Irony and greatness often go hand in hand and Monday was no exception on San Geronimo and Lagunitas Creeks. Sunday provided a beautiful set of 5 fish at Castro Pools that made for exciting tours (with small numbers :) of course) and made it obvious how well the naturalists and guides communicate. Monday, with great confidence, no less, I was scouting for a morning tour and the 5 fish....GONE!....sad face. I thought, this is OK, there are bound to be some of our Coho friends somewhere, right? Not right. I ran this group of amazing women all over searching for fish with no luck but having the most wonderful time. We check one last time at Castro on our way out and run into not only several friends but a line of cars belonging to a camera crew following one of our renowned valley scientist friends. They had been searching too! There are so many now interested in looking for the Coho now that the numbers are dwindling for the season; a bit like what happens once a species is extinct I dare to note, everyone becomes interested. The beauty of this story is that the crew found their fish at no other location but SPAWN headquarters provided by our own Andy Harris. Hip Hip Hurray for Andy! I love beautiful endings, don't you?

Suspense on the creek

January 5 brought rain, but enough to bring in more fish? Right out of the  Leo Cronin parking lot, a fresh red male says YES!

But it's frustrating to see him nuzzling up to the very spawned out female who's been guarding her redd since Christmas Eve -- there are no eggs there!

Told there's a spawning pair upstream, I rush to see another new male nuzzling up to another maybe spawned out female. Her tail does not show the weeks of wear of female number 1, but it's white and lacy. Maybe she still has eggs; I hope so. 

She certainly has a lot of energy, turning and digging again and again. This isn't dispositive -- females keep tidying the redd until they die. Indeed, the word "redd" comes from the Scottish word that means "to clear an area or keep tidy." So think of an obsessively clean housekeeper sweeping, sweeping, sweeping, when you see a coho female clear the silt from her eggs for the hundredth time. 

If the two new males are cozying up to females who may be out of eggs, what do we need? New females! Set up the chant! Fe-males! Fe-males!

There's still hope; it's only one day after the rain...

And just before I leave, there she is, rolling and digging at the parking lot redd. Her tail is perfect, intact; she's fresh and ready to go!!! 

Within fifteen minutes, two adult males and a jack are thrashing around her. Back in business! 

Barring predation, look for spawning activity at this redd for the next few days.

New year, new fish?

First viewing of the new year yields one carcass -- a spawned out female (near the intersection of the Shafter Grade trail), one mighty tired fierce warrior female at the first redd above the parking lot (she whom we have been watching since Christmas Eve, now unchallenged and still defending), and one mystery fish Jeff thought might be a steelhead because she was so silvery. Dramatic female common merganser and belted kingfisher are patrolling, kinglets flashing, mushrooms burgeoning.
The dam is still spilling and the rain is starting to fall. Will more water bring another wave of coho? Fingers crossed!