Mike B:

You're not alone, on the last day of the season this year, my father hooked into a bright hatchery kelt and I not being more observant promptly took the knife to it's gills and proceeded to bleed it out. It took a while for it to register in my brain that the fish did have a rather snaky look to it. I didn't pay very close attention to the vent or the fins, but I did however notice that the tail was someone beat though not "flagtailed" like a salmon. Fish had the slightest hint of a pink stripe down the lateral line, but was chrome overall. When I finally gutted it, I found nothing but an empty skein(just one mature egg) and next year's developing eggs. The flesh was white. And yep, it sure tasted rather bland. Not to the point of unpalatability, but definitely not the best tasting fish I've had despite it's freshness.

So I don't feel that bad about killing that hatchery kelt. But it has led me to wonder if anyone here knows how uncommon it is for hatchery kelts to exist.