Pens give hope for ‘fish of a lifetime’

In a magic moment Friday, Thea Cowsky poured a 5gallon bucket filled with water and four big rainbow trout into a submerged pen. “My high school kids are going to be thrilled about this,” she said.

Cowsky is the manager of a Mount Shasta-area high school Interact Club, a Rotarysponsored youth group.

Those fish were part of a 30-volunteer bucket brigade that stocked 1,000 large rainbow trout in trout pens at Lake Siskiyou, one of seven lakes with trout-pen programs in Northern California. Other lakes with trout pens include Lake Berryessa, Shasta, Lewiston, Collins, Englebright and New Melones. The feed for the trout often is donated by the organization Kokanee Power.

I took part in Friday’s event, which felt like opening a curtain and seeing a new world where great things are possible.

In May, the Department of Fish and Wildlife will supervise the release of the trout, which are projected to range from 3 to 5 pounds, perhaps even bigger, after being fed for the next five months.

The goal is to inspire increased outdoor participation with parents and their children, said Monty Currier, an environmental scientist with a specialty in fisheries for the DFW.

“We do it to allow people, especially parents and their children, to catch a fish of a lifetime that otherwise would be near impossible,” said Gary Coe, president of Kokanee Power.

By living in large pens at lakes, the trout become acclimated to their habitat, Coe said, and when released, they quickly become naturalized and take on the characteristics of wild fish. The trout are triploids; that is, they cannot breed with native or wild fish.

At Lake Siskiyou, Mount Shasta Rotary built the pens, DFW provided oversight and the fish, and Kokanee Power supplied the food.

Kokanee Power raises the money for the trout food through a March banquet and fishing tournaments, in which entrants to Junior Division are free, Coe said. He added: “We’ve got to figure out a way to get kids’ heads out of their phones. Perhaps this can help.” Info: www.kokaneepower.org