Whitlock Bay Spawning Station

Click Here For Pamphlet on Overview and Facts of Whitlock Spawning Station (PDF file) or view a Video of salmon spawning at Whitlock

Lake Oahe is one of few North American lakes where Chinook salmon thrive and give anglers a thrilling experience. This station plays a vital role in the existence of salmon in central South Dakota.

This facility is located along the shore of Lake Oahe at Whitlock Bay, 18 miles west of Gettysburg, SD. It has a fish ladder, four concrete holding ponds, crowding raceways, a spawning building, and a water supply system. Water is pumped from the bay into the holding ponds and flows down the fish ladder back into the bay.

Whitlock Bay Spawning Station helps provide better fishing for anglers. Each fall, Chinook salmon migrate to Whitlock Bay to to climb the fish ladder, which begins the spawning process. The fish then enter the concrete holding ponds and are later moved into the building, where artificial spawning occurs. Spawning involves the collection of eggs and sperm. The fertilized eggs are taken to state fish hatcheries, where the resulting hatchery-raised fish are stocked back into Lake Oahe to grow and thrive in this large, deep, cold body of water.

No suitable habitat exists in the lake for Chinook salmon to reproduce naturally. Whitlock Spawning Station allows for the completion of their life cycle and helps to ensure future populations of these fish. Because of these fish management efforts, Lake Oahe is the only place in South Dakota and one of the few sites in North America where you can hook and land Chinook salmon. The Whitlock facility is also sometimes used to spawn other fish species.

Salmon Spawning

Each fall, from 250,000 to 1,000,000 Chinook salmon eggs are collected, resulting in approximately 250,000 young salmon stocked into Lake Oahe the following year. The number and size of salmon stocked vary annually. Biologists determine stocking numbers based on environmental and biological conditions.

Chinook salmon from Lake Oahe swim up the fish ladder and enter the holding ponds. They are manually crowded from the ponds into an anesthesia tank.

Salmon that are not in spawning condition (ripe) are sorted and returned to the holding ponds. Those that are ripe are euthanized. These salmon would otherwise soon naturally die. Female salmon are injected with air to expel the eggs. Milt (sperm) is extracted from male salmon and added to the eggs for fertilization. The fertilized eggs are washed and placed into storage containers. These eggs are promptly transported to state hatcheries for incubation. These fish are placed in containers, picked up by a fish processing company, and finally processed and sold for human consumption.

Visitation

The station is open September 15 through October 30. Guided tours are available 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. daily. Inquiries may be directed to (605)765-9411 when the station is in operation and to (605) 223-7700 at other times.