Finally, the part we don't know about steelhead but do know about Atlantic Salmon is that released females produce fewer smolts than fish not C&R'd. If the is true for steelies, the a C&R fishery requires a higher EG to reduce the same number of smolts as a kill fishery.
Not doubting that hens are more fragile or even less fertile/fecund after the stress of a C&R encounter with hook/line, but I am more than a bit curious how they were able to quantify the degree/severity that this occurs. What was the study design? Got a link to the paper?
....
Anecdotally, whenever I've had a bit of trouble getting a fish to perk up after the battle, I would have to say it's much more likely to be a hen than a buck.
Even the Kenai H&R study on chinook showed a differential mortality.
Small males (under 20-25#) perished at a rate of over 11% due mainly to mortal hooking wounds from the oversized gear. Females perished at a rate of 6.8%. Large males (20-25# or more) had the lowest mortality at 1.9%.
BIG BUCKS were clearly better able to tolerate the H&R encounter. Average for all comers was 7.6%.
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"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)
"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)
The Keen Eye MDLong Live the Kings!
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