I have visited the Quinalt hatchery on the lake. We were flooded out one day in February, and our "guide" (and buddy) took us up there to see the show. We watched them net the fish in the lake, bring 'em back and check for ripeness, then they "hi-grade" the acceptable fish into a pen for future spawning. The small, over-ripe, and unhealthy fish were bonked and left in a tote for the tribal members to use. They even offered us some, so we took a couple of bright bucks for the BBQ! I examined about 100 fish, and less than 10 were marked or clipped. The hatchery guys were very helpful, and a pleasure to converse with. They didn't utilize a fish unless it was over 14lbs, and they said (for what's worth) that the mass majority of the brood stock were of hatchery origin, thus alot of them were unclipped.(?)

I saw a fish that was like 33-34lbs that Letty got 2 seasons ago that she posted on her site. She was using it as a advertisement, but it was net caught! All the guys at the cannery said so, if you can believe that.

I agree that all steelhead should not be netted or sold, but unfortunately it's nearly impossible to stop a soverign nations "right".