CFM,

I can't question anything you say about numbers and statistics on the Cowlitz, as it's not a river I worry about much, and it's a river that you have a lot of knowledge and concern about.

I will say, however, that any comparisons between Cowlitz steelhead populations and pretty much any other population, especially those that have significant numbers of wild fish, are comparing apples and oranges.

While most streams have one or more of several issues to deal with, like dams, habitat destruction, downstream interceptions, high fishing pressure, massive hatchery plants, water withdrawals, etc., the Cowlitz has every single one of those things, most of which it has to a greater extent than almost any other river has to deal with even one or two issues.

Be careful when you compare pretty much anything about steelhead population dynamics from the Cowlitz to anywhere else...most of them just don't apply.

Most other rivers have wild fish that return from late November through April, some even into May. They also generally have a quick influx of wild fish in early to mid-February, followed by a bit of a lull, then a full force invasion starting the second or third week of March. On rivers like the Skagit there are fresh from the salt fish entering the river up into May.

When you combine those facts with the preliminary conclusions from Chilcote's and Hooten's studies regarding cross breeding between wild and hatchery fish, wild fish are still wild fish, and they still return throughout the winter, albeit not at historical numbers, especially early in the season.

My first wild fish of the year this year came the day after Christmas on the North Fork of the Skykomish.

Again, I won't dispute your opinions or numbers about the Cowlitz, but don't try to apply them to the rest of the steelhead populations in the state...it just doesn't fit.

Fish on...

Todd