THE FIGHT TO SAVE STEELIES

STATE OF THE STEELHEAD

EXCERPT: NEW BOOK WARNS ABOUT FUTURE DANGERS THE ANADROMOUS FISH MAY FACE

Up and down the West Coast – from Southeast Alaska through the Pacific Northwest and, of course, in droughtstricken California – steelhead and other anadromous fish that call the region’s rivers home could be or already are in trouble. Bainbridge Island, Washington, author Dylan Tomine’s new book explains some of the perils those fish face in his home state and other coastal locales.

Tomine’s bio refers to him as “a father, writer, conservation advocate and recovering sink tip addict; not necessarily in that order.” An earlier book of his, Closer to the Ground: An Outdoor Family’s Year on the Water, in the Woods and at the Table, was a National Outdoor Book Award honorable mention. He is also a producer of a feature-length documentary, Artifishal, made by outdoors giant Patagonia about the fight to save wild salmon. But Tomine’s goal with his latest project is, in part, a plea to protect the steelhead in the Golden State and beyond.

The following is excerpted from Headwaters: The Adventures, Obsession, and Evolution of a Fly Fisherman, by Dylan Tomine. Reprinted with permission by publisher Patagonia Books.

Fly fishing for West Coast and Alaska steelhead and salmon has become a rite of passage for anglers. But a new book written by author Dylan Tomine offers warnings about what has happened, what is happening and what could become of these remarkable fish. (MATTHEW DELORME)

Washington’s Olympic Peninsula rivers are book author Dylan Tomine’s sacred waters. They’re home to that state’s strongest remaining steelhead runs, as well as populations of seagoing bull

trout. (CAMERON KARSTEN)

By Dylan Tomine

Four feet deep. Rocks the size of bowling balls. Choppy on top. The big purple marabou settles into emerald-green water, comes tight, and starts swinging through the seam. I hold my breath and make a small inside mend. The fly slows briefly, swims crosscurrent into the soft water, and suddenly stops. The rod bends. The line pulls. And the river’s surface shatters.

As my reel handle blurs, I hear the hiss of fly line shearing water and watch in awe as the biggest steelhead I’ve ever seen launches into the air and cartwheels away three, four, five times. When I come to my senses, there’s only one thing to do: start running.

Twenty minutes later, heart pounding and sweaty, I’m holding the tiring fish on a tight line as it slips downstream into a chute of fast water. Unable to follow any farther, I clamp down on the spool and my fishing buddy leaps in chest-deep, plunges his arms into the icy water, and heroically comes up with an enormous slab of chrome. At 40½ by 23 inches, it’s quite probably the largest steelhead I will ever land, and one of five we’ve hooked this morning in the same run.

The Dean? Russia? Some other exotic destination? Or maybe a complete steelhead fantasy? Hell no. This was the suburban Skykomish River, 40 minutes from downtown Seattle, on March 14, 1997. That year, in the March–April catch-and-release season, I averaged almost two steelhead per trip. On swung flies. Fishing mostly in short three- or four-hour sessions before or after work. Unbelievable fishing, and even more unbelievable, it wasn’t all that long ago.

Today, the fabulous March and April fishery on my beloved Sky is gone. The wild steelhead population was in such a downward spiral that even the relatively low-impact catchand-release season was completely shut down after the 2000 season.

Heartbreaking? I can’t even find words for how I feel about it. I moved to Seattle in 1993 to be closer to the fabled steelhead waters of Puget Sound. A city where I could work, and a great river with big fish, less than an hour away – it seemed too good to be true. Of course, it was. I had planned on a lifetime of learning and fishing the Skykomish. Instead, I arrived just in time to witness the beginning of the end.

That’s only one river among hundreds of steelhead watersheds on the West Coast, right? What’s the big deal? There are still plenty of fish to catch in other places, aren’t there? And hey, if you aren’t a steelheader, why should you get worked up about some river closing way out in Washington? Good questions all.

I would start with the fish themselves. Perfectly evolved to thrive in both marine and freshwater environments, wild steelhead carry the ocean’s bounty inland as they migrate toward the places of their birth. And, as each watershed provides a different set of spawning and rearing conditions, it creates a unique race of steelhead. In the wild realm, there is no generic steelhead, only a range of fish with characteristics perfectly adapted to their specific rivers.

