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Spending its entire life in freshwater, Utah's only salmon, the kokanee salmon, is a landlocked form of the sockeye salmon. Kokanee salmon are a popular nonnative game fish in Utah and have been introduced into several other water bodies in the state, most notably Strawberry and Flaming Gorge.
Kokanee are silvery-blue for most of their lives, but turn a bright red color in the fall of their last year, prior to spawning. Kokanee spawn over gravel beds, and they will often dig pits (called redds) to lay their eggs. Much like sockeye salmon, each kokanee salmon returns to the area of its birth to spawn. Kokanee live for three to four years and die after spawning is complete.
If you'd like to witness this annual September ritual, you're in luck. The DWR is hosting two kokanee viewing events the next two weekends. On September 14th, biologists will set up near Sheep Creek, a tributary to Flaming Gorge and be there to talk about these unusual fish and their remarkable spawning efforts. Then a week later, on September 21st, biologists will do the same at the Strawberry Reservoir Visitor's Center. For more information on the events, check out our outdoors calendar page at KSLTV.com
