Truckee River Yacht ClubTruckee River Yacht ClubAccording to Glenn, a new hatchery facility is on line at Big Bend in Wadsworth, in order to entice LCT upstream, rather than up the concrete fishway at Sutcliffe. This is the larger version of the refrigerator concept put forth by Trout Unlimited (see previous article)
The fish are gathered in gated holding areas, then separated into male and female pens. The males are darker in color, some definitely looking like old salmon; the females are lighter in color and smaller than most males.
We watched USFWS staff and tribal staff strip and divide the eggs from the females into three small waiting bowls. The sperm is milked from three different males, one male per bowl of eggs, to spread the genetic pool. The males and females are returned to baskets in the watery concrete channel. But before they are returned to the lake by truck, they are measured for length, while their upper or lower tail is trimmed so that they will not be used again for spawning purposes.
The fertilized eggs then go to the National Hatchery for rearing. However the Tribe hopes with its new facility at Wadsworth, that the fish will do what comes naturally--spawn in the river or in the hatchery under slightly more natural circumstances. The point is that they begin to return to the river.
We saw some spectacularly large specimens of LCT. It was exciting to see the fervor with which they head upstream, leaping over small falls that simulate natural rivers with falls, riffles and pools. Looks like these guys have plenty of fighting spirit at least at this time of the year. The Tribe would also like to accommodate a fall spawn. That's in the future. (See photo of fish in wild.)
