Kokanee Salmon

Each autumn, from late September through mid-October, the Kokanee Salmon enter Taylor Creek to spawn. Taylor Creek is along Route 89 between Emerald Bay and Camp Richardson. The annual Kokanee Salmon Festival will take place this October 2nd and 3rd, 2010 at the Taylor Creek Visitors Center, from 8:30am to 4pm each day.

The American Indians living along the Fraser River in Canada gave the Kokanee its name. Kokanee means “red fish.” When spawning their bodies turn from willow leaf-shaped to humpbacked. Hormone changes inflame their skin. They are non-anadromous salmon meaning that they live their entire lives in fresh water. Kokanee are much smaller than ocean going salmon due to limited sources of food in fresh water lakes. The average size of an adult is 14 inches.

Kokanee were “accidentally” introduced into Lake Tahoe in 1944 from holding ponds that overflowed at the old Tahoe City Fish Hatchery.

To view the Salmon, stop by the U.S. Forest Service's Lake Tahoe Visitors Center. Then follow the self-guiding Rainbow Trail to the Stream Profile Chamber, a windowed underground room with a view of the Kokanee. Leaving the chamber, follow a gravel path (not the Rainbow Trail) to the bridge to watch pairs of salmon select egg-laying sites and spawn.

Lake Tahoe Kokanee Salmon!