Can't say I'm in total disagreement on this but I'm with you Fin. If the goal is to increase wild fish escapement then why not just shut down the river for the entire year? Predictions were low anyway. Pure speculation on my part, but perhaps that has to do with perceived loss of license revenue if they were to announce a closure at the beginning of the season.
Does anyone know how WDFW comes up with such an absolute number like 458 for wild steelhead escapement? Are they counting redds?
I've fished the Green a handful of times when I lived up that way but I'm unfamiliar with some of the dynamics. What is the tribal net schedule look like on the Green? Are they still being allowed to net after the closure?
They're not counting redds for this year's return and I doubt they're using creel survey's to determine this as they're incredibly unreliable. More likely this is a forecast made using spawner surveys from the contributing brood years and expected ocean condition modeling. I'm unfamiliar with practices in this basin, but there may be some juvenile outmigration sampling going on as well.
