I think winter fish are much tougher than many folks think. I fished one day years ago with Carson Walker, who at the time was employed by B.C. fisheries to catch wild fish for their hatchery brood stock program. On the day we fished, we caught only one small buck. We landed him in an area far from any road access. Carson put the fish in a collapsible tube and towed it down river about a mile. He then tied the tube to a brush pile and we continued to fish. Later that day the fish was put in water filled backpack and hauled about 200 yards to a waiting truck, with a 300-gallon tank. The truck then drove about 50 miles with our fish, netted it and placed it in a hatchery holding area, where it remained for about 60 days until it was spawned. Carson told me their overall mortality was less than 3 %. Yes, they are top-notch anglers, but the fish often had to make long arduous journeys to the hatchery and then were held for many days. In addition, Carson used bait whenever he felt he had to, to get a fish when the fishing was tough. Winter steelhead are tough critters. I suspect actual C&R mortality on winter fish is well under 5 %.