Coho getting busy at Leo Cronin

Beautiful day on the creek as the coho get serious. There are now two redds  at Leo Cronin on the way to the dam.
There's still plenty of action at the redd we first observed last Tuesday (just opposite the big silver culvert where Dog Creek comes into Lagunitas Creek). A very fresh looking female was attended today by two adult males and at least one jack (precocious male). Lots of scuffling and jockeying for position.
And a second redd was just being started in the rapids (!!!!) just above the parking lot, about two feet downstream of a blue ribbon. This redd always amazes me -- it seems like a terrible place to choose. But the fish keep picking it, so......
Plus a gorgeous blue kingfisher patrolling. Thanks to David, Michelle and Ryan for pointing out the new redd!

Lamprey Amongst Us

This morning I, once again, did not see Salmon at the inkwells but instead this lamprey literally writhing and sucking its way up the intermittent flow on the side of a pool. My other video is from overhead as the lamprey completes its mission and slithers down into the murky waters of the newly rejuvenated pool. I did not post the other yet as I need to put it in movie maker and crop out the first 1:30 of the 2 minutes because the last 30 seconds is the only time it moves. More to come!

First Redd at Leo Cronin - November 20, 2012

No one saw redds at Leo Cronin on Monday, so first thing Tuesday, raced off to find -- yes!!!! hooray! -- the first redd of the season on that part of the creek. Right across from the culvert, just above the riffle, and just at the bottom of the deep pool where we saw the four spawners on Sunday.
Looks as though Al was right and at least one was a female. (Or maybe a new one moved upstream on Monday....)
First pass through, no fish on the redd, but when I came back after a hike to the dam, a fish moved like a rocket from the redd back into the pool. Whoosh!!!! Being chased by another male? Spooked by an otter? We don't know, but Al had exactly the same experience an hour earlier -- fish speeding like a bullet off the redd towards him and the pool.
As I watched for a while, I saw two males (?) chase each other in the pool. But no female on the redd...
It will be interesting to see if the redd grows over the next few days (which would mean there is a female in residence, even if she's not sitting on the nest steadily).

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.

The Salmon Are Here!

Thanks to the eagerness and faithful eyes of Todd, Candace and Megan the first sighting of the Salmon are here! This is just the beginning of a great season to come. Book your Creekwalk now and sign up to guide! http://www.spawnusa.org/upcomingevents/ We can't wait to share this amazing phenomena with everyone....pass it on!

Rains have arrived! Where are the coho?

Rains have arrived! The new rains and the increased "attraction flow" released out of Kent Lake reservoir into Lagunitas Creek bringing what I expect to be our first big weekend of coho migration through the Lagunitas Creek watershed. Past records indicate those coho are likely already in the watershed, somewhere, holding and hiding and waiting for the swell of the creek to signal their leaping and dashing to the best spawning habitats upstream. The amazing Leo Cronin Salmon Viewing Area and parking lot opens this Saturday! Our first Creekwalk of the season will be there! Click here to register for a Creekwalk with a trained SPAWN Naturalist! We are ready to welcome our coho home after they have spent the last 18 months out in the Pacific ocean enjoying what most marine biologists believe were two very healthy and productive seasons off of our coast. The strong upwelling brought high productivity offshore, lots of krill and plankton, lots of whales and marine wildlife sightings, and all that is great news for the salmon. On the other hand, the summer of 2012 was also the first summer in three years to have an open season for salmon fishing offshore our coast, and while coho has been illegal to catch and keep for many year, their may be some unexpected impacts from the fishing activity. When fisheries biologists report the estimates of spawning coho returns they call it "escapement" and that is because these are the big spawners that have ESCAPED the fishing fleets to return home safely to their native streams!

November 15, 2012

I had such a great time on Lagunitas today with the survey team. Though we did not see Salmon we did get to participate in the increase in water flow from the release at the dam. We talk about how the lower, cooler, water the dam releases benefits the salmon, and I can testify to the COLDER, aka "cooler" water that is delivered downstream in these events. As we wandered upstream checking above each riffle we had a group of hikers peer down at us with concerned "are they lost" expressions. It was too loud in the water for us to convey our task and diminish their concerns but all I could think of was J.R.R. Tolkien's thoughts:

“All that is gold does not glitter

Not all those who wander are lost

The tree that is old does not wither

Deep roots are not touched by the frost

From the ashes a fire shall be woken

A light from the shadows shall spring

Renewed will be blade that was broken

Crownless again shall be king.”

 

The salmon are not lost as they wander, they are just returning from the shadows of the deep sea to re-claim their kingdom, sheltered in ancient trees that are unyielding in their service; worth so much more than gold these symbionts, worth so much more than a few hours in the cold.

So happy for what I do!

 

As Kirsten and I scouted Willis Evans Creek today it occured to me what the challenges and choices of the salmon are; which way to go, where will the best cobble be, the best shade, the best shelter.....where do I put the entire future of my legacy?

 I thought, personally, Robert Frost, said it best. 

 

 

Two roads diverged in a "red" wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was "riffled" and "cobbled" wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that "will make" all the difference.

Robert Frost....with slight "changes" by Melinda Barnes

 

Spawing Season is Here!

Unaware of another blog set up to celebrate the coming of the 2012 Coho Salmon Spawning season I wanted to prepare this for us to share our observations, news and experiences. I look so forward to getting to know all of you through my first season with SPAWN and as a community member. This year's flyer is attached for our SPAWN family to share. I know this will be a great year for Salmon, Creekwalks and community commitment to the conservation of this amazing endangered species.