Emergency closure for winter steelhead likely on Skagit | Outdoor Notebook
23.05.12
All signs point to another emergency fishing closure for winter steelhead in the Skagit River system. The closure should be announced next month.
"The Skagit wild steelhead forecast is going to be down again, and it hasn't met the minimum escapement in quite a while," said Brett Barkdull, a state Fish and Wildlife biologist in the northern Puget Sound region. "The numbers are falling off the table again."
The wild steelhead forecast in the Skagit for 2011-12 is 4,265. The minimum number needed is 6,000. Minimum numbers are different from year to year, and the last time the minimum was met was 2006. Last year, the forecast was 5,462.
That means the once popular Upper Skagit and Sauk catch-and-release steelhead fisheries in March and April will likely be shut down, and most of the other sections could close by Feb. 1.
In the meantime, despite extreme low and clear water conditions, it appears the hatchery steelhead returns in the Skagit and Cascade rivers have been fairly good this month.
Source: The Seattle Times