March 21, 2025 — Every morning is an early morning for scientists working the flood plains of the Sacramento Valley.
“Putting a cold pair of wet waders first thing in the morning — always the most pleasant, but that’s what the hot cup of coffee is for,” said Jacob Montgomery.
Montgomery and his crew from California Trout head out along Yolo County’s stretch of the Sacramento River. They stop along the levee to spot where four cages float in the water.
“There is a little shelf here,” Montgomery said. “We just pull all the cages in at once.”
Inside the cages are baby salmon.
“Inside each enclosure are five juvenile Chinook Salmon from the Coleman Natural Fishery,” he said.
This is part of the crew’s weekly check-up on the salmon. The fish are measured and weighed.
For decades, the number of salmon in the river has sharply dropped, but now scientists believe they just might have a solution and it comes from the unlikeliest of places.