It is no secret in the angling world that 2021 has marked the worst returns of wild steelhead since records started being kept nearly 100 years ago (1938). I won’t go into the cause or cause(s) as the issue has been beat to death and has led to nothing but more incoherent debate instead of progress. However, the response from various angling communities that cherish and rely on steelhead via their respective fisheries and businesses built around them has been telling. The differing positions taken by various regions very much highlights the issues plaguing most fisheries today, and serves as a microcosm for what the angling community at large is presently faced with. And in the case of the Deschutes River, I think the stance taken by the angling community there, and most importantly the guiding community there, is worth discussing.
Focusing on the Deschutes, the season began with tough conditions consisting of poor flows and warm temperatures to kick off the summer steelhead season. This was after the past several seasons had already been tough in terms of poor returns that made it clear to everyone that steelhead returns were down significantly. This wasn’t just a theory, but verified as counting data in the several years leading up to the 2021 season showed returns were well below historical averages. This trend along with very poor conditions going into the 2021 season had the guiding community on edge and questioning the merits of the season. Then the data for the 2021 returns started to come in as the traditional migratory season began this summer. Initial data was poor. The response from the steelhead community at large was of course mixed, with some arguing the run was “delayed” due to unseasonably warm temps, a common argument that commercial anglers make on any migratory fishery when a season is setting up to be poor, all of course in an attempt to keep clients committed to their upcoming trips for that given season. By August however, the Deschutes River’s guiding community leaders had seen enough. The decision was made by several respected figures on the river to cancel their entire guide season for steelhead. The fact this decision was made in August was significant, in that the ability to plausibly argue “the run was delayed” was still technically possible if they wanted to go that route out of self interest. But They knew it wasn’t a matter of the run being “Delayed”, and made the most difficult choice a guiding community can possibly make by sacrificing the entire guide season along with their livelihood for the 2021 year. The decision was announced first by Outfitter Jeff Hickman that they were canceling the entire season. Other respected leaders on the river quickly fell in line after the initial decision was made and announced. The power and influence of the river’s leaders coming together in unified fashion in such a selfless way had an immediate impact on the river at large. The initial decision to cancel the season was relayed to clients in a letter that really hits home if you are an angler that knows what it is to love a river and the fish you pursue, and can be read here. https://www.hatchmag.com/articles/when-do-you-draw-line/7715339
Following the decision by key leaders of the river, other guides and anglers began to follow suit by committing to the same decision to refrain from fishing. Thinking about this from a psychological standpoint is interesting, as you know not all that fell in line actually wanted to do so, or would have done so had the leaders of the river not taken the lead and set the standard. However, the peer pressure to conform prevailed over their own self-interest, giving true purpose and meaning to the initial actions and decisions made by the heart and sole leaders of the River’s community. Soon after this decision was made and the ripple effects of it began to become publicly known, the State of Oregon closed fishing on the Deschutes in the Month of September. If the guides didn’t think it was right to fish, the State of Oregon had no choice but to agree with them.
Contrast that with how other states have handled the same crisis. Take Idaho for instance, a State that has been often publicly criticized for putting commercial fishing interests over conservation. There, top officials within the State’s environmental agency acknowledged the data for the Columbia River, which all Idaho Bound Steelhead must travel, was the lowest on record. These same officials even conceded that the returns were so low that “they might not have enough fish to gather eggs to support their supplemental stocking program”. Yet, Idaho’s top environmental officials voted in a panel of 7 to not only keep the season open, but also to allow catch and kill. Their limited concession (compromise) to acknowledge the lowest returns on record being a reduction in the creel limit from 3 to 1 fish on most rivers, with of course the most whored out-goon squad river in the State (The Clearwater) getting even less protection via a 2 fish creel limit (versus 3 in 2020). In defending the decision to the public, Idaho’s environmental officials rationalized that angling pressure was actually a good thing because it ensured that the stocked steelhead (steelhead they stock themselves) are killed and not able to reproduce with wild steelhead. (See https://lmtribune.com/northwest/idaho-allows-limited-steelhead-season/article_c2aa8237-f26c-5f09-b82d-227ae84159ef.html) Raising the impossible to ignore rhetorical question- why stock steelhead if you actually believe they are harmful to the existing wild steelhead population? Yes, the same state that has supported stocking large b-run steelhead in the Clearwater on top of existing wild steelhead hypocritically and conveniently decided in 2021 that those stocked steelhead are a threat to wild steelhead to justify allowing catch and kill on Idaho’s steelhead rivers. Idaho’s officials went even further to defend their decision, by stating that it was their opinion based on their “analysis” that only 23 wild steelhead would be killed “Accidentally” by the angling community over the course of the 2021 season to dismiss concerns that the caveman angler base culture there posed a risk to the few wild steelhead returning in 2021. Given the fact that the Clearwater is the West Coast’s equivalent to the Salmon River in Pulaski New York, with grip and grins and boga grips being the norm, it is a downright lie to say that the casualty rate of poor handling, fatally hooked fish, and just downright violators that keep wild steelhead proclaiming they thought they were stocked is going to be 23 fish. The bigger picture though is Idaho’s top environmental agency is willing to try and thread the needle to this degree, irrespective of the historic all time low returns of wild steelhead/steelhead generally, to try and please the commercial interests tied to their respective steelhead waters. In the view of Idaho’s top environmental agency, 23 dead wild steelhead (known to really be several hundred dead wild steelhead out of a total of a few thousand) isn’t enough to justify shutting down the big show in town for the fall and winter season. The show must go on.
