There were reports of Chinook being caught in Green Peter Reservoir. That got the attention of our local F/G and they did some investigating.
Seems that some hatchery fish that were planted there years earlier were actually reproducing in the feeder streams.
They found carcasses of adults and live juvenile. Stocking there had been halted many years before.
Lost Creek Reservoir has them. They were introduced by F/G and restocked annually. Whether or not they are reproducing on their own or not
has not been determined. I know of one individual that targets them annually and does quite well. His largest to date was 24" long.
Most are caught using the same basic methods for Kokanee (landlocked Sockeye).
There's several lakes that have them now. Do a Google search and they pop up. Idaho's, Lake Coeur d'Alene and several others have good populations
and some darned good size fish. I've been catching them, but they're small. The biggest may have gone 13/14 inches long, all on sling blades and hootchie combinations.
The Rogue River was dammed in about 77", I think. There had to be spring Chinook in the system at the time that were trapped behind the dam - both adults and juveniles.
Sounds like there's not a lot of interest in them, here. I'll keep after them until the winter steelhead show up in my neck of the woods...... They're bright, shiny little bullets with
nice red meat. Fun to catch and there's days when I'm the only boat on the water!
