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• Stacking the Odds to Stock California’s Waters

  

  Working late, Mojave River hatchery staff apply FDA-certified epoxy coating to hatchery rearing ponds. CDFW fish transportation truck at Fillmore Hatchery Acting Mojave River Hatchery Manager Forest Williams at work A hatchery crew releases trout into the Feather River A fishy view of trout planting on the Feather River The beginning of trout fishing season in Southern California is just around the corner, and CDFW biologists and hatchery staff are striving to maximize hatchery trout availability for the many anglers who will cast lines in coming weeks. Trout angling in lower-elevation waters of Southern California generally begins in November and continues through April, to correspond with colder water temperatures that can sustain stocked trout. Precise temperatures are just one of the criteria that must be met before trout stocking begins. Currently, these conditions are approaching optimal levels, but CDFW is running about two weeks behind schedule due to unforeseen circumstances at Mojave River and Fillmore trout hatcheries, two of CDFW’s southernmost facilities. The Mojave River Hatchery, built in 1947, raises and stocks a ten-year average of 340,000 pounds of catchable trout per year. Beginning ...

• New Heritage Trout Production Program for Inland Fisheries

  

  For more than a century, CDFW’s Trout Hatchery and Stocking Program has been providing recreational fishing opportunities to anglers throughout California. Today, the trout hatchery program is composed of 13 hatcheries, which oversee 20 distinct fish production programs to produce 17 strains, species and subspecies of trout. McCloud River Redband Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss stonei) is the latest addition to the CDFW’s production and release efforts. McCloud River Redband Trout is a unique sub-species of rainbow trout endemic to the upper McCloud River area of Shasta and Siskiyou counties of northern California. This fish has beautiful coloration and unique adult characteristics – a pronounced crimson lateral stripe, adult parr marks, relatively large black dorsal spotting, yellow-white hues on the underbelly and white-tipped fins. The new production and stocking program for McCloud River Redband Trout at Mt. Shasta Fish Hatchery will focus on the upper McCloud River, including McCloud Reservoir. Given that stocking will occur solely within the historic watershed of McCloud River Redband Trout, the program is distinguished by CDFW as a Heritage Trout Production Program. A Heritage Trout is defined as ...

• Junction Reservoir Back to Raising Backcountry Trout

  

  A long, wet winter has been good for Junction Reservoir and CDFW’s Kamloops rainbow trout that live there. The June Lake Marina graciously offered up its net pens to CDFW’s Kamloops rainbow trout program when the drought forced CDFW to rescue its brood stock from a shrinking Junction Reservoir. CDFW hatchery staffers Jimmy Sparks, left, and Drew Klingberg prepare to sex and sort Kamloops brood stock for later spawning, separating males from females as well as those females ready to spawn immediately versus those that need more time to ripen. The fish are returned to Junction Reservoir after spawning. The offspring from these Kamloops will be raised at CDFW’s Fish Springs Trout Hatchery and stocked by airplane as fingerlings into backcountry waters across the state approved for trout stocking. Resplendent in their spring spawning colors, Kamloops rainbow are raised and bred for their hard-fighting ability and wild nature that allows them to thrive in California’s remote backcountry waters and provide a thrill for anglers who catch them. Junction Reservoir in Mono County is CDFW’s brood lake for the Kamloops rainbow trout, a hard-fighting strain ...

• Creel Survey Keeps Tabs on Quality at Crowley

  

  Lahontan cutthroat trout are a Crowley prize. In addition to natural spawning that occurs in the lake, CDFW plants the fish as fingerlings in the fall. By the spring opener, many like this fish are resplendent in their spawning colors. Jim Erdman conducts creel surveys to see how many trout CDFW planted last fall turn up on opening day. Fish 15 inches or longer are determined to be from last fall's stocking when they were planted as fingerlings. Mark Risco from Temecula shows off the 20-inch brown trout he caught opening day at Crowley Lake. In addition to natural spawning, CDFW's Hot Creek Hatchery stocks thousands of brown trout each year, which are very popular with Crowley anglers. CDFW volunteer Carl Ronk conducted opening day creel surveys at Crowley Lake along with CDFW Environmental Scientist Jim Erdman. Mono County’s Crowley Lake is a destination fishery that attracts trout anglers of all kinds – bait fishermen, lure casters, trollers and fly anglers – throughout the state during its open season. The sprawling lake, situated at 6,700 feet and covering some 5,300 surface acres ...

• Biologists Work to Restore Kirman Lake’s Trophy Trout Fishery

  

  Lake-side signage lets anglers know Kirman has recently been stocked with wild brook trout and asks for help from anglers in competing a brief survey about their fishing experience. CDFW fisheries biologists electrofish Silver Creek in Mono County to remove non-native brook trout to reduce competition with native cutthroats. The tremendous amount of aquatic life within Kirman Lake provides a nearly unlimited food supply for transplanted brook trout from Silver Creek and transplanted Lahontan cutthroat trout from Heenan Lake. Kirman itself has no spawning habitat and is dependent on trout plants from CDFW to maintain the trophy trout fishery. Before release into their new home in Kirman Lake this fall, brook trout were measured and their adipose fins clipped. CDFW scientists plan to track their growth rates with the help of voluntary angler surveys. It’s a question that has been asked by more than a few eastern Sierra trout anglers: What happened to the fishing at Kirman Lake? Kirman, a small backcountry lake north of Bridgeport in Mono County, has long been heralded as one of the very few places in the state where ...

• OSPR Inland Drill

  

  About 10 environmental scientists from CDFW’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR) participated in a large-scale oil spill drill along the Feather River on March 21. The drill was intended to help wildlife response teams prepare for a potential train derailment. OSPR has a long history of oil spill response in marine environments but recently expanded its scope statewide to include inland waters. This Feather River exercise was the first time a substantial wildlife response drill has been held inland, testing responders’ abilities to resolve many operational and technical issues presented by a river spill. Whereas marine spills typically require rescue of seabirds and occasionally marine mammals, the kinds of animals potentially affected by inland spills are quite different and varied, potentially including raptors, songbirds, reptiles, amphibians, rodents, foxes, and other mammals. The need to capture and care for these species during an oil spill presents unique challenges for scientist responders. The goal is to have the necessary protocols in place and practiced. The drill was put on by the California Oiled Wildlife Care Network (OWCN), an organization funded by ...