Then there of course is the debate that has ensued online. Those affected by the self imposed self regulation of Oregon’s leaders in the fishing community have tried to attack it saying in so many words “ the mortality rate by anglers is not why the returns are so low” to try and challenge the rationale behind refraining from targeting steelhead this year. While on its face that seems logical, and by the way is true, it misses the point. Oregon’s guides that initiated this decision didn’t do so because they thought the angling community was the CAUSE of the lowest returns on record. They knew the issue of low returns was tied to a more systemic and larger problem than simply angler impact. However, They made the hard choice because they felt that regardless of the cause, numbers had approached the point of being too low to justify fishing for them. Any mortality rate for a fish that once thrived there, but now can be fairly characterized as endangered, simply should not be the focus of our angling efforts. As Jeff Hickman put it “If you dont draw the line this year, when do you? How low do the numbers really have to get for you to say enough is enough.”
CONTRASTING THE RESPONSE TO THE STEELHEAD CRISIS VERSUS THE WESTERN US DROUGHT
While a separate and hopefully temporary crisis, the western U.S. this year saw drought conditions that it had not seen for more than 2 decades on most waters. The western angling community knew early on in the 2021 season that it was going to be a tough season based on well below average snow pack, and in some cases prolonged drought conditions that just simply continued and exponentially worsened in the 2021 year. However, as the 2021 trout season came into its own, and the projected drought scenario became a reality, we saw the flaws that come when an angling community compromises only to the extent that the laws require them to.
As an example, in Montana the state imposed “hoot owl” measures this summer in most cases starting in Early to Mid July, which require all fishing to end at 2pm (a time when most rivers faced with hoot owl restrictions were already touching 70 degrees) due to warm temperatures and/or extreme low flows. As the drought worsened, any ethical angler knew many rivers that were hitting 72+ degrees on a daily basis for the entire summer should not be fished at all. However, the show must go on. Trips were run to conform with the hoot owl measures where guide trips started early and ended early to comply. However, did any of these anglers really believe these trout were doing OK just because the water temps were technically below lethal range for a matter of a few hours each morning, before exceeding lethal temps each day? The answer is a hard no. The impact of this was visible and real to anglers paying attention as dead trout could be found even on “technically fishable” tailwaters such as the Missouri in the later part of the summer season, which were undeniably victims of poor handling when conditions didn’t provide a margin for error when it came to doing it for the Gram.
In the case of the Western U.S. trout season, modest and meaningless compromises were made, and made public of course to politically appear conservation minded, which included “no grip and grins” and ending at noon rather than right at the hoot owl buzzer. But were these truly difference makers that eliminated the risks and harm the high volume of angling pressure on western waters posed? When looking at it objectively it was a great excuse for ending your guide day early and still getting a full day’s pay, and the same harm caused to the fish on waters that were hanging on by a thread. The refusal to make the ethical sacrifices for the fish on many of the popular but stressed waters in the Western U.S. is even more questionable when knowing many rivers in the state were being studied to explore why trout populations were down significantly before the drought began this summer. These on going research projects on rivers like the bighole, beaverhead, jefferson, and upper clark fork signify caution should have been there before the 2021 drought scenario played out, let alone once it did. The Show must go on though. Mantras such as “they’re there you just gotta work for them” and other “just shut up and fish” are relied on more in so many words by the angling community that chalks up declines in the quality of most fisheries across the board as “it is what it is”. As Jeff Hickman said though, “when do you draw the line?”
So, how do you reconcile all of the above? Yes, the steelhead issue is perhaps the most dire in all of fly-fishing right now. That said, most rivers are facing a variety of serious issues today that they weren’t facing even 10 years ago that are related to the growth in recreational use they have seen over time. And for that reason, there are lessons to be learned here from what happened in Oregon. First, I think the decision made by the Deschutes River’s guiding community and leaders serves as proof that the actions of a few on a given river can have a major impact. Secondly, not only do I think the above serves as an example that anglers CAN in fact self regulate and protect their waters, but I think they must. it must be accepted as a new norm that the angling community needs to wrap their minds around if we are going to preserve the waters we rely on in the modern area of fly-fishing and angling generally. Finally, and most importantly, I think the above shows that setting the standard at the point where State Laws apply isn’t good enough. The reality is most state environmental agencies are not equipped to adequately protect the resources of their given state. Consequently, State regulations often are not as nuanced and comprehensive as they need to be to account for this lack of resources. Regulations are kept simple for easy understanding to account for limited enforcement. States with truly wild and premier waters further face conflicts of interest when it comes to balancing conservation versus economics as these states have a high percentage of outdoor businesses and revenue derived from recreational use of these very waters. These conflicts of interest result in regulatory decisions that superficially are said to be implemented for the sole purpose of protecting wild resources, but truly are just calculated political compromises to avoid outcry from any one group. State agencies try to create regulations that prioritize pleasing their constituents, not protecting wild resources from their constituents. These backwards priorities cause the bar to be set too low.
The decision by the Deschutes River’s angling community is the first example I am aware of in modern fly-fishing where true sacrifice and appreciation from the river community has been demonstrated by both the commercial and private angling community. While canceling the season is an extreme response to an extreme crisis, the anecdote here is the angling community for every watershed needs to be willing to self-regulate and make hard decisions that mirror the gravity of the issue they are intended to fight against. And while this is undeniably a challenging task, the Deschutes River proves for us that it is not impossible.