Tag out!

[jbird]

I think there is a gap in the education of a healthy steelhead population. Hatchery fish SHOULD be killed. That is what theyre there for. The more that survive, the more there are to poison the native gene pool. There are many other things we can do that have been discussed extensively here on this board. But one of them certainly is to KILL finclipped steelhead. I scratch my head when i see people get upset about killing these fish. It is our responsibility as sportsmen to help keep things in balance this way. So get out your steelhead tags and "tag out" That goes for me too. I let way too many go just cause of laziness. Also, here in oregon, you can purchase suplimental tags if you fill the original.

Its also "wild" as compared to the farmed fish you buy in the store. So the quality is hugely better. Lets enjoy these fish that were supposed to enjoy. If you dont like them, I bet your neighbors would like a filet or two

Steelhead, the other pink meat

Jay

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

jbird,

I'm with you all they way here. Just as I see it too.

We have way less fish in our river, lower A, so we let them go so we can catch them over and over again for months. Especially those little Halfpounders.

But eating those hatchery fish is OK.

[jlmelend]

Bill and Jay,
Could you brief us on how we can tell hatchery from wild? Is it just the dorsal fin being clipped? Is it true that hatchery fish taste worse than wild?
I saw a king fisher (that's a bird I key in on to find stripers...not Andy Guibord or Bill Kiene!) ambush an 8 inch youngling just 15 feet from me today. I wonder if they can tell the difference?
Joe

[bigtj]

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, if you don't know the difference between a hatchery and wild steelhead, DON'T FISH. It's a sportsman's responsiblity to completely read the fishing regulations. There is a description of how to tell hatchery from wild steelhead in the fishing regulations booklet. Get the booklet (you can download a .pdf) , read it, and know the regulations before you go. If you have to ask questions, ask the fish and game, not folks on a fly-fishing bulletin board.

Jbird,

One reason some people don't whack hatchery fish is they want to keep fishing if there is a 1-fish limit. Once you bonk your fish on rivers with a 1-fish limit, you are done fishing for the day. That's what it means to "limit out", i.e. once you fill your limit you cannot keep fishing. Some people would prefer to keep fishing. For that reason I wish there were a 2-fish limit on these waters but there isn't. So I release my hatchery fish until the end of the day or if I'm going to take off in the middle of the day. Seems crazy, but those are the regs, and that is how we have to work within them.

I am going to call fish and game to double check to make sure you can't fish after taking your limit, but in the past when I checked on this (maybe 10 years ago) it was the law.

[jbird]

Big TJ

That is very true and also has to do with why i let too many go. Here on the rogue, the limit is two fish. If your with your buddy, you can spread the cheer

My over arching point here is that people think a steelhead is a steelhead and they should all be released. My point is all wild fish MUST be released...all clipped fish SHOULD be kept.

These forums are great places to educate!

Jay

[Adam Grace]

Jay, If I ever make it up to your neck of the woods this steelhead season I would love to bonk a hatchery steelie and try that Parmesan recipe, or grill it up. I'm curious about how they taste.

[Charlie Gonzales]

It scares me to think that our local fisherman are getting the message to kill their limit. Hatchery fish or not our rivers do not see the numbers that northern waters do. I would go the other way and suggest that that the entire American river be zero limit.

[aaron]

Charlie,
Beside dams hatchery fish are one of the most harmful things to our wild runs.

[Charlie Gonzales]

I realize that and dont argue that point. But my point is that the American doesnt see that many returning fish. I know someone is going to say that the numbers of fish counted at nimbus last year were more than doubled from previous years but those are hatchery fish and I would rather see those than none at all.

Besides if we kill these then what are the stripers supposed to eat

[jhaquett]

bigtj,

Jlmelend never even said that we was going to do any steelhead fishing. He asked a very simple question. Maybe he is a bass fisherman who was just curious. Why do you ALWAYS feel the need (some way or another you WILL have a response of this manner in nearly every thread you post in) to treat people like that? Tomorrow you'll probably apologize for it, blaming it on a "bad day" and then do it again next week.... Just answer the question next time, for once