While standing along the river, waiting for the next fish to bite, I, as I am sure most of you, have wondered: “What happens to the next generation of fish, if their parents are the ones with neither curiosity nor aggression that swam by all of the lures of the fishers, and meekly lined up in the hatchery channel to wait their turn to be milked and squeezed for eggs”. If there is a genetic component to the tendency for a fish to bite, and we are catching the vast majority of the willing biters out of the population, won’t the next generation have a reduced tendency to bite?

Another question: If the more vigorous fish out of a population are more likely to act aggressively, and therefore bite more readily, won’t these be naturally the first ones caught? Won’t this leave fewer to spawn that possess that genetic vigor? Will the end result be a bunch of Milque-Toast meekfish which would be no fun to catch, even if they would bite?

A couple years back, I hooked and landed a buck, and not wanting to make him part of my limit, released him. A few minutes later, I hooked another fish that did not fight very hard, which looked identical to the earlier fish. I released him also. I caught and kept a nice hen soon after, and then within a half hour, hooked and released the same buck. He could barely swim, but I held him for several minutes in the current until he swam off. Not wanting to endanger this fish anymore, I moved down river and fished for an hour or so before fishing a hole upriver from where I first caught that buck. Needless to say, he had swam up into the new hole, and bit again. Once again, and luckily, I was able to revive him. I quit for the day, in awe of the spirit and tenacity of that buck steelhead. I regret unintentionally exhausting that fish for my own amusement. Even more, I regret that I was unable to ensure his survival until he could reproduce and pass on his extraordinary tendency to bite a lure.

Proposal:
Only spawn fish that have returned to the hatchery with a hook in their jaw, or that have been caught on hook and line, and kept alive by fishers that would be willing to donate or trade their catch for the good of future generations of fish and fishers. If a fisher brings in a healthy, live steelhead in a cooler of water, trade him for one of the fish that zipped upriver and didn’t get caught. Sell the rest of the fish that return unscathed for cat food. Or give them to the Indians for their subsistence quota. Since the number of fish needed for hatchery eggs is relatively small compared to the total number of returning fish, this seems feasible to me. I think something similar to this is taking place on some rivers in the northwest with the broodstock programs, but why not do it at all of the hatcheries?
Comments?