Chinook Salmon and Egg Collection on Fort Peck

(Fort Peck)
Fish, Wildlife and Park fisheries and Hatchery staff will begin collecting adult Chinook salmon on the Fort Peck Reservoir the first week of October. The annual collection effort lasts through much of October, with the goal of collecting as many eggs as possible. Salmon are then raised in the hatchery and will be released back into the reservoir in the spring of 2023. Collection efforts coincide with the salmon snagging season which runs through November 30th. Chinook salmon cannot successfully spawn naturally in the reservoir, so staff collect the fish, harvest the eggs, and raise them in the hatchery. A total of 53,232 five inch Chinook salmon were released in June of 2022 from last year’s spawning efforts.