on the Macah Indian Reservation was the recipient of 133,747 steelhead smolt.

So, before anyone gets carried away with these numbers, the reality is the return ratio is between one and three percent. If you do the math the number of actual returning steelhead drops off drastically. The factors contributing to this mortality rate have to do with predators and hardships in both the hosting rivers and ocean itself.

Since Washington state is a hatchery-fish-only steelhead fishery it would be prudent for anglers to focus on rivers that were planted with smolt in anticipation of this season.

It is true that some steelhead may be the offspring of previous hatchery fish, but unless they have a clipped adipose fin they must be released. This information should give anglers some clues where to focus their attention.