{"id":37243,"date":"2022-11-17T11:45:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-17T18:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/lake-nighthorse-kokanee-salmon-help-ensure-next-years-stock\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:36:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:36:17","slug":"lake-nighthorse-kokanee-salmon-help-ensure-next-years-stock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/lake-nighthorse-kokanee-salmon-help-ensure-next-years-stock\/","title":{"rendered":"Lake Nighthorse kokanee salmon help ensure next year\u2019s stock"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Kokanee
Kokanee salmon are a landlocked version of the sockeye species native to the northern Pacific Ocean. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A persistent breeze off the chilled waters of the Lake Nighthorse reservoir made for contemptibly cold conditions on the small floating platform where Colorado Parks and Wildlife biologist Jim White and his small cadre of helpers work two days per week for a month each fall. On Nov. 4, five men worked aboard the platform, each clad in bright rubber fishing gear.<\/p>\n

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Free fish<\/h4>\n

Kokanee salmon will be given away about 2 p.m. Friday, Nov. 18, in the parking lot at Lake Nighthorse. Participants of the giveaway must hold a valid Colorado fishing license. Youths up to age 4 may receive kokanee if accompanied by a license-holding adult.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The team\u2019s work is methodical, nearly mechanized, and appears almost too simple given the great importance it carries. One CPW employee scoops a dip-net full of kokanee salmon out of a mesh enclosure suspended in the lake within the center of the platform. He dumps the fish into an bath-sized tub of water, where reduced oxygen levels lull the vivacious fish to into a semi-sedated state.<\/p>\n

Then, two men \u2013 White and his now-retired predecessor, Mike Japhet \u2013 alternate grabbing male and female fish, carefully aim the hole in the rear of the abdomen into the small plastic tubs in front of them, and squeeze. Most of the fish release a satisfying \u201csplat\u201d as their reproductive material, either spawn (eggs) or milt (sperm), shoots into the tub.<\/p>\n

Conversations on the platform are interrupted by the regular cry of \u201cgot one\u201d from the biologists handling fish each time they spawn a female salmon.<\/p>\n

\"Colorado
Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials and volunteers work on a floating platform just off shore. The platform has nets suspended underneath it to trap and contain the fish. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The biologists can often tell if a fish is \u201cripe,\u201d meaning ready to spawn, before they squeeze. If the fish is not ripe, it gets tossed back into the water to be spawned next week. If it is ripe, it gets tossed into a separate pen to be given away to the public later in the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThink like bananas,\u201d Japhet said. \u201cIf bananas aren\u2019t ripe, we don\u2019t eat them.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the historic Colorado River Basin drought and a warming climate continues to alter the habitat of kokanee salmon, the spawning that CPW performs at Lake Nighthorse each year grows increasingly important.<\/p>\n

The species was first introduced in Colorado in 1951. Kokanee salmon are nearly identical to the sockeye found in the northern Pacific Ocean. Sockeye are anadromous, meaning they live most of their lives in saltwater but return to freshwater to reproduce. Unlike their anadromous relatives, kokanee salmon are landlocked and spend their entire lives in freshwater. Although they are nonnative to the region, they thrive in the cold water of Colorado\u2019s lakes and reservoirs.<\/p>\n

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