Remember to respect the salmon and their surrounding habitat! Avoid making loud noises and keep your distance. Prevent sediment erosion by staying on official trails.
February 16, 2007
By Candace Hale, SPAWN Naturalist
A beautiful spring day; mourning cloak butterflies and winter wrens at Shafter, as well as a coho carcass and two of what surely must be the last coho of this year's run.
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The coho carcass is just downstream of the area where there was so much steelie activity last week (at best sighting on Tuesday morning, at least eight fish were distributed between two redds under construction.)
As to coho, one female is on a redd on the near bank just off the parking lot , about opposite the Handicapped Parking sign. She looks fairly fresh;her tail is just beginning to be worn. Report has it that a posse of males was hanging around her a few days ago, but at least today, things seemed pretty quiet.
Saw one more coho female, this one looking quite worn, though still fairly fleshy, on a near bank redd just upstream of the fork in the path towards the dam (at the new decommissioned road). She's very red, and still has some pizzazz, despite the tattered state of her tail. Her redd is in a spot we haven't seen used before.
And there are still fish -- big ones! - in the Castro Pools,
although the murkiness of the water made it hard to see if they were steelhead or coho. As Paola and I watched, one of them motored on upstream.
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We are seeing fish in the tribs as well. Very satisfying to be able to walk in the sunshine and not feel so starved for rain; very satisfying to see that the fish who were stuck so long finally got to come up and spawn.
February 12, 2007
By Candace Hale, SPAWN Naturalist
Rain, rain, glorious rain! Not only did the steelhead that
have been holding in pools for the last month or more come roaring up the creek to jump at the Inkwells on Saturday, but the valiant, patient, last-of-the-season coho are also moving up the watershed to spawn at last.
Spent two enthralled hours in the pouring rain at Shafter
today watching spawning steelhead -- one female and two adult males, with three little ghost jacks hovering about . The jacks (precocious males) were about a third of the size of the female, and so devoid of coloration as to be close to invisible. The full(er) sized males were mightily irritated by their presence and chased and snapped and bit at them continually. Since steelhead have more flexible life cycles than coho, I wondered if perhaps we were looking at a four year fish (the larger female), a three year fish (the smaller adult male) and some two year fish (the tiny jacks). The redd was interesting as well; it started as a very tidy pothole, but after two hours it looked as though the female was elongating it upstream.
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Since steelhead often come up in very turgid, murky water,
and may leave after spawning rather than staying on the redd as coho do, we don't always get such an opportunity to view their spawning behavior. This was a real treat.
Just upstream was a pair of coho, distinguishable by their overbites (kypes) as opposed to the steelhead underbite, as well as by the bright red of the coho male, spawning in a very fast part of the stream. Once the male moved off, it was very hard to see the female at all.
Both these redds were about half way between the gate just
upstream of the parking lot and the yellow metal pole (hydrant?).
Upstream of all that I saw a bright red male (possible the same one who had been courting the downstream female earlier) and a very tattered-tail female in a large pool. Where did she come from? She's clearly been engaged in spawning behavior for some time -- perhaps she's been tucked into a redd on the Shafter stem for a while and is now spending her last days pool floating.
Really exciting to be in mid-February and still seeing fish.
At least ten other people were enthralled enough to stand and watch for a long time. As one of them pointed out, very appropriate activity for Valentine's Day!
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Todd Steiner, February 10th, 2007
Hi all,
The steelhead are jumping at the Inkwells (Shafter Bridge) right now, maybe one a minute with maybe 1 in 10 making it thru. Approximately 60 steelhead were observed holding in pools before the storms, so there should be at least that many making their way up Lagunitas Creek and into tributaries.
Though it seems late in the season, the lack of rain resulted in at least a dozen coho that have been holding in poolsfor several weeks waiting for rain to move upstream and spawn. I am sure they are happily on their way now!
I suspect tomorrow will be a good day to see them jumping at the
Inkwells and at Roy's Pools.
Happy Rain,
Todd
Candace Hale, January 14, 2007
Cold, cold, cold on the creek, and the end of the SPAWN touring season, though not, evidently, the end of the coho spawning season itself. We've seen at least five coho holding in the Castro Pools, waiting for another big rain to move on up to the so-far under-uninhabited upper reaches of San Geronimo Creek and its tributaries. There are more coho waiting in the pools in Samuel P. Taylor. It's frustrating to know that there are perfectly good fish who have made it through all the perils of the last three years and may be stymied in their purpose at this final stage.
The steelhead, too, are waiting for the rain to move up. We've seen four in the hike and bike pool, and there was one in Castro Pool today.
There were also at least three live coho in the Lagunitas stem off Shafter, two of them demonstrating nature's aversion to absolutes. On the first redd off the parking lot was a pair - male and female - both with white tails, despite the fact that we are used to identifying females by their white tails. To make things more confusing, the female was redder than the male! There's no question that she was a female, however, because she was still flipping on her side and sweeping the redd, exhibiting the behavior that is exclusively female. Her white-tailed, paler, greener compatriot was by her side, still swimming over her, hoping, hoping for one last deposition of eggs. Given the extent of the fungus and tattering of both their tails, it seems likely that she is spawned out, and that he hopes in vain...
