This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
For years as a kid I dreamed of seeing wild salmon running rivers in Alaska on their way to spawn. Sometime in my late teens I finally got a chance to see salmon and I didn't even have to leave my home state. Flaming Gorge Reservoir and then Strawberry Reservoir started to produce salmon runs and every chance I got I made a trip to see them.
Having just returned from my first trip to Alaska and not only seeing, but also catching, four species of salmon while they were running, I would have thought my desire to see kokanee salmon in Utah rivers would have diminished. Not so.
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) is holding its annual Kokanee Salmon Viewing Day Sept. 22 at Strawberry Reservoir. The event is held at the U.S. Forest Service visitor center at Strawberry Reservoir, just off of Highway 40 about 20 miles out of Heber City. The free event runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and includesan opportunity to see fish in the trap and at the egg-taking facility behind the visitor center. State biologists will be there to show some of the salmon and talk about their life in Strawberry Reservoir. Call the Uinta National Forest at 435-654-0470 or Scott Root with the DWR at 801-491-5656 for more information.
The video and pictures were taken on Sheep Creek near where it flows into Flaming Gorge Reservoir. That's another good spot to see salmon on the run.