Sounds like an awesome day, love to hear the trout are numerous and healthy! Might have to check it out :)

Awesone fighters too I might ad most trout jumped 3-4 times and made very impressive runs for their size

Awesome!

Not trying to cause a problem but maybe you should check into the life history of our rivers steelhead populations, might be more responsible to get your trout dinner fix from some of the lakes. That being said, sounds llike you had a blast, and I'm not trying to dampen your day, on a legal fishery.

The life history of our rivers steelhead populations?

I understand your sentiment, have read ip on the history, and I know yhese are not juvenile steal. All of these fish had full afi pose fin if tgey were juve steal there would have been at least some clipped fins.. and I checked.. these are 100% resident river trout that are after freshly laid salmon eggs. I did consider that when fishing. Also if they were juve steal than the wallace must have wa states most productive bative jack steal returns in the pac north west.. I dont buy it.. thry are resident trout.

Please bear with the typos, not used to my new phone yet.

Just gutted my fish, no signs of reproduction. No sperm sac. No eggs= not a stealhead

Out migrating juvi fish would not have reproductive organs. I was more alluding to that it has now been shown that returning native fish spawn with resident rainbows as part of there natural process. Honestly, it would be better if that was a fun clipped juvi hatch fish. Kind of a funny thought, a big steelhead spawning with a little resident, but they do it. Thanks for being aware though and actually caring, like I said definetly was not trying to be a jerk.

Ny poing about tgst he clipped fin was this: there are more hstch steel in the wallace than natives. If any of these were steal I would know, because of tge clipped fin at least 80% would have clipped fins I would assume if they were juve steal. 0 had clipped fins. Ok so we can agree my fish were definitely 100% not stealhead And thst they were in fact resident trout. The fact that native steal could and probably do reproduce with resident trout is highly likely, but if thats why I shouldnt keep resident trout thsn no one shoukd keep hatch steel either becsuse batives cabreproduce with them also.. im not angry with you. I just disagree with your logic.

First sentance: " my point about the clipped fibd was this:" sorry about the typos thats what I meant.

Glad you had fun, enjoy yourself, its legal. I'll respectfully bow out.

Thank you for your polite attitude and for yout input. I dont mean to offend you either I just enjoy a good debate.

Jon - Nice job out there. You are definitely the Trout Master of the rivers and the lakes! Let me know if you want to hook up for some springers when they are in the rivers. I'd enjoy fishing with you again!
BTW - Glad you have a new phone. Now we can see your pictures of your fish clearly.

@chwong id love to hit the water with you again any time. If you have the itch to fish just send me a pm.

Ok. You can be sure I'll take you up on that.

Looks like you had an awesome day. I have never fished the Wallace, but would like to give it a shot. Were you under the railroad bridge that is right by the mouth, or a different bridge?

I was at the highway 2 bridge about 3/4 mile before the village of goldbar, about 1/4 mile before the state salmon hatchery. I bet any deep hole in the wallace would yeild well right now though.

Nice, and you say you were catching mostly cutts? I have been interested in finding a decent location to go after them.

Congrats. on the nice day of fishing JonB. Way to handle the respectful conversation as well!
Maybe one day this year we can hook up as well?!

Id love to quadfather just send a pm and we will make plans

@ ajfishdude I was mostly catching bows a few cutts here and there. If its cutts your after try the 4 lakes off scotty road in granite falls. Lake chitwood has the largest cutts, lake hanson has the best access and is an excellent cutt fishery for size and quantity. Lake smelling has the highest quantity. Lake julia is good fishing too but its a 1 mile slog through deep dark dense rugged forest with no trail. The others can be got to via dnr logging roads. Access is allowed by foot or bicycle.

Just me.... but I thought any Sea-Run cutthroat native fish are to be released. I haven't looked at the Regs but I like the comment earlier above about if you are wanting a trout dinner... go on a lake that has them.... chances are by catching all those fish in the river using bait there were many more fish harmed than the ones he kept. I thought it was usual practice when bait fishing you have to keep the fish regardless of size til you get your limit. Therefore, all those 100+ fish JB says he caught wouldn't have been harmed. I'm glad you used C&R, but truthfully, it's wrong to use bait (especially worms) in the rivers when catching small trout. They inhale the hooks and die. Even after release.

