Howdy New Guy,

I've only caught a couple steelhead, so can't speak directly to their "eatability", but I can tell you with big Dolly Varden (which I no longer keep at all...strictly CnR) you can open their mouths and take a whiff of their breath.

If it smells like ca-ca toss them back...means they have been eating off dead salmon will will taste like mud.

As for Steelhead...I bonked the spawned out hatchery hen I caught last month, but released the native. You must release native fish, no matter what.

As of tomorrow, the Skagit (and other waters as well?) is/are 100% CnR anyway, I believe.

Mike