I've been fishing the skagit this winter for the first time for your hatchery steelhead. It's been an enjoyable experience so far, but how come the steelhead are so small?
We have a few rivers up here with hatchery fish, but with the extreme over crowding I hate going out. On the plus side , you can expect hatchery fish averaging between 7-15lbs and some do grow over 20lbs.
All the fish we have caught or looked at on the skagit are 5-7lbs. Why is there no larger ones? I realize the native/wild fish grow well into the 20's but these hatcheryt fish are so small, so I thought I would try and find out the reasons why. Does anybody know the reason or reasons? I am just curious.