LAST WINTER, Pacific Northwest anglers anxiously awaited approval to fish for wild steelhead on Washington’s legendary Skagit River, which hadn’t opened in 2020 or 2022. January and February passed with no news. Finally, on March 22, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) announced that the 2023 season would open three days later, on March 25, and go through April 30. Steelheading was allowed five days a week, Saturdays through Wednesdays.
The welcome-but-tardy news marked a milestone: the
