There is always hope. I hope we all catch some fish.

But getting back to Vistigial... or Vestige...

"A rudimentary or degenerate, usually nonfunctioning, structure that is the remnant of an organ or a part that was fully developed or functioning in a preceding generation or an earlier stage of development."

--- --- ---

I like that. What a wonderful word for describing some aspects of steelhead that have returned to fresh water. I'll try putting it in a sentence.

"Upon entering fresh water the digestive tract of the wild steelhead shuts down becoming vestigial and valuless in its lack of functionality and should be discarded before releasing the fish so it will not encumber the fish in it's migration."

Or...

"In conformance with the new rule that fish required to be released not be completely removed from the water the vestigial digestive tract must be left in the water when releasing a wild steelhead to the cooler."