Good News for Winter Steelhead Season in the Pacific Northwest

Back in the 1990s, salmon and steelhead returning to the Columbia River Basin averaged just over one million fish per year, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting. That includes all five species of Pacific salmon, and steelhead. The current 10-year rolling average is 2.3 million fish per year, which is certainly better than almost 30 years ago, but still far below the historical runs for the basin, which saw 15 to 20 million fish returning annually.

While there’s still much to do in order to conserve anadromous-fish populations, the 2025 winter and spring steelhead seasons look promising in numerous areas.

The Idaho Department of Fish & Game (IDFG) just announced that more than 100,000 steelhead have crossed the Lower Granite Dam, which means the fish will be plentiful in the upper Salmon and Clearwater River drainages. The recreational steelhead fishery in Idaho should be excellent this year. However, roughly 82,000 fish returning to Idaho came from hatcheries, according to IDFG. Hatcheries are known to have a detrimental effect on wild-fish genetics.

In fact, once hatchery winter steelhead were outlawed on the Skagit and Sauk Rivers in Washington, wild steelhead returns jumped into the 8,000 to 9,000 fish range, an increase from the average of just over 6,000 in prior years.

Speaking of the Skagit and Sauk—just over 7,000 fish are projected to return to these rivers, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). This number will allow a recreational fishery on these famous rivers for the second consecutive year. Both the 2020 and 2022 seasons never opened due to runs that didn’t reach the 4,001-fish mark required.

Still, the mood about steelhead feels optimistic right now. The Northwest Power and Conservation Council (NPCC), which works to preserve salmon and steelhead throughout the Columbia River Basin, set a goal for 5 million fish to return to the basin by 2025.

“While the rolling average from the last 10 years is still about 50% lower than the numbers that NWPCC would like to see, it does point to success from conservation efforts along the river,” wrote Nika Bartoo-Smith for Oregon Public Broadcasting. “That many returning fish is an improvement from the 1990s when the average dipped to its lowest since the beginning of the program.”

More certainly needs to happen in order to ensure the future of salmon and steelhead in the region, but a run of good seasons should be cause for some optimism.