BTW Dave ,watching sheep doing he wild thing is a way warmer or there is also cable TV, but what ever does it for you, but glad you share the knowledge gained.
Sorry Sandy, I'm not into sheep
but have made a life I love from fish.
Hatchery parr are released below the Vedder Crossing bridge. This release strategy does a reasonably good job of keeping "wild" and hatchery marked fish apart while rearing. In the perfect world for steelhead that existed about 200 years ago, we wouldn't be discussing this but this 2012.
The C-V is an hour away from 2M people. Considering that, and the fact this system still functions as well as it does, speaks well of something … perhaps the closed to angling area, and it's protective environment for the fish that make it that far; most definitely the wise decision to use only adipose intact fish for hatchery broodstock … but I think what keeps adipose intact fish returning to this, the most heavily fished steelhead river in BC, is the off channel habitat available in the upper river along with the ongoing nutrient replacement program administered by the BCCF.