While fishing for metal heads on the Snake River several years ago I hooked a massive “wild” B run steelhead. Of course I got it in and released it while in water. An old timer who was nearby (at least 70 years young I estimated) asked me if the fish was unclipped. I said yes sir, it was wild. He rashly told me to not call unclipped fish as wild. He was genuinely mad that I called it a wild fish. He said that there were no longer any true wild fish left in the northwest, that the hatchery programs have destroyed the wild fish stocks. Being young and dumb I kind of brushed him off and carried on with the day. It wasn’t until a few years later that I understood what the gentleman meant. It’s a d@mn shame that our once prosperous river systems have been relegated to what we have now. It’s even worse that the current management programs are all about numbers to make sure everyone gets a share rather than real recovery. I fear we may have lost what was once an incredible fishery thanks to the dams, overfishing and many other issues. I am not against the hatcheries, I support supplementing the naturally reproducing fish stocks but I hope someday science can help us heal our rivers and along with them the spectacular runs that once were.