As anglers, we find ourselves seeking the small, free-rising “A-Run” steelhead of the high-desert Columbia Basin rivers; the “half-pounders” of Northern California and Southern Oregon; magnificent, heavy-bodied winter fish in the Olympic Peninsula rainforest and coastal Oregon rivers; the mind-blowingly powerful August steelhead above the falls on the Dean; the legendary autumn giants on the Skeena; the high-latitude chromers of Kamchatka and the Aleutians …

These fish range from 14 inches to 30 pounds, from 2 to 9 or more years old, from heavily spotted to nearly unmarked. And yet, they share several distinctive traits: a willingness to come to the swung fly; the speed and strength normally associated with

A steelhead jumps through the waters at Coleman National Fish Hatchery near Redding. Tomine’s book cites that even hatchery projects like one in the American River haven’t produced great results. (LAURA MAHONEY/USFWS)

Tomine has fished all over the West Coast and spent five years guiding in Alaska’s Bristol Bay area. He loves the fish he’s cast flies for and wants to continue to do so. (DYLAN TOMINE)

saltwater fish; an individual beauty that possesses those who fish for them; and unfortunately, a future as cloudy as a glacial river after days of warm rain.

Why should we care? If you’re a steelheader, the reasons are obvious. And if you are not, the depleted state of wild steelhead populations on the Pacific Coast serves as a powerful example of a valuable resource squandered and a lesson for anglers and fish managers everywhere. On a bigger scale, steelhead are an indicator species, the proverbial canary in the coal mine of population growth and human consumption. In other words, the health of wild steelhead is a direct reflection of the health of both our watersheds and marine environments. Steelhead can clearly survive without us – the question is, can we survive without them?

“Why are we subsidizing the broken part of this fishery, the commercial gillnetting, to the detriment of the only part of this fishery, the recreational side, that makes economic sense?” –Bruce Hill, Headwaters Initiative

A 2008 STUDY BY Counterpoint

Consulting shows the Skeena River sportfishing industry brings more than $52 million a year into the local economy. On the other hand, the average gross income of a British Columbia North Coast gillnetter during the time covered by the study was $8,000 – about the value of two or three sport-caught-and-released wild steelhead. Exactly how many steelhead perished as bycatch to earn that $8,000 we’ll never know for sure, but it’s a significantly high-enough number that on the rare occasion when the nets are out of the water, steelhead escapement skyrockets. And this doesn’t even take into account Skeena steelhead killed in the British Columbian and Alaskan salmon seine fisheries – many observers believe the number is as high as or even higher than those caught in gill nets. Again, in this commercial fishery, we have a low-income, high-negativeimpact industry that kills thousands of steelhead and depressed salmon stocks, while the sportfishing sector provides large amounts of income with very little impact. And yet, our decision makers can’t seem to do the math.

Think that’s a Canadian problem? Think again. It isn’t any better in the United States. On the (Pacific Northwest’s) Columbia River, a tiny fleet of gillnetters is allowed to target hatchery spring Chinook in the lower river. Unfortunately, as on the Skeena, other fish have the great misfortune to return in the same time frame. A recent year saw more endangered wild winter steelhead taken as bycatch than the targeted salmon …

Farther south and not so very long ago, California was a steelhead mecca of fish-filled streams and unimaginably productive fishing. The home of early steelhead fly-fishing pioneers such as Bill Schaadt and Jim Pray, coastal California was the place to be in the 1950s and 1960s. Movie stars came to catch steelhead, national magazines devoted cover stories to this phenomenal fishery, and the annual records were dominated by fly-caught California steelhead. If you’re a true glutton for punishment, read Russell Chatham’s beautiful book The Angler’s Coast and see what the good old days were really like. Keep a box of tissues nearby.

In the 1960s, the Russian River averaged 50,000 wild steelhead per year. Today, a good year sees seven thousand. As agriculture, development, industrialization, and other human factors have come to dominate the California landscape, the steelhead have predictably responded by disappearing. The

Fewer and fewer summer-runs are returning to Northern California rivers like the Eel, while once-plentiful steelhead in the southern part of the state are all but wiped out. “If you fish for steelhead or dream of someday fishing for them,” the author writes, “if you’d like to believe that we’ll have fishable numbers of steelhead for the rest of our lives and our children’s … the answer is simple: get involved.” (JOHN HEIL/USFWS)

numbers are staggering.

