This episode of The Adipose explores our complicated, emotional, and increasingly urgent relationship with the Pacific Northwest’s most iconic fish. Through a reflective letter written after a rare encounter with a wild steelhead, the story traces the species’ extraordinary life cycle, their legendary strength, and the sobering decline that has pushed many runs to the brink.

This is a meditation on why these fish matter, what they reveal about the health of our watersheds, and what we stand to lose, or save, in the years ahead.

What if the key to saving wild steelhead isn’t just about spawning adults, but tiny fry that barely move an inch their first summer? In this episode of The Adipose, we explore research by Nick Chambers, funded in part by the Wild Steelhead Coalition, that reveals how density and dispersal during the fry stage may determine whether a population thrives or collapses. Focused on the Upper Skagit River, this work shows how clustered redds can lead to overcrowding and death rather than dispersal, limiting recruitment and potentially causing managers to underestimate habitat capacity and escapement needs. It’s a story with massive implications not just for the Skagit, but for steelhead rivers everywhere.

In this episode, we explore the deep connections between anglers and the fish that shape their lives. Today's story comes from Jenny O’Brien, whose journey to chase steelhead became something more profound, a meditation on friendship, love, loss, and what it means to belong somewhere.

Our story begins on a familiar drive, one that thousands of steelhead anglers know by heart...