First Coho at Leo Cronin -- November 18, 2012

Sunday morning, a jack jumped for Megan at the Inkwells. First jumper seen, though we were all looking through the rain on Saturday.
Later Sunday, Todd, Al and I exulted to see three gorgeous adult coho and one jack cruising the deep pool on the Leo Cronin stem of Lagunitas Creek, just above the new culvert at Dog Leg Creek. They looked perfect -- not a bite or a fungus mark on them.
Opinions differed re: gender -- my theory (which I still like) was that they were all males, hanging out in the pool because there were no females up yet. But Al, the Fish Whisperer, thought at least one and maybe two were females.
We watched for about half an hour, and the fish kept chasing each other in and out of the light -- good viewing. But when we returned from an upstream hike, they were either hiding or had left the pool. Nothing downstream; no signs of redds.
Jean Berensmeier grabbed us in the parking lot to report an Otter Spotting -- three juvenile otters fishing the Inkwell pools, from the lowest on up, and jumping from pool to pool while an adult chirped excitedly from upstream. Jean saw them catch and eat at least four unidentified objects we hope were crayfish. (At least they didn't sound big enough to be spawners). The near presence of these skilled natural predators may have something to do with the salmons' behavior.