Skywalker -
Salmo is correct in that there are not any steelhead or salmon planted anywhere in the South Fork Skykomish. Coho, chinook and steelhead were planted above the falls in the past and at least some the ancestors of the returning wild steelhead adn salmon were hatchery fish. The pinks, chum, sockeye and bull trout are the result of colonization by non-hatchery fish.

The steelhead passed upstream at Sunset are a mixture of both wild and hatchery fish. The ratio of hatchery to wild varies from year to year with typcially about 1/2 of the fish being wild. This year only a little over 20% are wild. While it is tempting to call the hatchery fish strays it probably be more correct to view them as fish on a sight-seeing tour. Tagging studies have found that many (most?) of the hatchery trucked upstream drop back downstream after the fall rains begin or in the winter just prior to spawning.

The hatchery summer steelhead returning during the summer will not spawn until after the first of year so they are not in any hurry to return "home" - that is the hatchery. Instead they seem to be seeking out cool, comfortable holding water and find themselves in the headwaters (both the South and North Forks.

Hope that helps you make sense out of the reports.

Tight lines
Smalma