Rock and roll Salmo G !! Very well thought out stuff! However, as you point out, there is no good data to suggest that hatchery summer runs have any significant introgression to date on our coast. Good experiments are lacking, and most have addressed the topic of genetic drift from winter Chambers Cr clones. With regard to our coastal rivers, it is somewhat doubtful that there ever was an independent thriving native trout population in the last 15,000 years. Folks figure they got fished out but that's probably not true. In fact, the profile of our coastal rivers reflects a fascinating trait of the steelhead. Rainbow trout are the ultimate dimorphic species. They maintain both a "native trout" and an anadromous population component of each river population. In rivers such as ours, with such deplete nutrient bases, the anadromous aspect of the dimorphism is the most economic to sustain, as survival with an ocean-going parent seems to work best, and very few streamborn natives result. Current evidence suggests that a parent of either sub-type can beget the other (ie. a steelhead spawns and one of a thousand fry decides to be a native trout). Of course the natives certainly don't survive around here, without much food in our glacial rivers. In the Great Lakes you bet they are adaptive. In fact if a piece of river or stream touches Lake Michigan, it will guaranteed have a population of spawning salmon and steelhead. The Great Lakes model proves the adaptive potential of our hatchery stocks, and is further evidence that current hatchery practices should be abandoned in favor of native broodstock programs. That is if we value wild genetics, and realize that each river comprises a totally unique population of fish (that's why those peninsula hogs are so thick, and the Sky fish are more long and sleek). For my two cents, I think if ANY wild fish remain, even if they're sadly depleted, we should stop stocking the river with clones. If the run is extinct, then perhaps a clonal supplement could be in order. Sorry for the rant, too much coffee, over and out.