Back in January I was fishing the Cowlitz river up at Barrier Dam. I caught a chrome bright 10-11 pound steelie. When my friend netted it we noticed it had an adipose fin. After we got it out of the net and tried to revive it for release. Another bank fisherman came up to me and asked what was I going to do with my steelie I just landed. I told him that it was a native because it still had the adipose fin and my intentions was to let it go. He told me that on the Cowlitz you ONLY have to let the steelhead with the Right Ventral fin loose and that everyone back in Blue Creek are keeping steelie with adipose fins. I looked up the reg, it does say release right ventral fin fish and nothing about adipose fish. Common sense tells me that an unmarked fish is wild and should be released. Is there a misprint in the regs or some of the old Blue Creek crowd are reading between the lines on this one???

Fishaddict

Reread the rules more closely! "Hatchery Steelhead Only"

All "hatchery steelhead" are adipose clipped!

Cowlitzfisherman
Is the taste of the bait worth the sting of the hook????