Now kids, let's all play nice OK?
I did a quick scan through the recent posts and didn't really find the posts in question so I might be a little off topic with this reply.
I can see the point behind his post though. This year I kept two fish that were not worthy of being table fare. I smoked both of them and sent them to my Dad in Texas (he doesn't know what smoked salmon is supposed to look like so they thought it was good eating). These were both hatchery steelies from the Clack. The first was a buck that spilt milt all over the bottom of the drifter (and no, I didn't cry over it). The second was a hen that streamed eggs all over the place when I lifted her from the water. Did I mention that both of these fish were hatchery clipped? It really makes a person wonder about the real stray rates of hatchery fish.
What's the answer here? I won't keep a fish like that ever again. If it isn't fit to eat it goes back. On the other hand, we don't really want them spawning in the rivers and polluting the gene pool either, do we? (let's not start that discussion again, please). If everyone in the world were honest, I could see bonking, bleeding and tossing the fish back in for the nutrient value, but in today's world that just makes the gamies jobs that much harder. If we're talking steelies, a hen can return to salt water to fatten up a year or two and make another run. I could be killing a possible trophy hatchery hen (or are those two terms mutually exclusive?).
So from now on, I will simply shake my head and slide the fish back into the water. Maybe I just won't be so thorough in reviving them and hope that nature takes its course.