Steelhead Conservation: Doing The Math

March 17, 2009 By: Marshall Cutchin

The recent killing of a large steelhead on Washington state’s Hoh River did — besides dividing the angling community once again into “can kill” and “can’t kill” camps — drew more attention to the state of steelhead conservation. Among the more lucid observers is writer Dylan Tomine, who with the help of Tim Pask of Scanout.com, just published “State of the Steelhead: The Canary Ain’t Singing Anymore, But the Fat Lady’s Just Warming Up.” Pask and Jeff Bright (both featured in MidCurrent‘s new Photography section) contributed images to piece, which goes into great detail about how West coasters have ended up fishing for “the crumbs” left over from human mismanagement. Worth a read by anyone interested in the survival of one of fly fishing’s great species. (First seen on Moldy Chum.)