What are the keys to successful wild steelhead conservation? What can you do to help this cause? How do steelhead differ from other salmonids in their sexual behavior? For answers to these and many other questions about wild steelhead, as well as some of the best steelhead stories ever told, please join Wild Steelheaders United for an evening of science, …
Seafood Watch Sends Wrong Message to Consumers about Olympic Peninsula Wild Steelhead
The 2017 winter steelhead fishing season is in full swing on the rainforest rivers of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula (OP). It is the first year under new sport fishing rules adopted by Washington State that prohibit harvest of wild steelhead, require use of barbless hooks and prohibit fishing with bait. Wild Steelheaders United and Trout Unlimited led the …
We Are Wild Steelheaders
Wild Steelheaders United is announcing our “We are Wild Steelheaders Month,” a celebration of wild steelhead across their native range in the Western U.S. For the next month we will be posting videos of anglers up and down the West Coast, discussing why wild steelhead matter to them. Anglers of all persuasions support better management of wild steelhead stocks. But to reach …
Re-opening the Skagit River: More Work to be Done
For years, the story of the Skagit River steelhead fishery has been one of decline and loss. But that story is on its way to becoming one of renewal. The submission of a Resource Management Plan by WDFW has breathed new life into the concept of an open catch and release season on the Skagit. While this is a …
Sportfishing Industry asks Trump for solid review of Snake River Dams
More than 50 fishing companies, trade groups and conservation organizations sent a letter today to President Donald Trump in support of taking a fresh look at removing four large dams on the lower Snake River to recover wild salmon and steelhead that once thrived in the Snake River Basin of Idaho, Oregon and Washington. With a court-ordered comprehensive analysis …
6 Reasons sonar is so cool for steelhead
If you’re trying to manage steelhead, one of the more difficult tasks you will have is getting an accurate picture of what populations are doing over a given time. Unlike many of their brethren, steelhead don’t put all their “eggs in one basket.” Runs are timed throughout the year, often during times of high water and poor visibility. This …
Angler Science opportunities in Washington
It is that time of year again where we all get the opportunity to become citizen scientists on the weekend (basically, we get to have fun playing in streams). I am happy to inform you all that – like last year – TU and Wild Steelheaders United will be conducting steelhead redd surveys in Washington’s Hoh River and sharing …
How many steelhead can you fit into a school?
It depends on how old and big they are. Over the past year we have talked extensively about the value of life history diversity in steelhead, and in particular, that a broader range in spawn timing – which results in a broader range of emergence for juveniles – can help ameliorate density-related impacts by spreading steelhead of various ages …
Science Friday: Tillamook Bay Steelhead
Do you ever wonder what we might be missing nowadays in terms of steelhead life histories? Although we can’t go back in time to answer this question, we can look at historic data — in this case from Oregon’s Tillamook Bay. By the 1940’s Oregon’s Tillamook Bay was a patchwork of homesteads and farms, appearing more like the present day …
TU comments: Proposed Changes to Listed Salmon and Steelhead Hatchery Programs
December 20, 2016 Chris Yates Assistant Regional Administrator Protected Resources Division NMFS, West Coast Regional Office Attn: Claire McGrath 1201 NE Lloyd Blvd., Suite 1100 Portland, OR 97232 Re: Proposed Changes to Listed Salmon and Steelhead Hatchery Programs . Dear Mr. Yates: Trout Unlimited (TU), the nation’s largest coldwater fisheries conservation organization dedicated to protecting and restoring our …