The salmon fish ladder at the Nimbus Fish Hatchery opened on Friday, Nov 2 signaling the
beginning of the spawning season on the American River. Department of Fish and Wildlife
personnel will open the gates to the ladder at 10:30 a.m. where they will begin to take more than
a half million eggs during the first week in an effort to ensure the successful spawning of the
returning fall run Chinook salmon. The three major state run hatcheries in the Central Valley -
Nimbus Hatchery in Sacramento County, and the hatcheries on the Feather River in Butte
County and the Mokelumne River Hatchery in San Joaquin County will take approximately 24
million eggs over the next two months to produce Chinooks salmon for release next spring.
Each hatchery provides viewing areas where visitors can watch the spawning process. Once
the salmon reach 2 to3 inches in length, one quarter of the stock will be marked and implanted
with coded wire tag prior to release which provides CDFW biologists the information from the
ages which chart their survival, and catch and return data.