hrm....was it always like this? you need a steelhead tag to actually just fish the vedder/chilliwack during steelhead season? i always thought back that you don't need a tag to fish for the heck of it....but need a tag to retain them? Some people who fished during the actual salmon season, don't have a tag and just C&R salmon and fish for trout.....(used as an excuse) and gotten away with it.
It has been like that for as long as I can remember Bunnta, and that is going back a couple of decades. You've always needed a steelhead tag to
fish for steelhead, whether you are keeping the hatchery fish or not. As Sterling made clear, with Salmon you only need a tag if you want to keep one. You do not, however, need a steelhead tag if you are not fishing for steelhead, even if they are present in the river, unless it is a Classified Water (ie: Skeena system).