Preston, This question is not about the Raging R., but rather the Wenatchee R. Which you mentioned in your response.
Could you clarify for me the reason that the Wenatchee River remains closed? I know that the National Marine Fisheries is concerned about salmon and steelhead returns, but apparently the sockeye run at least is in good enough shape to have an open season on Lake Wenatchee. It seems to me that if the Wenatchee River and some of its tributaries, like Nason Creek and the Little Wenatchee R. were opened on a catch and release, single barbless hook basis, during summer and fall, there would be a near zero mortality rate and the pressure would be eased some on rivers like the Yakima. Thanks, Bob Martin > You can take it to the bank that most of the "rainbows" in rivers that offer > access to salt water are steelhead parr or (in the spring and summer) > smolts. While populations of resident rainbows have existed and continue > to exist in these rivers these populations are very small compared to the > temporary populations of young steelhead. Before being decimated by the 8, > 12, 15, or even 20, trout limits allowed in years past, resident rainbow > formed an important part of the rainbow/steelhead complex since even the > progeny of resident rainbows may decide, at some point, to adopt an > anadromous lifestyle. It's quite possible that the apparent increase in > numbers of resident rainbow in some rivers (I've taken a few large ones in > the Snoqualmie while fishing for cutthroat and steelhead) is the result of > the residualization of hatchery steelhead plants. This was quite a common > phenomenon in some of the eastern Washington rivers like the Weatchee before > it was closed. > >
