Federal overseers have approved a new long-term plan to allow Washington and tribal comanagers to hold late winter and spring steelhead fisheries on the Skagit and Sauk Rivers when enough return and WDFW has opened a Saturday-Wednesday season starting March 25.

Anglers have been tying up plastic worm drift rigs and double stacking their spoons in anticipation of getting back on the famed North Cascades duo ever since late last December when a forecast of 5,200-plus wild fish came out and a 30-day public comment period opened on the new 10-year Skagit River Steelhead Resource Management Plan guiding fishing.

But final approval of the RMP from the National Marine Fisheries Service was held up by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concerns over impacts on ESA-listed bull trout. Populations of the fish-eating seagoing char are pretty strong in the Skagit system, where there’s even a two-over-20-inches daily limit in places, though not many are known to be harvested.

“We acknowledge that anglers have been eagerly awaiting updates on Skagit steelhead and are excited to open this fishery now that our plan has been approved,” said Edward Eleazer, WDFW’s North Puget Sound Region Fish Program manager in an agency press release.

Back around Christmas WDFW said that under the RMP there were enough steelhead returning this year to open upper portions of the Skagit and the lower half of the Sauk for potentially up to five days a week for fishing from February through April. More than half of that timeframe has flowed downriver, but there’s still 27 days of fishing ahead and these winter-runs are known to be among the latest spawning steelhead in the state, given run timing and cold waters.

Season runs through April 30.

The new RMP – required because of 2007’s ESA listing of Puget Sound steelhead – takes the place of a five-year plan approved in 2018 that came out of a long-running campaign stretching back to hookless fish-ins at Howard Miller Steelhead Park in the late 2000s as anglers rallied to reopen the system as runs improved after a series of down years.

“NOAA Fisheries has concluded that fisheries conducted consistent with the co-manager-developed Skagit RMP will not jeopardize the continued existence of ESA-listed Puget Sound steelhead, nor reduce their likelihood of recovery,” reads a statement by NMFS about the 10-year RMP, good through April 30, 2032.

WDFW wrote the plan with comanagers from the Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community and Upper Skagit Indian Tribe. It allows for tribal harvest.

The Skagit and Sauk are also key elements in WDFW’s Quicksilver Portfolio, meant to provide a diversity of angling opportunities on Westside steelhead streams while protecting and rebuilding struggling runs.

“Strong support from the legislature and steelhead advocates was vital for the new 10-year Skagit plan as well as the Quicksilver Portfolio,” said WDFW Fish Program Director Kelly Cunningham in the release. “We’re moving forward with increased monitoring and other efforts for Puget Sound steelhead and sustainable fisheries, and we hope that the Legislature continues to support this important work into the future.”

There were Skagit-Sauk steelhead seasons in 2018, 2019, 2021 and now again in 2023, but 2020’s and 2022’s forecasts fell below the 4,000-fish threshold to open fishing. The larger the forecast, the more time on the water.

THE FOLLOWING ARE RULE CHANGE NOTICES FROM THE WASHINGTON DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE

A portion of the Sauk River to open for catch and release steelhead fishing five days per week

March 22, 2023

Action:  Opens Catch and Release steelhead fishing.

Effective date:  March 25 through April 30, 2023; Saturdays through Wednesdays.

Species affected:  Steelhead     

Location:  Sauk River (Skagit/Snohomish Co.), from the mouth to the Darrington Bridge (Sauk Prairie Road Bridge).

Steelhead rules:  Open Saturdays through Wednesdays only, closed Thursdays and Fridays.  Fishing for all other species remains closed 7 days per week.

• Catch and release, except up to 2 hatchery steelhead may be retained. Wild steelhead must be released immediately and may not be removed from the water.
• Selective Gear Rules (SGR) in effect. Night Closure in effect.
• Fishing is prohibited from a vessel equipped with an internal combustion motor.  

 Reason for action:  The Skagit River Steelhead preseason forecast is 5,211 steelhead. In accordance with the Skagit steelhead Resource Management Plan, the steelhead return is sufficient to safely provide some catch and release opportunity. The two day per week closure is a conservation measure to provide steelhead some daylight hours without fishing effort for spawning activities.

Additional information:  This fishery will be monitored by WDFW to estimate impacts to Skagit winter steelhead as well as all incidental catch of other fish species. Anglers are asked to cooperate with creel personnel collecting catch information.

Information contact:  Mill Creek Regional Office, 425 775-1311

Upper Skagit River opens to catch and release steelhead fishing five days per week

March 22, 2023

Action:  Opens Catch and Release steelhead fishing.

Effective date:  March 25 through Apr. 30, 2023; Saturdays through Wednesdays.

Species affected:  Steelhead

Location:  Skagit River (Skagit Co.), from the Dalles Bridge in the town of Concrete to the Cascade River Rd. Bridge in Marblemount.

Steelhead rules:  Open Saturdays through Wednesdays only, closed Thursdays and Fridays.  Fishing for all other species remains closed 7 days per week.

• Catch and release, except up to 2 hatchery steelhead may be retained. Wild steelhead must be released immediately and may not be removed from the water.
• Selective Gear Rules (SGR) in effect. Night Closure in effect.
• Fishing is prohibited from a vessel that is under power.

 Reason for action:  The Skagit River Steelhead preseason forecast is 5,211 steelhead. In accordance with the Skagit steelhead Resource Management Plan, the steelhead return is sufficient to safely provide some catch and release opportunity. The two day per week closure is a conservation measure to provide steelhead some daylight hours without fishing effort for spawning activities.

Additional information:  This fishery will be monitored by WDFW to estimate impacts to Skagit winter steelhead as well as all incidental catch of other fish species. Anglers are asked to cooperate with creel personnel collecting catch information.

Information contact:  Mill Creek Regional Office, 425 775-1311