Showtime on the Upper Columbia

It's show time for the Methow and the rest of the Upper Columbia Region.

Finally got the official word yesterday. The steelhead season for the Upper Columbia region will open on October 15th. Here is the official notice from WDFW.

You’ll need to take a look at it know what all the official rules to the season are. The one down side to the notice is that the Wenatchee River will not be opening at this time. From what I have been told the Wenatchee River has not meet the escapement numbers needed for it to open. The department will continue re-evaluating the numbers, and if they improve, might open it at a later date.

A few points to be known about our season up here. This fishery is to reduce the hatchery marked fish in the system. That is why there is a mandatory retention of the marked hatchery steelhead.  In years past, I know from personal experience from conversations with a fair number of anglers, that they are not retaining hatchery fish.  What they are doing is reporting hatchery fish as wild fish. What they don’t know is when they do that, it shortens the overall season. The season is predicated on the number of wild fish caught and released, and by caught and released, it means a fish (steelhead) that you bring to hand and unhook.

So keep those hatchery fish and keep the fishery going. See you on the water.