There is a world of diference between a hatchery fish and a wild fish in the fight,size and inteligence!There are two hatchery runs on my favorite river the old run that hangs on from the seventys and the clipped fish that the state just dumps in to justify a fishery.Both those runs of fish don't even really fight,just roll around on the end of the line!They do not get over 8 lbs and will hold in a section of the river even when they clearly know you are there.Anybody with any time with native fish can tell right off the bat whether it is a hatch or wild winter run.Summer run fish are a diferant story due to water temp and the fact that they come into the river to hang out for awile not just to reproduce!

I have to agree that money talks and that is exactly why we will see,almost in our life time,a very important part of the balance of nature,the wild steelhead,disapear.This saddens me deaply because hatch fish will never compete in my world,with gods creations.Every river and trib has a slighty diferant wild fish.Bigger tail smaller tails ,The colors they change into as blend back into there childhood home all means alot to me and my obsession.

Unfortunately CF prediction is not far off I am afraid,and still no responsibility by the state,just more mismanagment.I am afraid that the returns to the quilliute sytem this spring is going to once again show the absolute inefectiveness of this MSY b.s

I am glad that they are going to change the hatch program as it is need of a revamping entirely.Anybody that thinks that a cement pool full of fish being hand fed and manhandled by man can replace nature is not looking for the truth.I have been working at the quilicene hatch for a few weeks clipping fish,just to get an idea how this works.There is no part of the real world incorporated into the hatchery to prepare the fish for life.Instead the state has relied on big numbers of of ignorant helpless smolt to obtain a small return.This wrong and does not give nature one bit of credit.

It does seem that the only places that the hatchery programs seem to work are where the native fish are not an issue.Think about that.I am fortunate enough to know the diferance but my kids may not,then it will not matter,right?

Hatcheries are hear to stay but that does not justify killing off the nates.There are good number of rivers that need to be shut down period.Not subsidised with hatcheries.This policy of planting a small amount of fish into a stream to justify keeping it open is going to kill some very beautifull runs.I believe that hatcheries put on the low end of some of our rivers,that have the ability to collect the returning fish are needed to subsidize what the population wants.

If I was to build a hatchery it would be a stream and a pond in the woods much like eagle springs on the sol duc.It would have natural COVER.It would have natural food subsidized by fish food but not at 10:00 every morning to the masses but a random automatic machine that sprays small amounts at diferant spots all day.In a perfect world I would would not put fish through the process of getting its fins clipped.I would keep human interaction down to the absolute minimum.I would keep birds out with a trained dog but still allow some predatory interaction.I know there is more to it than that like disease etc but does it have to be a sterile test tube on a set schedule?

I think another problem that some of us have with the hatcheries is visiting one during a peak time of the year.The blatant snagging,the litter,The urine,the total incondsideration for others,the crowd in general,the thiefs in the parking lots,the tangled lines all to catch a fish that is smaller weaker and stupid?????