KELSEYVILLE, Calif. — The Clear Lake hitch’s annual spawning run is now taking place, with thousands of the threatened fish spotted in creeks in the Kelseyville and Lakeport areas.

The hitch, also called the “chi” by Lake County’s Pomo tribes, was listed as threatened under the California Endangered Species Act in 2014.

More recently, concerns that the hitch is on the brink of extinction — with a dwindling number of juvenile hitch found since 2017 — led the Board of Supervisors to declare a local emergency on Feb. 7 in an effort to save the fish.

Now, this winter’s atmospheric rivers and snowstorms have resulted in high water levels, filling up the very creeks that run into Clear Lake that the people who have studied and observed the hitch said are critical to maintaining habitat for the fish to spawn.

The result has been that over the past week thousands of the fish have been spotted in several Lake County creeks, particularly in the Kelseyville area, as part of their annual spawning run.

“It looks like it’s going to be a big hitch run,” said Will Weiss, whose family owns Bella Vista Farming Co. and who is a founding member of the Lake County Land Stewards group.

Longtime Lake County resident and farmer Maile Field, who lives on Cole Creek, said she first saw the hitch on Monday afternoon, alerted to their presence in the creek by predatory birds.

Big Valley Rancheria staff responded and confirmed the fish were hitch. Field said on her Facebook page that the tribal staff counted 1,000 of the fish.

Field gave Lake County News access on Wednesday to walk the stretch of Cole Creek that runs through her property. Dozens of the fish, clustered in small groups, were continuing to make their way up the creek, working along gravel bars and the edge of the creek.

Also this week, other sightings have been reported in Adobe Creek at the low water crossing on Bell Hill Road and in Manning Creek.

Farmers and ranchers are reporting seeing around 300 in Thompson Creek near Merritt Road, said Rebecca Harper, executive director of Lake County Farm Bureau.

The Clear Lake Environmental Research Center’s website also showed reports of fish on Kelsey Creek along Loasa Road in February.

More recently, however, they’ve not been seen in Kelsey Creek.

Weiss, who on March 7 spoke to the state water board to share the farmers’ perspective and their efforts to contribute to finding a solution for the hitch’s challenges, said he spent a good bit of time on Saturday morning walking around Kelsey Creek north of Soda Bay Road and he didn’t see any hitch.

“They’re known to not enter the streams when they’re flowing as strongly as Kelsey Creek is right now,” Weiss said.

He added, “Boy, oh boy, are they in Cole Creek.”

Harper agreed. “They’re definitely present in large numbers in Cole Creek.”

However, with high water has come another challenge — the hitch getting pushed out of the creeks and into nearby flooded fields.

One problem area for the hitch has been a ditch on Clark Drive. That’s where on Thursday Harper found Luis Santana, a fisheries biologist for the Robinson Rancheria Environmental Center, and his team at work rescuing the fish.

She said she pulled over, they gave her a net and she joined the effort to help them, receiving training on how to handle the fish in the process.

That same day, Harper and Taylor Woodruff, fisheries program coordinator for Big Valley Rancheria’s environmental office, were driving to Clear Lake State Park when Harper had a suspicion that a nearby field might be flooded and hitch stranded.

She contacted Carson Holdenried, who leases the field for hay production, asking him to go out and check the field. He went out on Friday morning and confirmed there were quite a few hitch stranded.

Santana and his team, joined by Harper, Holdenried and others, got together to begin rescuing stranded hitch and putting them back in Cole Creek.

Harper said they rescued more than 150 hitch that were in about half an inch of water in puddles in the field. The hitch were exposed and had barely enough water to keep going.

“We were able to get the majority that were in danger of drying up within the next couple of days,” Harper said.

Harper estimated she saw about 450 hitch while working with the tribe on Cole Creek, and that the team was happy and surprised to see the fish in such large numbers.

She recalled Santana saying, “Where were you guys?”

During the rescue, she said they saved quite a few young of the year, measuring about 5 to 6 inches long. That was encouraging, considering that there have been concerns about few juvenile hitch over the last several years.

“So that’s also really, really good for the population,” Harper said.

Harper acknowledged that they couldn’t get all of the fish, and that Santana encouraged them to remember that although not every fish can be saved, even saving one will have a big impact.

She estimated there are a couple hundred more in a three-foot-deep area of water pooling in the field.

Harper said Santana advised that they wait until after the next series of rainstorms to move the fish, as there are concerns more high water could end up pushing them back into the field. After the storms, she said Santana’s team can use seine nets to catch them.

In the meantime, Harper said Holdenried will monitor the field this week to ensure the hitch aren’t in immediate danger.

“The next few weeks will be really important as hopefully hitch are able to spawn successfully and we’re able to collect information on what this year looks like in terms of successful spawning,” Harper said.

Rescuing hitch can become a necessity both in high and low water years.

In April, Lake County Water Resources, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Robinson Rancheria and Habematolel Pomo tribal members worked together to save 240 hitch stranded in an isolated pool in Adobe Creek near Soda Bay in Lakeport, as Lake County News has reported.

Angela DePalma-Dow, the Lake County Water Resources Department’s Invasive Species Program coordinator and the author of the “Lady of the Lake” column for Lake County News, said that people who see hitch cannot touch or move them without a special permit from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, or CDFW.

DePalma-Dow said anyone who sees stranded hitch should call Lake County Water Resources at 707-263-2344 or message the agency on Facebook through its page, @lakecountywater. Water Resources can then send that information to the regional CDFW office and staff immediately.

“We really want/need tips on stranded or dead fish so we can coordinate rescues and sample collection with tribes and CDFW,” DePalma-Dow said.

Dead hitch can be reported to the CDFW mortality hotline, DePalma-Dow said.

DePalma-Dow had additional guidance to help protect the fish.

“People should avoid driving or walking in the creeks right now,” she said.

“And people should take only pictures and leave the fish alone,” DePalma-Dow said Saturday afternoon. “I saw some kids throwing rocks at spawning hitch in Cole Creek today it was so sad and disturbing,”

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.