The diminished run prompted officials in Idaho to not allow for the retention (i.e. killing) of any steelhead on the Snake river. That’s for both wild and hatchery fish. But, the river has remained open for catch-and-release fishing. There are a lot of factors to blame: dams, mismanagement, an ever-warming globe. Add to that record heat and lack of precipitation we’ve been experiencing here in the Pacific Northwest and you’ve got the makings of one of the worst summer steelhead seasons ever.
Columbia river steelhead are struggling. That’s old news. They’ve been having a rough go of it for a while now. Since Whitey showed up, really. But, the numbers out of the Big C and it’s feeder rivers are especially sad this summer. Unprecedented, say some officials. Early summer counts were putting just 4,000 steelhead past the Bonneville dam. That’s down from 20,000 the previous year.
LINK (The Flyfish Journal)
