Following a Wet Winter, Napa River Fish Trap Yields High Salmon Count

Jonathan Koehler is working the biggest fish-trapping contraption on the Napa River and finding out good news about Chinook salmon after a historic rain year. This eight-foot-diameter metal funnel floats half-submerged and rotates as currents hit the inner baffles. Fish swim inside and end up trapped in a water-filled compartment. “It’s sort of like the revolving door at a department store, where you step into it and you have to step inside the store,” Koehler said.