Cman and Salmo,
I know exactly what both of you mean. When I started as a fishcop, I knew it was for me, and my education in justice helped. But learning about fish, and salmon and steelhead was more of an on the job education and there was a lot to learn, in fine details. Volunteering at the hatchery on my days off, talking with commercial fishermen, and listening to the public bitch was a real education.
I learned that hatchery salmon were teachable. The late, great hatchery manager, John Clayton, brought back the spring chinook run on the Kalama. Specifically, he floated sheets of plywood on the raceways to give cover for the juveniles. Hatchery workers were instructed to not walk right up to the ponds but to feed the fish from a distance so as not to spook them. Fish feeding times varied every day. He paid attention to releases. The hatchery returns went up dramatically from lows in the early '70's to several thousand a few cycles later. Sport fishing was excellent within a cycle . Maybe this situation is only appropriate for springers, or steelhead because they are largersmolts when released. But it sure did work.