I’m a little late with this post, but it’s now safe to say that the 2024 spring chinook season on the Deschutes has ended. It’s a mixed bag. The table shows fish captured in the Pelton trap below the Pelton Round Butte hydroelectric project that creates Lake Billy Chinook and Lake Simtustus. Spring chinook first arrived at the trap in May and the last one was trapped in September.

Hatchery fish are from the Round Butte Hatchery which is located in the PRB project, below Round Butte Dam. Wild fish were captured in the fish trap and returned to the Lower Deschutes River. LM fish are hatchery fish that were planted as smolts above PRB and who had their left mandible removed for identification. These fish were moved into Lake Billy Chinook. Of those, 62 went up the Crooked River. The first was seen in the Opal Springs fish ladder on May 28 and the last on September 24.

No adult chinook resulting from natural spawning above the PRB project returned.

Note that PGE will report that 164 chinook were passed into LBC this year, well above the 34 LM fish captured. This is due to hatchery chinook in excess of what was need for broodstock being passed above the PRB project.

Spring chinook reintroduction remains disappointing, but the increase of LM fish to 34 from 13 last year is a positive note. 25,099 LM smolts were captured at the Selective Water Withdraw tower this spring and passed downstream, so perhaps 2025 will see an increase in LM adult returns.

Here is my commentary on this from last year which includes a little more color on the success, or lack thereof, of the reintroduction effort.