Developing a run of biting hatchery fish is really pretty simple.

The key is to practice catch and release of all hatchery fish that are biters and only bonk the non-biters (go flossers)!

The reason that hatchery fish don't bite is two fold. The first of course is that we exert a high selective pressure against the best biters (we kill them all before they spawn). The second is that the longer the fish is in the river the more likely it is that it will be caught and killed. Therefore the most successful spawners (those that get to the hatchery) are those that arrive at the river in an advance state of sexually maturity (not likely to bite) and zoom up the river.

The more we rely on locally adapted brood stocks the more we will breed non-biting steelhead.

Tight lines
Smalma