Theo, do you mean that unconditioned fish (not shy) observe hook shy fish and then mimic that behavior? That's consistent with my idea of how nature operates. If that's the case the hook shy fish that "taught" the other fish most likely were caught and released at some point. That wouldn't happen often with this management strategy because of the small initial stocking of breeders. I'm picturing stocking maybe 1/10 of the recommended number of your target species. I know this would lengthen the amount of time it takes to bring up the population, but it might be worth it.

Does that address your thoughts at all?