todd ~ I've got to agree with the idea of being allowed to keep hatchery fish whenever a river/stream is open to fishing. I guess the only problem with this would be that most people don't catch very many brats in march/april. It happens but lets face it ~ the majority are nates. Being from woolley I know a lot of the attitudes around here are that "if I catch it I'm keeping it" regardless of what the regs say. I think this plays a big role especially in terms of enforcement. If a warden sees a fish getting tossed on the bank he will know it's illegal whether its hatchery or native. If people were allowed to keep the hatchery fish he would have to question the odds and might decide it's not worth his time to further investigate. The same pretty much goes for people reporting poachers. It's probably just easier to manage if people are allowed to keep fish when most fish are of hathery origin and are forced to release them when they aren't.