From the rivers a few hens a year provides eggs and a meal once and a while, all else goes back safely. Big lake is a whole different story since we tend to keep most of what we catch, steelhead or otherwise.

 

1-10... gotta have eggs...

 

I let almost all of them go and get by using salmon eggs much of the time when I fish spawn, but I do keep a few fin-clipped hatchery steel in the late winter/spring of each year for eggs/meat.

 

1 to 10 at most. Usually all hens--males don't provide enough eggs!

 

I keep every one that I catch, which unfortunately, is about 2 per year

 

I'll keep a couple of hens and a few bucks.
Just what I can use for eggs and an occasional dinner.

 

i keep everyone i catch, which the last few years have been pretty low, maybe 5

 

1-10, as with most it is all about the eggs.

 

I'll Keep 2 To 4 Clippers A Year For The Good Ole Spawn. Usually Wind Up With A Few More Due To Line Cuts On The Gills From There "deathrolls"

 

Got to catch one to keep one :lol:

 

1 - 10, because that is what I usually catch. As Pikedevil said, the big lake is another story. Also, I actually catch to eat. . . mostly on flies, so the eggs aren't much use to me.

HP

 

I've kept over ten this year but between me, the wife and kids we eat them all other than the 3 I lost this year to a problem with the freezer. Fried, grilled, baked, smoked.....too many recipes and not enough fish.

With that said, my landing/hookup ratio has been up this year compared to past years along with my available time to fish for them. This is an odd year that my kept number is over 10. Normally under 10.

 

We’ve been known to keep a couple here and there for family and friends………………

We have a big family and lots of friends!
In all honesty, I’ve only kept a few fish from the river. We fish the central basin of Erie a few times a year and the pic shown is a 5 man Canadian limit from one of those trips. It’s often hard to release some of those fish successfully so we bring some home for grilling and smoking with a few left over for those that are not fortunate enough to get out themselves. It’s not hard to keep over 20 a year when you have a few days like that. OK C&R guys, go ahead and tear me a new one.

 

We fish the central basin of Erie a few times a year and the pic shown is a 5 man Canadian limit from one of those trips.

You keep all those fish you want. As I understand it the Canadians don't regulate the commercial industry very well so I'd rather you had them instead of Kroger's.

 

20+ definately, seeing how Iv'e already kept 18 so far this year! Smoked steelie blows smoked salmon away. The only way to get a day off work is to bring all the bosses fish right? They taste great before they are actually in the rivers, my relatives & friends look forward to steelhead whenever.

 

I keep between 1-10. My favorites are 16-24 inches. All of the breeders I let swim away. This is a cool post. Good to see that guys enjoy eating fish not just catching them.

 

10-20 of them make it home with me....Either put them on the grill or they get the smoker...... Most times take one home a trip and the others go back in the drink to fight another day......

 

I keep mostly all that I catch, less than 10 per year. Most from the river, but a few from charters if I get out. I eat some and give some away. If I start catching a lot more than that, I would probably move on to another species. Contrary to most people, steelhead are my least favorite to eat out of the five, but still pretty good. I rank them as follows 1)coho 2)laker 3)king 4) steelhead. I never catch LRB's, but if they are anything like stream browns, they would be #1. Also like Steelhead one said, the small ones are a whole lot better tasting.

 

John,

You ask a good question. Based on the amount of fish planted I don’t think it matters how many legal fish you keep. If they plant the same number every year and conditions remain the same ie. forage base, water levels etc. etc. there will be the same amount of fish available.

Since all the fish planted in Michigan come from wild fish, in effect they are all wild. Depending on who you talk to, 80 to 90% of steelhead never make it back to spawn after initial spawning. Most do make it back to the lake but then because of the rigors of spawning or perhaps other reasons they don’t make it back up river again.

