ok, here's the deal I fish a southwestern river that dumps steelhead smolts into the river at a park. There is no hatchery that they return to. Alot of guys have been releasing darker hatchery fish lately. My questions are, first: how dark should a steelhead be before you should release it.(poor quality meat) Second question is, how in the hell can we keep the hatcheries from spawning with the wild if we are releasing hatcheries to spawn. ( I know some don't care but somebody out there has an answer. Thanks

I've heard that the meat in steelhead and king salmon does'nt go bad until the fish has that white stuff on it. I know this to be true on steelhead because I've kept some pretty dark fish.

I know that i wouldn't keep them up too the point of white fungus,with steelhead I really couldn't tell you i've never really kept that dark of a steelhead,i would think up to about the point were they get the dark red on there sides and gill cover,but with kings i could tell you that i'll keep a bronze colored fish for the smoker but once they start to get that dark bronze to brown color back they go,if they are turning red you can forget it!

FISH ON!!!

Hatchery fish are planted for the sports fishermen to keep. I have no problem keeping a slightly dark hatchery fish because we want the natives to spawn, not the hatchery fish. Good luck, keep the line in the water.

thanks everyone for your replies, I appreciate the info
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Since bucks darken quicker than hens, I would keep a comparatively darker buck. I definitely wouldn't keep it if it was both dark and had fungus growing on it. I will not keep a hen, hatchery or wild, if she's spitting roe, no matter how bright she is. That's just my own policy. Also, rivers like the Queets have plenty of spawned-out chrome nate hens that fight like hell. I've seen guys conk these hens, with the reasoning that if they fought so well, they must still have some fat left in 'em. Please release these fish, as they have the potential to be return spawners. Run timing is another factor to consider. I've kept many dark bronze spring and summer kings from my namesake river. Everyone of these has succulent meat. But, I won't keep a bronze fall king from the same system - yuck! The bottom line, I guess, is to observe the condition of the fish when it comes in. If it's totally black, but is still well proportioned and firm; try keeping it.

In regards to the second part of your question; I don't think we can totally prevent it. Maybe plant "early" returners that will not return with the bulk of the native run, like the situation on the Bogey. But in this instance, the weakest part of the native run, the early natives, get pounded on by the proverbial "meat-hunters." It's too bad that recreational management paradigms haven't accounted for this facet of native populations. Anyway, from the perspective of many, hatchery plants is better than no hatchery plants.

Ok, I have one thing to comment on, and that is a hatchery hen spitting eggs, even if it's chrome...I've caught SEVERAL hatchery fish this year, just like, less than a mile from salt, chrome bright, with several sea lice on them, that were loose egged, and spitting... The hatchery fish for some reason tend to not hold their eggs very well...Now on the other hand, I've caught hundreds of fish that had nice eggs, but still, it does happen... My experience with steelhead, is that if it doesn't look sick, and isn't like, grey?! then it is probably ok! I would never even consider keeping a fish that has fungus on it! GROSS!! =) I don't have much experience with the kings though...

just commenting on the egg spitting, I can understand putting back a native that had spawned or was spitting eggs, but a hatchery. F&W seems to operate their hatchery system on the fact that all hatchery fish will be caught as to not spawn with wild ( even though we know this isnt possible). So what to do?

I just wanted to reiterate that releasing hatchery hen spitters is just my own thang. I didn't mean to impose my own personal angling policies on others. I fish terminal areas like Rieter, Tokul and Stevens A LOT; so I encounter many of these fish every season. The way I see it is that these hens are so close to the hatchery anyway, in some cases a mere foot or two from sanctuary, and their intrinsic value for me has already diminished because they are "loose." Also, I don't make roe bags, so I figure the respective hatchery can use her better than I can.