1-24-2018
Stockton Record –
To the delight of anglers, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) will be stocking 140,000 to 150,000 Feather River steelhead in the Thermalito Afterbay this year.
“We’ve planted 45,000 steelhead around seven to nine to the pound and will put 45,000 more in the afterbay,” said Penny Crawshaw at the Feather River Fish Hatchery. “We will also stock another 50,000 put-and-take (catchable) fish, weighing one to two fish per pound, around March 1.”
The big numbers of steelhead on hand are a result of the hatchery taking extra eggs last year during the Oroville Dam Spillway crisis.
“We were told to save as many eggs as could in case we had any problems. We saved almost 700,000 eggs, thanks to the pumping system that was installed,” said Crawshaw.