I leave for three days in the Sierra, and the fish pour into the watershed! Maybe I should leave more often. Al and Megan and Terence counted 27 coho on the Shafter stretch of Lagunitas creek on Christmas Eve.
Today was my first day back, and the viewing was glorious. Redds everywhere, starting right at the parking lot. This is the first time in several years we've seen this kind of action so close to the confluence of Lagunitas and San Geronimo creeks.
The press of new fish on limited good spawning habitat created a fabulous bunfight 20 feet up the trail. Everyone wanted the same spot, since gravel is at a premium. So no fewer than eight fish duked it out, females fighting females for the best real estate and males fighting males to be the one who gets to fertilize the female.
We see males jostling all the time, but this kind of concerted fighting between females occurs less often. In this case, both females had worn tails, so both had started digging and may have felt too committed to their redds to be driven off. And the population is dense right now. So the fighting went on for hours, and showed no sign of resolution.
Imagine two women building their dream nurseries too close for comfort. Every ten minutes, the stronger erupts in fury to chase the other away. "Get out!!! This is MY nursery!" Then imagine men pushing each other to be the first in line for sex. "Move it buddy; I was here first. Who cares? I'm bigger and redder - beat it, bud!" Behind them both, the ubiquitous jack (this one a large one), an ever hopeful teenage male, inexperience but ready to try.
Put it all in scale(s) and you've got today's show.
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