[Finspot]

Keep the salmon /steelhead below Roza Dam and keep the waters above the dam for trout.

For the most part, the anadromous fish in the mainstem Yak spawn in the upper watershed, above Roza Dam. What you're advocating, gdm43, is annihilating these runs of fish, some of them wild. So far there isn't much data that I've seen indicating that recovered salmon populations will harm the trout fishery. Lots of talk among non-biologists, but little evidence.

I talked to a fisheries guy this spring who had an interesting tidbit that was news to me: that we're mostly catching native 'bows in the Yak. He said despite all the years of misguided stocking, the present fish are not, by and large, mutts. Which makes sense when you consider the reproductive capacities of stocked fish. The natives held on through all this insult, and now, given a chance, they're proving nature's wisdom. I think this also helps explain why a 12" Yakima rainbow has so much fight in it.

As for the quality of the Yak itself, well it just seems to be getting better in the 11 years that I've fished it, mainly due to the instituting of C&R regs I'd guess. It's not Montana, but the numbers are going up, especially based on those 2001 counts. I found a bunch of online archived WDFW counts from the '90s, and the numbers were more in the 600-800 range per mile. So that's good news. My personal experience is that the last few years I've caught more fish, but this year they were on average smaller than last year. Bottom line: Like any worthwhile stream, you need to learn it.

 

[Finspot]

Good points all, but I stand by my previous post. The Yakama Tribe's hatchery/broodstock program aside, there are still remnant runs of entirely wild salmon and steelhead that battle their way to the upper reaches of the Yakima, against all kinds of odds, to spawn without any help (lol) from us. I am of the opinion that anglers in particular should not stand in the way of these amazing survivors, especially at this historical juncture. That said, we can still continue to have a first-class rainbow trout fishery while offering anglers a shot at a salmon below Roza dam. I agree that salmon fishing with hardware (treble hooks, etc.) should not be allowed above the dam--but stopping the fish's progress at the dam is ludicrous, it's a death sentence. Besides, as I mentioned previously, there's no evidence that I've seen that concludes a rebounding salmon population in the Yakima would ruin the trout fishery in strictly biological terms--and there are plenty of recent studies you can find about this very issue.