{{I'm suspecting I will get alot of attention from this, but what the hay, it's either GL LOOMIS Vs LAMI's or a SLUGFEST on TRIBAL ISSUES! Either of which their appears to be no winner, just people getting their dander up!}}

One of my fishing buddies is pretty well informed on fisheries enhancment. However we have differing opinions with regards to Nates. I'm a NATE "ive" here on the Olympic Peninsula and a "fulltime" fisher now, having recently retired. He's not a NAT"ive" and I don't hold that against him either.
This old timer loves fishing and just as much, enjoys a fresh one on the barbie now and then. I've released lot's and thumped lot's too. ( You are not going to convert me, so don't even try or I will look upon you as I do some of those pushy suit and tie door knocking religious folk that come over and interupt my afternoon naps or a good ball game!)

We recently had a conversation,about the Nat"ive" declines.

Here's the QUESTION- Isn't it TRUE that a NATE can spawn with hatchery fish and be successful? He claims it happens, but usually is rare. But he doesn't have any hard evidence, nor do I.
Are these fish now titled NATES or what? Thanks and remember, You are not going after a fresh one to convert here, so be kind.

I would call it a wild fish.
This whole Nate versus Hatchery thing is ridiculous. Answer me this. Ok say a hatchery just started operations, They need brood stock. They siened a few holes from the river the hatchery is on. They captured pure stock specific to that stream. Would the prodgency of those first brood stock fish be native? Yes they would. They are not wild fish but native.
Down here there is a stream that has both winter steelhead and summer steelhead. All the winter are native. All the summers are not, even though we do catch some that were born in the wild. These summer steelhead were never present in the system until dams were built and a hatchey was built and the summers introduced.
Every summer I get into the Nate, Wild, Hatchery discussion with people who happen to land an unmarked summer steelhead. They call them native, I tell them its wild. Then I have to explain the difference.
Does this help or confuse?

Well isn't that nice you live here all your life, take up fishing in your retirement, and now you want to learn more about the fish than just how to catch them. Beware as this is the first step to enlightenment. It starts with a simple question and is followed by a complex and troubling answer that leads to more questions and greater investigations and pretty soon your fat ass won't have time to be watching TV you will be outside doing stream rehab and volunteer work on redd counts!
Far better to remain ignorant and to continue to harvest what you want when they let you and never pay any attention to the riparian uphevals that have been ongoing as you have lived and worked here on the OP.
Seriously hatchery fish are a real challenge to explain in many ways it pays to just look at how poorly the retuns to hatchery's have been over the long haul and you can answer your own question the fish from hachery spawn are not as successful as wild spawned fish. So it stands to reason that if you spawn a hatchery fish with a wild fish the progeny will be weaker than the wild wild spawned.
There ain't a hell of alot of releigion in the need for minimizing our harvest of wild fish and a "full blown catch as many as it takes too make you feel good C&R season " is as repugnet to me as the bonk em all before the other guy does mentality. I have been borned raised and fished on the OP since 1948 and have been realising steelhead and trout since the late 50's. To me it seemed like a good thing at the time and it still seems like a good idea. I am always a little suprised at how negatively the simple gesture of release can generate so much opposition. As a lad when obseved by elders in the act of release I was many times criticized as being wasteful and worst, but It was obvious then that the main complaint was about there greed to have what I had and let go. But I digress< take the time to read Salmon Without Rivers by Jim Lichatowich and if your TV runs out of electricity go to the library and checkout Haig Brown Return To The River.
As to fishing fulltime, congratulations best advice I can give you is buy some Breathable waders.

Native Son, Willierower & Salmo g.,
I want to thank all of you for your insight on what surely is a very complex issue. I've printed out your replies to study in more detail and plan to check on those books when I return from another Steelie trip. You have filled in some chuck holes for me and I appreciate it! Blackjack777

Excellent response Salmo g. You did a good job explaining a complicated issue. A fish is not a fish. Amazing that some think so. Hatchery fish are a domesticated stock bred, medicated and often forced to grow at unnatural rates to suit fishery needs. Do you know of any other effort to rebuild a wild population (of something other than fish - horses, wolves, birds??) that relies on a long-domesticated counterpart? Just curious?