If you haven’t heard the steelhead season is open now in the Central Washington Region. The numbers of fish is exceeding what was expected and my go over 20,000 this year. There is good news and bad news about the limits this year, which is two adipose fin clipped fish per day. This run is made up of close to 60 percent wild fish. This is good news for recovery and the potential of getting our steelhead off the Endangered Species Act list in the future, but it does reduce the number of hatchery fish available to anglers. It is hoped that the two-fish limit will help extend the fishing season. With a four fish limit the number of wild fish that would be caught and released could mount up fast and cause an early closure of some if not all of the steelhead seasons. I want to remind anglers that the selective steelhead seasons in our region are made possible by the purchase of the Salmon and Steelhead Endorsement when you bought your license. Even if we had a ton of fish, without the funds to monitor the runs they would not be opened. So thanks for spending the extra money on your license. It is paying off right here for anglers in Central Washington.