For years, the story of the Skagit River steelhead fishery has been one of decline and loss. But that story is now on its way to becoming one of renewal thanks to the hard work of Trout Unlimited’s Wild Steelhead Initiative staffers Nick Chambers and John McMillan, working together with a broad coalition of recreational anglers in Washington’s Puget Sound.

Washington was once home to the greatest concentration of quality steelhead fisheries in the Lower 48 and the Skagit River was the crown jewel of them all. Over the past few decades, many of those fisheries have been shuttered due to declining populations and poor management strategies. The Skagit was the last to close in 2010 and anglers in the Puget Sound area no longer had a home fishery.

Working closely with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife staff, testifying at commission meetings, and providing feedback on the fishery management plan for the Skagit basin, both Chambers and McMillan provided the necessary science to the resource agencies and support for the decision-makers to consider and eventually re-open the iconic fishery under a five-year plan which began in 2018.

The five-year plan provides for an annual catch-and-release sport-fishing season that runs from February through April, in addition to a tribal harvest fishery. The plan allows for different mortality rates depending on the projected run size and both the tribes and sport anglers are each allocated 50 percent of the allowable mortality.

Trout Unlimited played a significant role in re-opening this legendary steelhead water for angling, and will continue to work diligently to make sure the fishery is properly managed into the future for healthy, productive rivers with resilient wild steelhead, as the best advocates for wild steelhead are the anglers themselves. Not only does this re-opened fishery enable sport and tribal anglers to get back on the water — but it helps the economies of towns such as Darrington, Marblemount and Concrete.