The Carmel River, a small Central Coast watershed, once hosted twenty thousand steelhead each year. In more recent times, the run has fallen to as low as 15 wild steelhead. In 1961, the mighty Sacramento–San Joaquin system had 40,000 spawning steelhead. Today, the annual fish count at the Red Bluff Diversion Dam on the Sacramento River, which carries the bulk of this once-prolific system’s steelhead population, averages 1,400.

California obviously has the most intense population issues on the coast, and has seen the most catastrophic losses of wild steelhead. But management of these precious fish would be absolutely hilarious if the results weren’t so sad. Even the mass-produced hatchery fish of the American River are hardly coming back. Despite enormous numbers of juveniles released each year, which used to result in a run of up to 19,000 fish in the 1970s, returns are now less than 1,000 fish. The Ventura River, which once had a run of 5,000, now gets a return as low as 50 fish per year. As concerned locals petitioned to have the remnants of this run listed under the Endangered Species Act, the feds showed up claiming a need to obtain DNA samples to determine that Ventura River steelhead were in fact a distinct species. How many do you need, they were asked. “Fifty,” was the reply. The situation deteriorated into a standoff between armed State Fish and Wildlife officers protecting the fish from federal employees who needed to “take” fish in order to protect them.

“In our fathers’ generation, they witnessed the complete collapse of the California steelhead fishery. In our generation, it was the famed rivers of Puget Sound. What’s next? We’re currently standing on the edge of the cliff and time is running out. If we’re going to do anything to save wild steelhead, we have to do it now.” –Dr. Nathan Mantua, research scientist, NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center

THE FACT IS, STEELHEAD are under

attack at every level: from federal policies favoring commercial, unsustainable fisheries, mining, and forest harvest practices to bungled state management operating under a philosophy of [maximum sustained harvest], to local municipalities’ sanctioning of development and commercialization. Suburban sprawl engulfs our river valleys. Forestland is cut to build houses and make toilet paper. Modern agriculture requires increasing amounts of water, while dam operators fight to generate more electricity – all at the expense of natural, fish-producing streamflow. To mitigate these losses, we’ve come

to rely on hatcheries, which we are now learning may contribute to wild fish declines as much as all the other factors combined. All this, and we’re only beginning to see the effects of global warming, with its changing weather patterns, shrinking glaciers, catastrophic flood events, and higher summertime stream temperatures. Is it any wonder our fish are in trouble?

To quote Bill Murray in Stripes, “And then … depression set in.” I know, the numbers are staggering. The causes, seemingly insurmountable. The outlook, bleak. But there are reasons for hope, first and foremost of which is that wild steelhead are incredibly tough, resilient fish. As the glaciers retreated thousands of years ago, steelhead spread out, adapted, and colonized a wide range of disparate environments from high-desert sage country to coastal rainforest, from winding tundra streams to broad valley rivers.

When Mount Saint Helens erupted in 1980, sending a boiling mass of superheated ash down the Toutle River, for all intents and purposes, the river as we knew it ceased to exist. To see it shortly after this catastrophic event was to witness a thin trickle of water winding through a wasteland of broken stumps and volcanic mud. And yet, within a few short years, the wild steelhead were back, recolonizing and adapting to their harsh new environment. As Dr. Nathan Mantua says, “If we just give them half a chance, the fish will respond.”

So how do we give them that half a chance? Just as the threats to wild steelhead survival exist on every level, so too do the possible solutions. On a broad scale, since our governments seem to respond best to money, we need to remind the people we’ve entrusted with the management of our fish about the financial benefits of healthy runs and the resulting tourist and sportfishing dollars. We need to fight hidden subsidies and government sanctioning of resource extraction industries. We need to vote, petition, and write letters. Does it work? Absolutely. Just look at the ban on open-water salmon farms for the north coast of British Columbia. After years of hard work by a coalition of First Nations and local nonprofits, the BC government finally agreed with their citizens and implemented the new policy in 2008.

When possible, we need to provide alternatives to the status quo. If we look, there are some surprisingly simple solutions to a number of the challenges we face. For example, in places like the Columbia, Fraser, and Skeena Rivers, where commercial salmon gill-net fisheries intercept a high number of steelhead, live-capture fish traps

or pound nets would allow safe release of fish from depressed stocks, while simultaneously increasing the quality (and thereby the value) of the targeted fish. Everybody wins.

