Do California Kings Share A Bond With New Zealand Salmon?

As I discovered last fall when I visited and fished there,  New Zealand is a fascinating country. And as it turns out, there’s a connection to California’s salmon in the land of the Kiwis, who are passionate about freshwater fishing.

Here’s New Zealand news agency Stuff with more:

Members of a Native American tribe have returned to Canterbury and should know “very soon” whether an extinct species of California salmon is the same as those swimming in New Zealand rivers.

A delegation from the Winnemem Wintu tribe of northern California visited Mid and North Canterbury rivers in May, to begin testing whether local fish were the same as the chinook salmon – wiped out three years after the Shasta Dam was built on the Sacramento River in 1945.

They have now returned and 45 samples had been taken from the likes of the Rakaia and Waimakariri rivers and sent back to the University of California, Davis for testing, Fish & Game spokesman Richard Cosgrove said.

I do know that in the Lake Taupo area the folks there are obsessed with trout as these photos can attest.