What a day.
Due to work by wild fish conservation groups the Elwha Tribe will not be planting Chambers Creek hatchery steelhead in the Elwha. Check out the link below:
Agreement protects Elwha steelhead from hatchery releases
It is moments like this that make me actually hopeful that our wild fish stand a chance. Finding optimism is often one of the hardest things for me to do in the fishing world. My eternal pessimism is likely not made to deal with wild fish issues as I am constantly feeling a bit down when it comes to long-term trends even though we are winning more and more battles every year. First, we got the state to create a Wild Steelhead Management Zone on the Sol Duc against local opposition. Now we got a co-manager to make the right call when it comes to restoration of wild fish after a dam removal.
Now for the bad news. The coho forecasts for this summer and fall were just released here.
It looks like the saltwater salmon numbers will be way down for everywhere inside Puget Sound. It looks like a repeat of last summer's fishing will not be happening. With the good news about the Elwha I am going to make an attempt to stay positive for the saltwater fishing this summer. Even with less fish coming through the Strait that doesn't mean that fish won't stop and feed in areas which should still provide great fishing at times. Even with the poor news of total run sizes I am making a vow to remain positive in chasing fish come August, September, and October this year. I may even attempt to make a trip or two to other areas that have better forecasts for 2012 than 2011.
Hope springs eternal.
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