The story of California’s kokanee salmon and the organizations that work hand in hand with the Department of Fish and Game to bolster inland salmon populations is a fascinating tale indeed.

The diminutive battlers we know as kokanee salmon, are really a land locked version of the sockeye salmon. Fishery managers on both the east and west coasts began introducing sockeye salmon into lakes during the early 1900’s. These early efforts were met with varying degrees of success. In some cases the salmon died out, without ever developing into a viable target for anglers. In other cases, the salmon thrived and long standing self sustaining fisheries emerged.

Kokanee spawn in one of two ways during the fall. They either run upstream from the lake in which they live or they spawn along the lake's shoreline. In a natural setting, stream spawning provides superior results. Through trial and error fishery managers learned the dos and don’ts of successfully stocking kokanee salmon.

Kokanee salmon can attain weights in the 3 to 5 pound class, however fish of 1 pound or less are most common. The size kokanee achieve in a given lake can be traced to two factors, the population density and the relative abundance of food. Kokanee feed almost exclusively on plankton and can easily overpopulate a lake. This results in large numbers of stunted fish.

Obviously, a number of variables come into play when it comes to creating a top notch kokanee fishery, such as the amount of forage the lake provides, the availability of year around tributaries that provide both spawning and fry rearing habitat, and the amount of fishing pressure the lake receives. Here in California the story of the kokanee salmon is one of politics, population, and ultimately cooperation between individuals, private organizations and the state.

In 1944, arguably the most important kokanee plant in the history of the state took place when the first kokanee were introduced into Lake Tahoe. Today kokanee that trace their origin to Lake Tahoe can be found in nearly all the state’s kokanee lakes. From the early days through the late 80’s the DFG was responsible for raising and stocking kokanee in California waters. Early on most of the state’s lakes that featured kokanee, boasted self sustaining populations.

As the state’s population grew, the demand from its citizens for water and power prompted the construction series of deep west slope reservoirs that are fed by high country runoff. Some of these lakes feature viable spawning tributaries, but the majority of them don’t. On the other hand the great depths and large size of these reservoirs make them capable of holding large populations of kokanee.

Unfortunately, the potential of these new fisheries nearly went unexplored when the DFG dropped all funding for raising and stocking kokanee salmon in 1989. At that time the Sacramento based non profit organization Project Kokanee was formed by a group of concerned anglers, headed by Fish Sniffer founder Hal Bonslett. Their goal was to provide the DFG with the funds and volunteer manpower needed to keep the kokanee stocking program going.

In 1998 a second non profit group, called Kokanee Power sprang up. This organization was vested with improving kokanee and chinook fisheries on the east side of the San Joaquin River.

Back in October, I had the opportunity to observe and assist C.I.F.F. volunteers and DFG personnel in harvesting eggs at Taylor Creek, a tributary of Lake Tahoe. In all more than 850,000 eggs were collected and processed, but the story doesn’t end there. I wrote a story about the egg collecting, and since then I’ve ran into several people that have asked what happens to the eggs after they leave the stream.

Well, I recently had a discussion with Dave Shumaker about that very thing. Dave is the vice president of Kokanee Power and it just happens that it is Kokanee Power that assists the DFG in the next step of the process.

From Taylor Creek the eggs are transported to the San Joaquin Hatchery near the town of Friant. The fertilized eggs are very sensitive to temperature and must be kept in the mid to lower 50’s. The eggs are taken to the San Joaquin Hatchery because nearby Millerton Dam provides a reliable source of cold water that the DFG can manipulate to achieve optimum temperatures.

In all 1.2 million eggs from Taylor Creek, the Little Truckee, and Bucks Creek were taken to the San Joaquin Hatchery this fall with the lions share coming from Lake Tahoe salmon.

When the eggs arrive at the hatchery they are grouped based on where they were harvested and placed into “egg jars” provided by Kokanee Power. The jars are capable of holding 250,000 eggs. An egg jar is a cylinder shaped container in which water wells up through the bottom and flows out through notches at the top. The water pressure in the jar is adjusted so that the eggs are gently rolling in the water and not resting upon one another.

Everyday the egg jars are checked for dead eggs. Live eggs maintain a deep red coloration, while dead eggs turn white. A certain percentage of dead eggs are expected, but they can’t be left in the jar with the live eggs or fungus will develop and endanger all the eggs. As a result, Kokanee Power volunteers and DFG personnel work fastidiously to remove dead eggs on a daily basis.

About a month after the eggs first enter the egg jars visible eyes become apparent within the eggs. This indicates that the eggs have entered the “eyed stage.”

According to hatchery manager Greg Paape, the eggs will begin hatching about 2.5 weeks after they become eyed. “The time frames during these early stages are general. The real determining factor in how quickly the eggs mature, is the water temperature. The higher the temperature is within the safe range the quicker the eggs will hatch. The entire batch hatches in a 2 to 3 day period,” related Paape.

Once the eggs reached the eyed stage they go through a process called, “addling” which is designed to eliminate weak eggs. During addling, the eggs are gravity suctioned from the egg jars, through a hose, and into a bucket resting about 4 feet below the egg jar. At this stage, the eggs are very delicate and this process will crack weak eggs.

Forty eight hours after addling, the eggs are moved through an egg picking machine that utilizes a wheel and an electronic eye to separate dead eggs from live eggs. Once they’ve passed through the machine, the batch of eggs is hand checked for dead eggs one last time before being grouped into 15.000 egg lots and placed into small stainless steel jars.

At this point, some of the eggs remain at the San Joaquin Hatchery, while the majority of them are taken to the American River Hatchery. During the period between addling and hatching the eggs are very sensitive and hatchery personnel take a hands off approach to caring for them.

When the eggs hatch, the fry live off their attached eggs sacks and can’t be fed until the eggs sacks completely disappear. “The kokanee's insides are not fully formed until the egg sack is gone. If they eat before it is gone they will likely die,” said Paape.

According to Paape, 75% to 85% of the eggs will mature. This year things have gone exceptionally well and at least 85% of the eggs are expected to survive. To fully understand the phenomenal success of this process you’ve got to consider that in a natural stream setting less than 1% of the eggs would be expected to mature.

Before being stocked, each group of salmon is pathologically sampled at a DFG lab to ensure that they are healthy and free of disease. This is done to ensure that a disease that originated at the hatchery is not passed on to the fish in a healthy fishery and illustrates the level of caution and devotion the DFG exercises in maintaining the health of our lakes and streams.