Angler with silver Kokanee fish at Lake Berryessa Credit: CDFW
August 18, 2024 - As part of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Hatchery Program’s mission to support fish conservation, angling opportunities and California’s economy, CDFW stocked 1.53 million inland Chinook and Kokanee salmon fingerlings into reservoirs in 17 counties this spring.
Over 992,000 inland Chinook salmon were planted across 13 reservoirs in northern and central California ranging from Trinity Lake in Trinity County to Pine Flat Reservoir in Fresno County.
Another 538,000 Kokanee salmon were stocked in 13 reservoirs that include Shasta Reservoir to the north and Shaver Lake in Fresno County to the south.
These stocked inland salmon support popular sport fisheries and occupy a unique ecological niche, thriving in the deep, cold-water environments these reservoirs offer. They are different from anadromous salmon because they do not migrate to the ocean, and instead rear in the reservoirs where released.
Fish are planted at 2 to 3 inches in size and are intended to be “put-and-grow” fisheries that sustain recreational fishing in future years. Stocking fish when they are younger and smaller allows them to feed on natural prey and grow in an open environment. Successful put-and-grow fisheries such as inland salmon allow the hatcheries to significantly increase the total number of fish that can be grown and stocked in a given year as well as the number of waters that can be stocked. These landlocked salmon are too small to be hooked by most anglers’ gear but will reach catchable size in two to three years.
“These fish provide an excellent recreational opportunity with Chinook caught from lakes such as Berryessa and Folsom recently approaching 10 pounds,” said Jason Julienne, a Senior Environmental Scientist Supervisor who oversees CDFW’s Sacramento Valley salmon hatcheries.
The state record inland Chinook salmon was caught at Trinity Lake in 2013 and weighed 20 pounds, 15 ounces. The state record Kokanee salmon was caught in Lake Tahoe in 2013 and weighed 5 pounds, 2 ounces.
All inland Chinook salmon released are “triploids,” or sterile and incapable of reproducing to protect naturally reproducing salmon populations downstream of the reservoirs. The inland Chinook salmon are produced from Chinook salmon eggs collected during spawning operations at the Feather River Fish Hatchery in Oroville.
Kokanee salmon are the landlocked version of Sockeye salmon native to the Pacific Northwest. CDFW’s stocked Kokanee salmon are the offspring of Kokanee salmon eggs collected and fertilized from fish migrating from Stampede Reservoir in Nevada County to spawn into the Little Truckee River. These fish are stocked as “diploids,” meaning they are capable of natural reproduction. Several reservoirs such as New Bullards Bar Reservoir in Yuba County and Whiskeytown in Shasta County support natural reproduction of Kokanee salmon. Other waters such as Bucks Lake in Plumas County and Trinity Lake in Trinity County no longer receive Kokanee salmon plants because their self-sustaining populations are sufficient enough to support fisheries without the need for additional stocking.
As Kokanee salmon typically require cold, snowmelt-fed tributaries to spawn successfully, there is little risk of Kokanee successfully reproducing outside of these large reservoir environments and establishing runs in anadromous waters occupied by native salmon and steelhead.
Anglers are reminded to check the 2024-2025 California Freshwater Sport Fishing Regulations for the landlocked salmon daily bag and possession limits at the waters they intend to fish. Most waters have a five-fish daily bag limit and a 10-fish possession limit. However, certain waters, including Bucks Lake in Plumas County, New Bullards Bar Reservoir in Yuba County, Pardee Lake in Amador County and Trinity Lake in Trinity County have a daily bag limit of 10 landlocked salmon with a possession limit of 20. Landlocked salmon bag and possession limits are separate from trout possession limits.
Waters That Received Inland Chinook Salmon in Spring 2024
Shasta Reservoir (Shasta County)
Trinity Lake (Trinity County)
Lake Oroville (Butte County)
Folsom Lake (Sacramento/Placer/El Dorado counties)
Lake Almanor (Plumas County)
Spaulding Reservoir (Nevada County)
Lake Berryessa (Napa County)
Don Pedro Reservoir (Tuolumne County)
McClure Reservoir (Mariposa County)
Pine Flat Reservoir (Fresno County)
Waters That Received Inland Kokanee Salmon in Spring 2024
Shasta Reservoir (Shasta County)
Whiskeytown Lake (Shasta County)
Boca Reservoir (Nevada County)
New Bullards Bar Reservoir (Yuba County)
Hellhole Reservoir (Placer County)
Little Grass Valley Reservoir (Plumas County)
Pardee Reservoir (Amador County)
Stampede Reservoir (Sierra County)
Union Valley Reservoir (El Dorado County)
Lake Berryessa (Napa County)
Bass Lake (Madera County)
Don Pedro Reservoir (Tuolumne County)
McClure Reservoir (Mariposa County)
New Melones Reservoir (Calaveras/Tuolumne counties)
Shaver Lake (Fresno County)
Source: CDFW
