Empirical stock-recruitment information confined to freshwater carrying capacity for salmonids can be used to justify biological reference points that trigger the need for management actions. Ideally this information is derived from accurate numbers of spawners and resultant recruits (smolts) which are monitored over a large time frame with large fluctuations in spawner abundance. Specific to steelhead, there are few smolt-adult functions available and these are likely applicable to small streams only. To determine the capacity of a very large watershed for steelhead, a measure of potential smolt yield or actual run size is usually required. Alternatively, potential egg deposition (redd counts) or fry abundance can be proxies for spawner abundance to qualify conservation concerns and escapement needs. Some information on limit reference point is needed using fry counts and an estimate of habitat capacity for parr. During 1967-1995, adult steelhead catch in a sport and First Nations fishery varied widely prior to the 1995 steelhead fishery closure. In the absence of adult catch data, we explored an empirical approach for estimating potential smolt yield and stock productivity of the Bella Coola River.