THIS IS A 22 LB 8 OZ. RAINBOW
HE WON THE RAINBOW DIVISION IN
COHO-RAMA "KENOSHA" THAT YEAR
 
 
 
 

SALMON INLIMITED of WISCONSIN's CHINOOK PROJECT

I came across this old picture in my files. The year was 1975 if I remember
right. This is the 2nd year we were putting Chinook Salmon fingerlings
into cages for imprinting them to the Root River in Racine Wisconsin.
These cages were damaged heavy about a week after this picture was taken.
We had 3 days of heavy rain with a northeaster going. The rain swollen & debri
laden river combined with the extreme surging (4-6 ft.) inside of the harbor
from the storm tore the cages apart.  This was a very protected area too !
The cages were in the boat slip at the old coast guard station in the river and a
couple of blocks from the harbor mouth. These cages were replaced by larger
raft type cages that could be pulled by a boat if this happened again. The
netting and frame used for holding the fish could be raised up to within
a foot of the top (with the fish inside) allowing the towing. When the cage
arrived where we wanted it to be the netting was lowered.

These cages were originaly from the Salmon Unlimited of Ill. which was
the first ever to raise & imprint fish in cages on the Great Lakes. They used
these cages  2 years before we obtained them. The project was deemed
unsuitable for the harbors in Ill. because of the lack of rivers.