hatchery fish question.

[Fisherman_max]

i am not sure about this but when the hatcheries release fry into the rivers, do the fish go back to were they realeased them and just hang around or do they go with the wild fish and spawn. because then once the hatchery fish spawned there baby's would be wild would'nt they?

[Derrick-k]

They eventually go upriver to the closest spawning grounds.

[Fisherman_max]

so that means there fry are wild salmon so the hatcheries are helping in a way besides the bad genes that the hatchery fish bring.

[A9]

Hatcheries release fry from the returning hatchery steelhead that go out to ocean, then come back several years later to the same system. Usually they get trapped at hatcheries, which artificially inseminate the eggs (they catch the hens, keep the eggs, and catch the bucks and then use that sperm to inseminate the eggs) and they care for the eggs and the fry until ready to be turned loose into the river...Fry from hatcheries are not wild. They have the genes of hatchery fish. Some hatcheries even feed their fish with what we would consider steriods...

Hatchery fish return and some will manage to mate with a steelhead of wild origin. Thus another reason why all hatchery fish should be bonked....

[Fisherman_max]

okay thanks for the explanation. i thought the fish were caught by the hatcheries and they do all the mating not the fish. i guess my theory was correct

[racfish]

At least Steelhead get to mate more then once.They will go up river,Mate ,and head back to the ocean where they tell their buddies about the great sex they had up river.Then come back and do it again.