Nailed a couple of 9# steelies(brats) last weekend on my favorite Columbia R. trib, the first was very bright and I deemed it bonkable, the second was a bit dark and I would have turned it loose except my buddy would have bought injun fish if I didn't let him take it. I was disappointed when I filleted my fish because the meat was light pink, this explains the few eggs as she obviously had already spawned. Since it was so bright I assumed it was a summerrun. Would this fish have returned to sea if I had released it? I thought I heard that they could. If so, next time I'll send the shiny/skinny fish on their way.

Sounds like it was a downer brat.I would have let it go but it was probly better to get it out of the system.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

Strike Zone, I have a question for you. It doesn't have anything at all to do with this topic, but something you said peaked my interest, so I thought I'd ask. I noticed you, and countless other contributors to this site make reference to "getting hatchery fish out of the system" Why is this? Are they that bad for the existing native population? I understand this reasoning on rivers that still have native populations, but what about rivers like the Cowlitz that are basically all hatchery? Would it actually help these rivers to start producing fewer and fewer hatchery fish? Would natives start to make a come back? Forgive my ignorance on this subject, I just am not very well versed when it comes to the native vs. hatchery arguement. I know that natives seem to fight harder and be a bit bigger, and I also seem to enjoy fishing for them more (C&R) but I don't know the biology end of the whole thing. Thank you for any enlightenment you can give me on the subject.

LittleZoZo, I'm probly not the best guy to answer this question.R.T. and or Bob would have a more scientific and logical answer.But
I do know that brats are for harvest and the nats are for C-N-R.It helps keep the wild fish and hatchery fish from reproducing with one another and mixing gene pools.I've just always bonked brats if the condition of the fish allowed for good harvest because thats what they are there for.My personal opinion??
I kinda don't care if the two get mixed up in there production.How many native fish are really left?????.I would guess that there are
more wild fish than native fish.But that's a
whole nother topic.Help!!!!!!!!.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

LZZ,

The reason you might chose to "get a hatchery steelhead out of the system" is because they do not reproduce effectively in the natural river environment. We've had some threads about this recently. Hatchery winter runs that spawn in the wild produce almost zero returning adults in the subsequent generation. Skamania fish do a little better. But in both cases, any fry they do produce take up space and food resources that could otherwise be utilized by juvenile native steelhead. So leaving the hatchery fish in the river results in very little benefit. But I admit that I don't always keep a hatchery fish, especially summer runs. Sometimes it's a dark fish, sometimes I'm bushwhacking and don't want to bother packing the fish, and sometimes I just don't feel like keeping it. I guess there's no perfect answer.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

Salmo g.-

Have there been any studies done that show the percentages of hatchery w/ hatchery spawners compared to hatchery w/ wild spawners when hatchery fish do spawn in the wild.

Do you believe that a hatchery male is more likely to spawn with a wild female or vice versa?

When I have thought about it, given the spawning behavior of both sexes, I can not predict if either situation would be more prevelant then the other.

Thanks!

[ 04-05-2001: Message edited by: RPetzold ]