So if you are releasing them because you think you are somehow protecting the fishery I think your making a mistake. My only exception is releasing winter fish in smaller rivers like the PM. Some years there is one early run with only a few trickling in that winter over. In this case, keeping these fish will make it more difficult for other winter fishermen who brave icy conditions to hook a fish. Note that this is just my policy and I respect what others choose to do as long as it is legal.

To answer John’s question I usually keep a few and so far this year it is under ten.

 

Since all the fish planted in Michigan come from wild fish, in effect they are all wild.

a wild fish is hatched in the wild, a hatchery fish is hatched in the hatchery. heres an analogy. if george the cheetah was orphaned by his parents and raised in a zoo, he wouldnt have the same survival skills as his brother tom who was raised in the wild. So, from a management perspective, which one would you rather have to continue to propogate the species of wild cheetahs.

i keep about 10 a year for eggs and food.

 

im gonna say 10-20 down here by me...
because in the summer skamanias tend to die almost everytime after you fight them...
i usually only keep one female in the spring(for eggs) and one female king in the fall (for eggs)...
other than that they all go back ESPECIALLY wild steelies aka NO clips...

cya on the river,

mark

 

Splitshot hit it on the head, you can't really hurt the population by keeping a few fish, so it's up to whether or not a person uses what they keep versus wasting it. I don't eat a lot of fish so whatever I keep is usually given away to family or friends. If I ate more fish, I'd probably keep more fish. Like MP said, though, you pretty much gotta keep scams unless you can get 'em during a spell of cooler water and what not.

As for wild versus hatchery, I think Michigan anglers put too much faith in the wild fish philosophy that is so prevalent in Washington, British Columbia,etc. Face it, outside of a couple waterways (the PM and Little M, most notably) wild fish do not add up to a significant percentage of the steelhead population. Our hatchery fish come from wild stock, so genetically they're basically the off spring of wild fish albeit raised under ideal conditions. Are you adding to the population by releasing a wild fish? Probably not any more than if you were to release a hatchery fish. Does releasing a wild fish on the Grand somehow add to the fishery? Probably not since 80% of the fish that do successfully spawn will die before they get a chance to spawn a second time. The offspring of those fish? Most if not all will die once the summer water temps go up. Unless you have a stream where water temps remain ideal year round, the natural reproduction in steelhead will be insignificant at best. Taking a Swan Creek wild fish or a Dowagiac wild fish will not be noticed in the grand scheme of things since more than enough other fish (both hatchery and wild) will be there to go through the spawning ritual--a moot point since a great deal of the offspring will die once they reach the warm mainstream. Sure, catch and release is a good thing and I practice it most of the time, but if I get a loose hen and it's a wild fish (or happens to have all its fins)--I'm breaking out the ziploc and the stringer. I'd much rather feed those loose eggs to other steelhead instead of just letting them end up as Sucker and Carp food.

 

I have always wanted to keep one for eggs. Though when I land them I can never bring myself to keeping them. Also I always seem to catch wild fish on the rivers I fish.

 

I release a lot of males for "sentimental" reasons. Many times I've looked at a colored up big 'ol buck, or one with a hint of purple hues and thought, "Ain't no way in hell I'm carving this pretty dude up!" as I thanked him for the battle and released him. Now a loose hen? When they're dropping eggs, I lose any sentimental or spiritual attachment I have to those fish and all bets are off! At that point, they're nothing more than swimming bait shops to me! :lol:

 

Silversides,

When we plant rainbows or browns they are usually the progeny of fish raised over generations in a hatchery. As far as I know, all steelhead planted in Michigan besides some Skamania steelhead come from wild fish taken at the weir on the Little Manistee River each year.

The parents of any fish you catch come from a wild hen and a wild male. The fish are indeed raised in a hatchery until they reach about 6" where after they are planted in a river. In a very short period of time before they head for the big lake.

Since steelhead parents do nothing to teach their offspring to survive, your analogy with George the cheetah is a non sequitur. That is a statement that does not follow logically from anything previously said.

By the way, all of the cheetah come from the same family linage so there will never be any difference in offspring. Check that out once.