Monday February 3, 2025
SJV Water —
A handful of volunteers gathered in a remote shed near the Pine Flat Dam recently to learn how to become trout “mamas,” so to speak.
Lori Werner, an environmental resource analyst for the Kings River Fisheries Management Program, met with four volunteers Jan. 24 to show them how to care for 140,000 rainbow trout eggs until they hatch into fry that will be released into the river.
Werner showed them how to record water temperature, clean, feed and monitor the trout eggs.
“It’s not rocket science,” Werner told the group. “It’s actually remarkable how much they change while we have them.
The trout eggs are kept in jars for up to two weeks before being placed into four narrow, metal channels, called raceways, inside the shed. For the next four weeks, the eggs hatch and move around in the raceways until released into the river. The fry can grow up to 1.5 inches long, Werner said.