We can also boycott farmed salmon from open-water net pens and explain to restaurants and markets that serve or sell it why this product is so damaging to wild salmon and steelhead. Turns out, most people have no idea about the harm it causes, and, when shown the facts, will happily stop buying or selling farmed salmon.

We should encourage – no, demand – that outdoor gear manufacturers actively give back to preserve the resources they depend upon, and support those that do with our dollars. We can eat local, organic food. Stop watering and fertilizing our lawns. Walk, pedal, or paddle whenever possible. In drought-prone regions, even not flushing when you pee helps.

The most valuable thing we can do, though, is to get directly involved. Of course, I understand most of us don’t have the time or resources to understand all the issues or wage a personal political campaign. That’s where grassroots organizations like Wild Fish Conservancy, Wild Steelhead Coalition, and Native Fish Society come into play. These groups are hard at work doing everything from political lobbying and litigation to scientific research, stream restoration, and funding steelheadrelated projects. They provide the regular angler with the voice and clout of a larger organization, and distribute information to their members about issues requiring action.

As distasteful as politics and joining organizations may be to many anglers, it is, as author and steelhead aficionado Tom McGuane reminds us, “now past the time where we can just go out and fish without worrying about the resource.” That’s pretty much what we’ve been doing, and look where it got us.

If you fish for steelhead or dream of someday fishing for them, if the numbers and issues in this story concern you, if you’d like to believe that we’ll have fishable numbers of steelhead for the rest of our lives and our children’s … the answer is simple: get involved. For that matter, if you’re passionate about trout or stripers or bass or salmon or tarpon, I urge you to learn from what’s happened to our steelhead and get involved with the preservation of your fishery. As steelheaders know all too well, when it goes, it goes fast. CS

Editor’s note: Headwaters: The Adventures, Obsession, and Evolution of a Fly Fisherman, is available at patagonia.com/shop/books. For more information on author Dylan Tomine, check out his website, dylantomine.com.

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IS A BIG BASS SPRING ON TAP?

THIS COULD BE THE YEAR TO SCORE TROPHY FISH

By Capt. Bill Schaefer

This winter we had some streaks of warm weather, which sent bass to the shallows early in Southern California. As the cold winter storms finally passed through we all thought the bass would retreat back out to deeper water, but they haven’t really done their normal upand-down thing this year.

Lakes known every year for having a double spawn will most likely not duplicate that in 2022. It’s time to take advantage of this great springtime bite right now.

BIG BASS ON PROWL

Fishermen who braved the cold, drizzly late-winter days scored some really nice-sized bass. The fish definitely seem to eat better during a low pressure weather situation. With spring’s arrival, bass are still biting well at all the region’s lakes. The lakes were better off after a year of rest because none of them had to take the constant pounding they can experience during the spawning period.

10-POUND TROPHIES

Another bit of great news for this year is all the double-digit fish being brought to the scales. The number of anglers scoring 5- to 9-pound catches is off the charts this year. Ten-poundand-up fish have also been showing up a lot, even in tournament bags.

But some catches are not advertised, as some of the anglers seeking the big ones only show off on

Rich Sweatnam shows off a nice fluke bass. With a good assortment of lures in your tackle box, you can probably expect a strike. (BILL SCHAEFER)

fish boards and on Facebook.

Because big-fish years seem to come in phases, it seems that we may be headed in that direction in 2022. Most bass fishermen are having a great springtime experience. You may even score your personal-best fish as well this year.

SPAWN TALK

As you read this, the spawn should be headed into full swing in most of the lakes in your area, with, of course, elevation and water temperature factoring into the equation.

Tons of male bass are roaming the shorelines of all the Southern California lakes; some of them will be locked on beds already, along with the big females hanging just outside.

I won’t debate catching bedded fish with you, but if you do pluck them off a nest, take a quick picture of those giant bass and return them to finish their spawn, which will keep your lake stocked with giants for generations to come.

Many fishermen do not target bed fish and simply blind-fish the bank and catch what they do, even if their lure takes the bass off a bed. This is one way to take advantage of the spawn without sight bed fishing. Just remember that not all the bass rush the bank at once.

