Met up with fellow boardmember, Steel-Addicted, Sat morning and pounded the Sky from Sultan to BH.
Not much happening until an unlikely stretch when I set the hook on "a little bait-robber"....that is until my curado gave up about 30 yards of line!
This happened 3 more times!
We were sure it was a native and were scheming how to release it with minimum handling when I got it to the boat and saw it was a clipped down-river fish. 35" long snake.
Any of you been surprised by the energy of a hatchery fish?
I must say it was a real pleasure to meet and fish with another BB member. Very knowledgeable and a total gentleman.
Steel-Thanks again and hope we can get together again soon.

Quick.....tell Petzold.....he seems to think all hatchery fish are 6 lb. cookie-cutter fish that don't fight.

all I been hearing in the last few days on the Sky is clipped downriver fish.Is DfW trucking off river so there is something for us to catch? Good on ya boys if that's true!Saw a guy catch a nice downriver snake in an unlikley spot on Sat.Still chrome too.About 10-12#.He got a ticket at Ben H. because he didn't have a pen aboard and couldn't record his catch.$75.

Way to go, Dan K!

Big OUCH on the person getting a citation for a brat snake!!! That's pretty much adding insult to injury.

On an almost similar note, I caught a good looking fish yesterday that had half it's adipose fin clipped. Not enough was clipped that you could say 100% that it was a brat, but enough was missing that you just couldn't tell. All the other fins were in great shape, but the dorsal fin was right around 2" in length, and not the 2.5" that is somewhat used as an indicator. I let it go, as I'd rather just go on the notion that it was a nate. I would have hated to been wrong and bonked a nate. I'm pretty sure a Warden would have looked at that fish, and would have decided it if was a brat/nate depending on the mood they were in.

try to tell a 30 pound quinalt hatchery fish that they dont fight. also, years ago the summer run nooch hatchery fish we caught were animals. no different than a summer run nate in my opinion.

Our NF Lewis summer steelhead are animals! Hatchery fish rule! (sometimes)

I love nats,Iwant more of them in the rivers,I love brats, I want more of them in the river

Oh yeah brats fight - one of the nastiest fish I ever managed to land on a flyrod was a 14 pound buck I caught a couple years ago in a small Willapa Bay trib - took me under a log jam, bent the handle on my Pflueger and bruised the hell out of my hand when I tried to bust him off - then when I got under the jam somehow and came back tight on him he took me back upstream through the jam again and just hung up there in the hole I hooked him in - had to crawl back under that mess and do it all again - which I did, yep, down through the jam, up to the hole, down through the jam - finally landing him after 20 minutes with him getting to tired to take me up through the jam a third time. Was sure I had a 20 lb nate but nope, long skinny dark adipose missing buck - had the jaw and tail of a 20 pounder but only measured 14. Released him anyway despite the ad clip - he deserved it and would probably have tasted like the boot he looked to be. Hope he spawned with something that passed more of that piss and vinegar on

I second that one thumper!!!!
Keith

I guess Husky Hatcheries must produce better fighting fish, cause here in Beaver territory, there ain't no comparison! Nates, on average, are far better fighters! I consider a fish truly hot if it leaves me laughing and shaking (why I fish). I've lost count of how many natives have left me shaking in the last several years with the good returns we've had. I'd guess 15 or 20. Brats: one, a Clackamas summer run last June that jumped 6 times. Most of my brats have been mild let-downs after the hookup. Most of the nates leave me smiling and sometimes shaking. Though I like to catch and keep brats, I'd rather catch and release a nate and I wish we had more strong native runs left.