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Voices from the River: Welcome to Winter Steelhead Fishing

In Oregon by Sam Davidson

Dean hollered from upstream as a steelhead took his fly, then hollered again a moment later as the fish released it. At another spot Dean had a nice fish on for perhaps a minute, his rod bowed and bobbing. But that steelhead, too, practiced detachment. Welcome to winter steelhead fishing.

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An Attempt to Breed Better Biters Has an Unexpected Twist With Implications for Broodstock Collection

In Science Friday by John McMillan

On Oregon’s Alsea River a broodstock program is raising fish using both angler-caught fish and those fish that swim into the hatchery trap. These data beg the question of whether offspring of angler-caught broodstock would be more likely to be caught by anglers than offspring of adults that voluntarily swam into a trap. We dig into a recent study examining this in this edition of Science Friday.

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It’s Time for Bold Action

In Snake River by Jonathan Stumpf

Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID) has stepped up to lead toward a more optimistic future for the entire Snake River basin. Rep. Simpson laid out a proposal that would create new clean energy sources, build new infrastructure, and ensure the needs of local communities, irrigators and shippers are met. The proposal would also restore runs of healthy, harvestable Snake River salmon and steelhead by removing the lower four Snake River dams. 

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Update: Emergency closure for some winter steelhead rivers and the Quileute Tribe’s perspective

In Washington by John McMillan

It has been a tough stretch for wild winter steelhead on the West End of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. Now, several months into the season, some of these runs appear to be even weaker than forecast. Given the alarmingly low returns of coastal wild winter steelhead so far this year, it’s not a surprise WDFW had to take additional action to protect these fish.