The Wynoochee is closed because there are no hatchery fish planted in the river. Any hatchery fish are lost fish from Van Winkle creek that leads to the Aberdeen Hatchery. Closure is to protect native runs according the regional office.

The netting season here is specificaly set up this year to prevent large numbers of Chinook from being caught in the Chehalis river system. If the mortality rate is that high for catch and release I would suspect that the mortality rate is even higher for gill netted fish even with the so called recovery boxes.