BRING LOTS OF LURES

There are early spawners, the vast bulk of fish and then the late-bedding ones, meaning your lures can vary through the spawn. In fact, a wider variety of lures works this time of year than at any other. Don’t be afraid to experiment with lures you haven’t thrown a lot or don’t have much confidence in; you will soon gain it.

This brings up the question of what lures to throw this time of year. Everyone has their favorites, and so far this year anglers have been scoring on everything but the kitchen sink.

Usually around this time, some bass are still trying to bulk up for the spawn and are eating crawdad-style lures. Yamamoto Fat Ikas have been doing very well at a lot of lakes, along with regular jig and craw-type trailers. Even the Carolina-rigged creature baits have been scoring their share of fish. Don’t hesitate to drop-shot smaller crawdad creature baits as well.

BASS ARE IN REACTION MODE

The odd thing about 2022 – and it’s not really that odd when the winter has long warm periods – is the reaction bite has been on at a lot of lakes and should be doing well by now everywhere. Soft and hard jerkbaits, spinnerbaits and various styles of crankbaits have been the tickets to score. Even some buzzbait and other topwater action has been had this late winter and early spring. Never doubt how aggressive the bass can be while in spawn mode. Remember, they are in just a few feet of water and will readily attack something passing over their head as well.

For all you plastic fanatics, dropshot, split-shot and Texas-rigged worms are all doing great. Crawdad and shad colors do well this time of year, as do bluegill and baby bass. Dead-sticking worms will attract bites, so move your bait an inch or two and let it sit as long as you can stand it, and then do it that long again. The idea is to drag the worm or bait into a bed for the protecting bass to attack. Just letting it sit there will drive them into biting. Sometimes all you see is your line going off in another direction as the bass carries your bait off the nest.

BRUSH UP ON STRUCTURE

The fish are in the shallows, and after

Author Bill Schaefer admires a nice Yamamoto Senko bass. He thinks this spring spawning period could produce a number of 10-plus-pound fish in

Southland lakes. (BILL SCHAEFER)

a rain the water can rise at some lakes, putting brush in the shallows, or your lake may be just lucky enough to have a lot of brush along the shore.

Many times you will have to go into it after the bass. Throw your lure right in the brush and don’t be afraid to lose it. Worry about getting bit first and then think about the battle to get them out.

Those Fat Ikas will do well in this scenario, along with fishing jigs. And, of course, the Yamamoto Senko would be great for fishing shallow brush.

As the spawn progresses and bass fry make their appearance in the shallows, there are usually bass guarding them for some time after they leave the bedding area. You may not see them, but they are there – just hanging back a little, or in deeper water outside the ball of fry. Small bass and bluegill will attack and eat the fry. Running a jerkbait or crankbait in these patterns through the ball will often attract a strike from the bass guarding it.

CHECK THAT LINE

If you haven’t already done so, it’s time to respool your reels. You don’t want to lose a giant bass of a lifetime. Now is the time of year when your chances are highest to make it happen. Especially check your drag washers and make sure you have a smooth drag system. Make sure the boat is ready for all situations. Check your batteries and connections to your trolling motor. Organize your tackle to get out and fish.

I’ll take my Daiwa Tatula rods and reels, separate them all and lube the reels, replace the line and mark each cork handle with the line size on that particular setup. I just write it on the underside at the top of the rear cork handle; so no more guessing.

Wipe your rods down too and clean the eyes of any old, dried-up green slime – algae. I actually wax my rods once in a while as well with spray wax and just wipe them down.

This time of year, you may want to go with a little heavier line or braided line to pull those giants out of the brush they’re spawning in. I may go with Maxima in anywhere from 12- or 20-pound mono or Daiwa in 50- to 60-pound braid.

Make sure you have the right setups ready to go when you reach the lake. Get your quiver of weapons lined up and add the baits you think you will be using the most. If you don’t have that many rods, then a quick-clip on the end of your line can help change from lure to lure as needed.

Joel King is happy with his catch. Don’t be shy about throwing your lure right into the brush. That’s where that fish of your lifetime could be waiting to

ENJOY SPRING FLINGS

Springtime can be a great time to introduce friends and family to bass fishing. With so many fish roaming the banks, it increases the chance of catching some. It is also a time to bond with your kids and show them all the nature and wildlife residents around the lakes (think deer, hawks, eagles and vultures – you may even see the occasional bear).

Make a day of it and the little ones will be begging you to take them again and again. CS