Stew and Rusty,

Would you rather have the pathetic Alsea hatchery brats back in the Wilson? At least the fish you catch now are good fish. The people want to eat fish, period. I don't support the way the Wilson program runs the broodstock fish either, but at this time it is what we have.

I'm not sure most people understand how the Wilson program is so much more bogus than any other broodstock program.

#1. Anglers catch the wild fish and hold them in Duycks pond.
#2 in April those 25 pair are taken to TRASK Hatchery to be live spawned and then released in TRASK river to return to sea.
#3 Wilson fry are raised in TRASK water for 18 months and then taken to Duycks to be imprinted for two weeks prior to release.


This is where it is wrong. The Trask stray rate of those broodstock fish is huge. I fish the Trask alot and catch a ton of Wilson Broodstock fish. There are enough of them in the Trask that several guides have figured it out and they are now fishing it hard. The whole thing is messed up. Not only did they mess up with raising Wilson fish in Trask water, they put the live (Wilson) parents into Trask river to return to sea.

There are several guides in Tillamook who don't want this information out there. but it is true.

The Trask has a great run of wild fish, but now is getting good return of hatchery strays from the Wilson. I know this is not good.

What I also know is the Wilson still has a good run of wild fish. Not as good as it was 50 years ago. You must remember the Cedar Creek had a facility that raised lots of steelhead for the Wilson. The flood of 1964 took out the facility. Those steelhead that were released into the Wilson in the 60's were NOT clipped. Many people thought they were all wild fish which is not true.

I wasn't alive when some of the best fishing advances were made, but my Dad and his buddy Doug Fritz were at the top of the heap in fisherman. 100 steelhead a weekend was a normal one. Cook Creek from the Nehalem was the place and all of the fish were hatchery fish. Same with the Wilson, Trask, Nestucca, Three Rivers, Alsea, and almost every river on the Coast had huge hatchery plants, and none of them were clipped until the mid 90's.

How many of you were alive in the 60's and driving around to all these rivers and catching these WILD fish? You'd all be 65 years old now and most of you are still too young.