The Catt does has wild steelhead. There is an LO trib near rochester that also has some natural reproduction. IMO, the key to natural reproduction of lake run fish is removing dams. There are Lake Trout that naturally reproduce in the Niagara River and Lake Ontario. There supposedly isn't any natural reproduction of steelhead, salmon, and brown trout in the Niagara River, but I have a hard time believing that. I believe there is a small population of resident brown trout and lake trout in a certain area of the Niagara - I have caught those fish 12 months a year in the Niagara River, but very few in July and early August. If they remove Scoby Dam on the Catt or at least create a fish passage as planned, this will make the river that much better. I fish both the upper and lower catt system quite a bit.
The salmon river isn't really that far from the lake to the dam (about 13 miles) but there are some tribs that provide good habitat for spawning, so I'm sure there are some wild fish there but SR fish get absolutely slaughtered, and personally I have no interest in fishing for black steelhead in 20 degree temps, especially when even on the coldest days you have to sit in the dark for an hour to get a prime spot. If I were to fish the salmon river, it would be between now and Oct 1, and it would have to be on a tues or weds, and I wouldn't make a long drive, the crowds just drive me nuts. I'm a firm believer that the best time to fish the GL tribs is in early fall when the fish are beginning to run. It's a crap shoot but I'd much rather fish for silver fish than black ones.
As far as pollution, I'm sure the catt has had pollution, but it always stunk. The indian name Cattaraugus is derived from means "foul smelling river bank" the sulphur smell is from natural gas that oozes from the mud. GG you are probably talking about the Zoar valley area.
