First off, nice fish richy!!!
As far as I'm concerned, there is no one I know that cares more for native steelhead than you. If anyone out there has ever fished with Rich you will see that he handles all fish with extreme care. However, 3/0 is pretty darn big. I've found that smaller hooks tend to penetrate better and I've lost far fewer fish using smaller hooks. But believe me, Rich knows what he is doing and would do nothing to contribute to the hooking mortality of native steelies.