I dont think the problem is compition, (God knows our rivers arnt produceing what they did 50 or 100 years ago even with hatcheries), The problem is interaction between wild fish and Chambers and Skamania stocks. That is what is causing all the problems in my opinion.

When I was up fishing the Skeena drainage in BC about 10 years ago I came across a couple of "wild hatcheries". The guy I spoke with just referred to it as a protected area. They trapped wild fish and moved them into a feeder creek off the fish’s main river, right near the mouth of the creek. They constructed an area that had bird netting over it for a couple hundred yards up the creek and grated the creek off so the fish they placed in the creek were forced to spawn there. The guy I spoke with said that when the eggs hatched, the smolt would stay put under the protection of the bird netting until they felt safe enough to make a run for it in the main river. It seems to me this would be a more cost effective solution to enhancing current runs, and it’s enhancing the native runs as well. He said they got very high returns from this method but I must say I've never seen any real evidence, just what the guy working there told me.

Something else, tangential to this discussion I’d like to bring up along the lines of fisheries enhancement. A plan I’ve been discussing for quit a few years with friends and anyone who will listen. Essentially it is a classification system to assist in managing existing resources.

1) Classify all salmon/steelhead-bearing rivers in the state as being an A, B or C river.
2) Classification should be arbitrary, not by size, and different classifications should be in close proximity to one another. In other words you don't take the top third of the state and classify all rivers as A - Rivers, the middle B – Rivers, etc. The different classifications also need to be distributed equally. This will give everyone a chance at an open river in his or her area.
3) A three-year rotation cycle would be implemented by river classification. For example, the first rotation would work like this:
A - Rivers are open to a C&R fishery only, for three years.
B - Rivers are open to all fishing for three years following standard regulations as necessary.
C - Rivers are closed for three years, no fishing at all, including tribal. This would require an incredible amount of cooperation because of current law and tribal fisheries practice. It would require voluntary action on the tribe’s part. I’ve spoken with a member of the Upper Skagit about this and he’s actually open to the idea.
- In the next cycle, three years later, B - Rivers become C&R, C - Rivers are open and A - Rivers are closed. And so on through the next cycle, etc.