Every fish you catch using bait counts towards your limit. And there is no way of telling if those "resident fish" were anadromous or not. You are ignorant and misinformed, this is the reason why the steelhead numbers are so low. Just ignorance and misinformation.

TROUT: The combined daily limit for an angler that fishes in both rivers and lakes on the same day is 5 TROUT. In the combined daily limit, only 2 TROUT may be from rivers, except as provided for EASTERN BROOK TROUT.
BROWN TROUT CUTTHROAT TROUT RAINBOW TROUT LAKE TROUT GOLDEN TROUT KOKANEE TIGER TROUT LANDLOCKED GRAyLING ATLANTIC, CHINOOK, and COHO SALMON
In rivers, streams, and beaver ponds: Min. size 8". Daily limit 2. When fishing with bait, all TROUT
(except STEELHEAD) equal to or greater than the minimum size are counted as part of the daily limit
whether kept or released.
In lakes, ponds, and reservoirs: No min. size. Daily limit 5. When fishing with bait, all TROUT
(except STEELHEAD) equal to or greater than the minimum size are counted as part of the daily limit
whether kept or released.

Count towards daily limit equal to or greater than min size. Key words 14" min size all but 1 were under 14. And EVERY fish I caught was in the mouth snf released safely.. I dont care if you think its wrong I know I didnt harm the fish I released.

@COLE311 this is mearly a case of jeleousy your trying to blame me for your bad stealhead year. Because I caught more fish in 1 day than you caught all season and are trying to rain on my parade any way you can to attempt to deter me or others for utalizing this legal fishery. You are no more than a fishibg terrorist trying to scare anf harrass others off "your rivers" sad.

Page 29 Wallace River: from 363 ave se/ Reese road (dike road) to 200' upstream or water intake of salmon hatchery: Dolly varden/ bull trout min size 20" daily limit 2 All other TROUT min size 14" daily limit 2

Need I say more?!?!

"I haven't looked at the Regs"... "You are ignorant and misinformed"... dang, read the Regs, and understand the regs. There is a reason WDFW put in a big huge section called "Puget Sound and Strait Rivers - Special Rules". It's maddening that you guys post comments attacking the guy posting the report, it's actually YOU that are ignorant of the rules. SO, as they say in poker, read em and weep:

pg 17 - The Special Rules (pages 21-95) list
freshwater areas where the Statewide Rules
have been modified.

pg 22:
"With various fish populations across the state being listed under the Endangered Species Act, WDFW must provide as much
protection as possible for all life stages of these populations, in particular for rearing juveniles. For many years, the standard stream
rule opened rivers, streams, and beaver ponds to fishing for Game Fish from the first Saturday in June – October 31, with an 8"
minimum size, 2 fish/day limit. Consequently, much of the juvenile rearing habitat for resident trout and Dolly Varden and anadromous
salmon, steelhead, cutthroat, and Bull Trout was open for fishing. As a result, these juvenile salmonids were at risk of being
incidentally caught and may have not survived being handled and released, especially if bait was used.
***In 2010 we adopted a new management strategy that offered additional protection to stocks in streams draining into Puget Sound
and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. In 2012 this strategy was extended to the Coast. The basic rule in these waters is that all rivers,
streams, and beaver ponds are closed to fishing unless they are listed in the following tables within the Puget Sound, Strait, and
Coastal River sections of the pamphlet (see pages 23-51). These tables detail ALL of the fishing opportunity in these drainages.
Areas open to fisheries are presented by river system unless the waters drain directly to salt water. All other waters in these
drainages are closed to fishing. Beaver ponds located within or connected to streams listed as open to TROUT and Other Game Fish
follow the same rules as the stream unless otherwise listed.***
We have provided a map of these watersheds (below) to get you started on locating an area where you would like to fish. There
are also alphabetical listings of open areas (see pages 22 and 39). The Columbia River and its tributaries remain as listed in the
conventional format and still fall under the statewide seasons, unless otherwise noted."

And finally, as noted on pg 29: Wallace River: from 363 ave se/ Reese road (dike road) to 200' upstream or water intake of salmon hatchery: Dolly varden/ bull trout min size 20" daily limit 2 All other TROUT min size 14" daily limit 2

If you're not happy with the way WDFW has written these rules, I challenge you to send them an e-mail, call them, and express your concerns. Then tell us (in the forum) your experience and how you made an effort to make a difference in what you feel is an improper WDFW regulation. Otherwise you're just making a bunch of noise with no consequence.