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.

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