This looks like a pretty fantastic trip for steelhead on Idaho’s Salmon River for the anglers of Wild Trout Productions. Check out these numbers:
One weekend in February 2015 on the Salmon River proved to be more than successful. Battling a 15 mph headwind and freezing eyelets all weekend was worth it; bringing in 28 to net with a good mix of wild and two-salt fish. All fish (wild, hatchery, big or small) were released based on a strict Catch & Release lifestyle. Steelhead in the Salmon River swim over 800 river miles to make it to their destination, and they deserve utmost respect regardless of whether or not they have an adipose.
Sweet
Very cool guys, we’ve doing great this year on the ronde and wallowa also, what stretch of the salmon was that? I didn’t recognize anything?
That was my thought a while ago buuuut….. turns out that all hatchery fish, even if you release them, and they swim past the thousands of other hooks swung in front of them, when they make it to the hatchery in Stanley, they get bonked and given to the food banks. Only the wilds are allowed past to spawn.
Hatchery fish are in the river for anglers to catch and keep them. Catch and release may sound good in theory, but which is worse for the fishery: bonking your daily limit of hatchery fish and then stopping fishing for the day, or catching and releasing 10+ steelhead, some of which are wild. Fishing is not a
bloodless sport and the wild fish you catch the greater the chances that some of them will die, even after release.
*Fishing is not a bloodless sport, and the more wild fish you catch, the greater the chances that some of them will die, even after release.