Native or Hatchery

[rpnsteelheadlps]

Regarding the fight, which would you rather hook into?

[rpnsteelheadlps]

The reason I ask this question is in a recent post I said I'd rather catch 30 Natives than 100 Hatchery fish. Just curious what's more important the meat or the fight ?

[Salmonator]

Depends which river you're on. Some rivers I can tell no difference between hatchery and nate.

Edit: I'm talking about fight, not flavor

[ 03-07-2004, 10:21 PM: Message edited by: Salmonator ]

[Crashin' Bait]

I could care less what I hooked. I'm just out there to have some fun. One of the most memorable moments fishing was the time I fought a small log for ten minutes (I'm sure it's a fish. Look, its peeling line!). Boy-howdy, did I get a ribbin' from my buds! :shocked: :smile:

[cotalot]

I've never caught a hatchery fish and thought, "wow, that sure sucked". However, I have caught plenty of natives in a day and wished, "it sure would be nice to get a keeper".

The perfect day: a half-dozen or more fish to the boat (or bank) and the last two are shy a fin!

[RichH]

I think it depends more on where the fish is in relation to running up river than whether or not it was born in a hatchery or not. Also, water temp has a lot to do with it.

[Quasimodo the fish killer]

to be honest I cant realy tell the difference between hatchery steelhead or chinook and wild fish in their fight.

with cohos there is a huge difference hatchery cohos just tend to do the aligator roll of death all the way to the boat where as wild coho tend to make smoking runs , jump and fight simular to a chinook.

I dont really care if I hook hatchery steelies or wild ones they are both fun and other then the fact that hooking into lots of wild fish meaning that the wild run is doing good on a river I am fishng I would rather not hook them at all.

my personal preference is to not fish when the natives are in thick or fish on a river that has no hatchery fish in it. I just cant justify taking a chance on killing a wild fish on accident to support my recreation. there are a ton of hatchery fish out there and I would rather kill one of them by accident or purposely then to take the chance of harming a beautiful nate.

these are my morals and veiws and are not intended as a bash to anyone that fishes for nates in no way.

Quasi

.

[I.B. Fish'n]

That kinda a tuffy question. meat or fight? well if you a good fisherman, you could always just catch another for the meat and fight the native.

[drhall99]

The answer is yes. As far as fighting ability, Native, hands down. Which would I rather hook? Both. One I can eat, the other fights better.

jmo,
Doug

[willametteriveroutlaw]

both..

[billsan]

Both native and hatchery steelhead have gone to the ocean as juveniles and gained most of their maturity, strength, and size in the same ocean conditions with the same food supply. They should fight the same, but other conditions apply: how recently has the fish come into the fresh water, how far into the spawning cycle is it, and is the fish rested or has it just swum through difficult rapids and is tired? River temperature also affects the fish's evergy level. The other variables are more a factor in the amount of fight than the location of birth. The native fish may strike better, may spawn more effectively, and may find his home river better, but the fight should be the same.

[IronNoggin]

Since I release nearly all steelhead I hook, (71 landed, 4 bonked in '04 thus far) I voted for the Native catagory (although THAT term means something quite different up here...LOL!)

I don't generally think there's much of a diff in fighting ability, but our Wildies often get to much better size than the hatch clones, so, pound for pound....

Tight Lines...
Nog

[Wild Chrome]

90% of the truly hot steelhead I've caught since I started fishing for them 8 years ago have been wild. The same can be said about aggressive strikes, the kind that almost rip the rod from your hands. Spring (summer) hatchery brats can be hot too, but to compare them to the wild winter fish returning at the same time is apples to oranges. Sure wish there were more summer-run natives on the west side.

[reelman]

The poll didn't say which species of fish. I voted on spring chinook and since I like to eat these I want hatchery. I havn't noticed any difference in fight between the hatchery and non clipped chinook. Steelhead would be a different story.

[kevray]

I don't think the fight in different enough to justify and I certainly like the meat. That is why my choice is hatchery.