The Editor’s Note

The Feather River Hatchery in Oroville took the lead in finishing the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Inland Chinook Salmon Program when a wildfire shut down the facility in Napa. (ANDREW HUGHAN/CDFW)

ne of the most successful California Department of Fish and

OWildlife projects has been the stocking of landlocked salmon in the state’s Central Valley reservoirs. I have some pretty good memories of fishing those lakes.

Last month I reminisced about my Lake Oroville fishing trips and the landlocked coho we caught, but I can also remember fishing outings at Mother Lode lakes like Camanche – where I fished for catfish at night during a camping trip – and that day as a tween I caught a squawfish on a Rapala lure at nearby Pardee Lake. When I showed a lake ranger my catch I probably felt like I’d caught a lakerecord kokanee!

In the early 2000s I also had a chance to join some CDFW biologists on an electrofishing survey at New Melones Lake. It was fascinating to stand at the edge of the boat – net in hand – scooping up fish at the surface and then helping the guys log in their data back at the dock.

So in a year riddled with bad news and despair, it felt cathartic to see these lakes get some good news thanks to some heady CDFW teamwork.

The devastating Glass Fire, which burned over 67,000 acres and destroyed roughly 1,000 homes and commercial buildings in Napa and Sonoma Counties, prevented the Silverado Fisheries Base in Napa from its usual contribution to the incubation of Feather River Hatchery eggs for CDFW’s Inland Chinook Salmon Program. Feather River took up the slack as Silverado shut down due to the wildfire and housed the fingerlings and smolts until they could be released.

It’s the kind of feel-good story we all need in a time of a pandemic and contentious Election Day lead-in.

“Understanding the inherent risk of losing an entire year’s production, CDFW staff will play a crucial role in ensuring future inland Chinook fisheries in Folsom, Oroville and eight other lakes and reservoirs,” Kyle Murphy, a senior environmental scientist with CDFW’s Fisheries Branch, said in a press release. “This interagency teamwork will have long-reaching effects for thousands of anglers in Central and Northern California.”

And hopefully we can all make more future memories at those lakes. -Chris Cocoles