I think to some extent fish do feel pain. But when there in a river there only thinking of one thing and that is that spawning. I think fish like salmon and steelhead have such a strong will to spawn that it seems like they don't feel pain. This year while I was fishing on the Kalama I saw two six pound hatchery steelhead along the bank of a creek that dumped into the Kalama. I spent hours trying to coax them into biting and finaly I got the buck to bite. I landed it and thought to myself weather or not I wanted to kill it or not. The hen already had white stuff on it but the buck looked alright to keep so I knocked out. I had to knock the thing out at least three more times while I was cleaning it and finally after I was finished I threw the fish in the cooler and with no guts left in it the fish started floping around in the cooler over fifteen minutes after I cought it. I felt really bad for splitting up the couple and wondered how that fish couldv'e done that. I think the on explanation is that it had a strong will to live and be with it's spawning mate.