Montana FWP reports they collected 574,229 Chinook salmon eggs from adult fish that were spawning in Fort Peck Reservoir. This was double the amount of eggs collected last year, but less then the 2010 total of 610,230 eggs.

In 1983 FWP began stocking Chinook salmon (king salmon) into Fort Peck Reservoir.

FWP reports that roughly 75 percent of anglers got to Fort Peck to fish for walleye, but Chinook is the second most targeted fish.

Fort Peck Reservoir is currently the only Chinook population in Montana, but inadequate habitat conditions prevent the fish from successfully spawning on there own.

Here is what Heath Headley, the reservoir’s fisheries biologist had to say:

“We rely exclusively on an electro-fishing boat to capture the spawning adults. It involves intentionally sending an electric current into the water where the fish are congregating, which stuns them and makes them easier to net. That’s proven to be most effective because it allows us to easily locate and collect a lot of salmon at once.”

To read more, check out this story from the Great Falls Tribune