Growing food for people and fish in Lake Pend Oreille in North Idaho

Kokanee are the backbone of the incredible fisheries to which Lake Pend Oreille is home. They are also a staple on the dinner table for many folks.

To support the needs of fish and the desires of fishermen on Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho Fish and Game staff spawn adult kokanee and then release fry from those spawning efforts into Granite Creek each year. During 2024, approximately five million kokanee fry were released into Granite Creek. Those fish are destined for the waters of Lake Pend Oreille, supplementing the wild kokanee population in the lake.

The process begins with adult kokanee that are running up Granite Creek being collected and manually spawned by Fish and Game staff each fall. 

The entire effort is no small undertaking. When the spawning occurs in the fall, staff are often up against the looming threat of winter, and the work window can last as long as one month. After the eggs have been collected in Granite Creek, they are transported to the Cabinet Gorge Fish Hatchery where they are incubated, hatched and reared over the winter months. 

After being reared in the hatchery for a short time, the process comes full circle. The young kokanee are transported back to Granite Creek, where they are released with hopes they move into Lake Pend Oreille, where they will grow and serve as food for both fish and people.

Getting the kokanee fry from the Cabinet Gorge Fish Hatchery to Granite Creek is also quite the task, and it utilizes some interesting and efficient technology in the world of raising fish. Fish are pulled from the raceways to the hauling trucks using a fish pump and a dewatering tower.

Dan Dillon, Fish Hatchery manager II said, “For them, it’s a big waterslide.”

Once they are loaded into the hauling trucks, the fry are hauled nearly two hours and over a major mountain pass to get down to Granite Creek.

Once creekside, the fish are unloaded one hauling truck at a time. They take one more ride on a water slide, racing approximately 100 feet down a pipe from the hauling trucks to the cold, flowing waters of Granite Creek.

From there, they are free to begin their lives as kokanee residing in the Lake Pend Oreille system. Ultimately, the very fish released each year will return to Granite Creek as adults three years later where they will be collected and spawned by Fish and Game staff, ensuring their legacy is passed on to future generations.

~ Idaho Department of Fish and Game