Fall-Run Chinook Salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha
These fall-run Chinook salmon were photographed below DaGuerre Point Dam on the Lower Yuba River. There are four different runs in California's Central Valley and they all are very similar in appearance. The different runs are named for the time of year they begin to enter freshwater to spawn: Fall-run, Late-fall, Winter and Spring-run. The fall-run supports the bulk of the commercial fishery off the California coast. Historically the runs were geographically and temporally isolated from one another, but with dam construction and operation, the fall and spring runs are forced to spawn in overlapping habitats at the same, late fall runs spawn a little later on top of the fall/spring runs. The winter run is unique to the Sacramento River historically spawning in areas influenced by year round cold water springs, now isolated upstream of Shasta Dam. These fish are forced to spawn in the Sacramento River below Keswick Dam and their survival in the river is at the mercy of the cold water pool management in Shasta Reservoir.
Fall-Run Chinook Salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha
These fall-run Chinook salmon were photographed below DaGuerre Point Dam on the Lower Yuba River. There are four different runs in California's Central Valley and they all are very similar in appearance. The different runs are named for the time of year they begin to enter freshwater to spawn: Fall-run, Late-fall, Winter and Spring-run. The fall-run supports the bulk of the commercial fishery off the California coast. Historically the runs were geographically and temporally isolated from one another, but with dam construction and operation, the fall and spring runs are forced to spawn in overlapping habitats at the same, late fall runs spawn a little later on top of the fall/spring runs. The winter run is unique to the Sacramento River historically spawning in areas influenced by year round cold water springs, now isolated upstream of Shasta Dam. These fish are forced to spawn in the Sacramento River below Keswick Dam and their survival in the river is at the mercy of the cold water pool management in Shasta Reservoir.