The Deschutes (Thurston Co.), like McAllister Creek, contains a parisite that is really rough on chinook and trout. I think it's less deadly to coho. The Deschutes historically had no anadromous fish due to Tumwater Falls, only native cutthroat trout. The cutthroat are affected by the parisite, but not so much as the introduced chinook and Chambers Creek steelhead. Consequently, it's just about impossible to develop a wild run of steelhead in this river, and hatchery returns are dependent in part on the smolts rapidly migrating out of the system in the spring before the parisite gets them. So it doesn't seem like the steelhead run will ever amount to much, and besides, the hatchery smolt release is pretty small.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.