Washington wildlife managers have moved to restrict steelhead fishing to catch-and-release only on the Snake River starting Saturday.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife will not allow any steelhead harvest on the Snake through the rest of the season, but anglers can keep one steelhead per day on the Grande Ronde, Tucannon, and Touchet rivers. The agency is also suspending mandatory hatchery steelhead retention rules on those tributaries. 
The move follows Idaho’s statewide suspension of steelhead harvest announced earlier this month, as both states want to ensure enough hatchery steelhead return to hatcheries to meet spawning needs.
The 2017 steelhead run is shaping up to be among the worst on record. Through Sunday, only 622 steelhead had been counted at Lower Granite Dam, compared to the 10-year average of more than 10,300. Managers for the Columbia River basin cut by more than half their forecast of A-run steelhead returns to the Columbia River, from 112,000 to 54,000.
Before the run began, biologists expected a poor return of steelhead and said the number of B-run steelhead would be especially bad. (Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife)