Upstream another male, more classically marked, with white bites along his spine, swam languidly in a pool. Without more rain to bring up new female fish, his job is over.
January 6, 2007
Candace Hale, SPAWN Naturalist
Late in the season, short on rain, the watershed is still very
interesting and alive. Though the tributaries have been sadly short on salmon --- not enough rain to raise the watertable to the necessary levels, we're thinking -- you can stilll see valiant females just below the Inkwells and at the Leo Cronin viewing area, languidly waving tattered white tails as they wait out their final days on the redd, poised to defend against fish that may never get a chance to challenge them.
And are there fish waiting for their turn to rise up into the
watershed? Yes, there are!
After our tour this morning, we went down to check some of the pools in the watershed. Paola's magical fish eyes discerned, and I could then see, at least two big fresh coho holding in the swimming pool hole at Samuel P. Taylor. Inspired, we rushed up to the bike/hike pool to see if there were more fish waiting --- and yes! At least two big ones - coho, we think - and four smaller -- maybe steelhead.
So if we can only get another significant rain --- the last one was December 26, and the creek levels are way down -- these waiting fish will come roaring up the creeks and get to fulfil their biological destiny. Time to be rain dancing!
So far (and this is the home stretch of the season), the MMWD count for live fish is 657 coho, 57 chinook. That's technically above average, but well below the figures for this year class the last time it was in the creek. So we've lost a lot of them somewhere along the way... Let's hope that some new rain comes in to swell the creeks, and the statistics.
December 28, 2006
By Paola Bouley, SPAWN Biologist
3- 4-inches of rainfall were reported across the Lagunitas Watershed with Tuesday's storm. On Wednesday morning we were once again treated to salmon leaping through the falls at the Inkwells and Roy's Pools. As usual, salmon viewing is hot along Lagunitas Creek below Peter's Dam (Kent Lake).
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Spawner surveys continue throughout the Watershed. SPAWN surveys 10 tributaries to San Geronimo Creek. These tribs typically comprise ~25% of the total coho redds found in the Lagunitas Creek Watershed. MMWD surveys Lagunitas, Devil's and San Geronimo Creeks. Stay tuned, reports from the survey crews will be posted soon!
December 19, 2006
By Paola Bouley, SPAWN Biologist
The salmon are gathering again, waiting for more rain to begin their spawning. I counted at least a dozen, beautifully red salmon holding in the deep pools under Bike-Hike Pool (excellent visibility, see photo) in Samuel P. Taylor State Park. There were also fish holding under the ice-encrusted Swimming Hole Bridge. A quick ramble along Lagunitas Creek on the North Creek Trail from the Devil's Gulch parking lot revealed some fish holding in pools as well as a female still actively digging on her redd. The stillness of the fish holding in the pools (and the cold) was particulary striking today. brrrrrrr
Of course, many ruby-crowned kinglets to be seen flittering along the creek too, some with such very vibrant red crowns.
December 17, 2006
By Candace Hale, SPAWN Naturalist
What a difference a few days make . Tuesday's excitement and festivity has subsided into calm, as spawned-out females rest on their redds. Several red males cruised the creek at Shafter on Saturday "looking for love," as Susan puts it, but to no avail -- the females who have been here since Tuesday are spawned out.They are still turning on their sides and flapping their tails, but those efforts now go to perfecting the nests for already-laid eggs, rather than preparing a bed for new deposits. These females are in the last stages of their lives.
Some creek visitors found the sight sad --- and in some ways, it is --- but we also need to remember that the fish now resting with tattered tails are the survivors, the heroes and heroines who were spectacularly lucky and perseverant.
They were lucky, in the first place, to hatch at all, as less than one quarter of the eggs laid in our creeks actually emerge as fry. They were lucky to find refuge from raging storms as they overwintered in the creek, and lucky to find enough to eat, and not to be eaten themselves. They were lucky to make a successful transition (smoltification) into ocean-going fish in May of 2005, lucky to survive the "black box" of the ocean for a year and a half, and to find enough to eat to swell from five inches to two feet and more. And they were perseverant and brave to forge their way back past all obstacles (including seals and river otters!) to spawn here in their natal streams.
Each fish we see is one of the two who survived out of the approximately 2000 eggs laid by their mother. And each fish who comes back here to spawn and die is doing its job, not just by contributing milt or eggs to the next generation, but by feeding the watershed with its big, ocean-fed, nutrient rich body.
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And in case this all sounds too elegiac for a report from the mid-season, don't despair! We did see a spectacular pair of salmon at the second bridge at the Golf Course on Saturday - she so big we wondered if she was a chinook, both of them bright and fresh and untattered by the spawning experience. By Sunday they were gone, so we can only hope that they have moved upstream to a suitable redd.
We should get a new wave of fish with the next respectable storm -- so pray for rain!
December 14, 2006
By Paola Bouley, SPAWN Biologist
7 redds and 25 beautiful coho spawners on Woodacre Creek. We found coho spawning at a couple new sites along Redwood Drive. David Ford (Arroyo Creek Streamkeeper) reports 4 redds and 5 coho spawners on 12/13/2006. Conditions are a bit rough on the tribs, very low water once the rains ceased.
December 14, 12006
By Candace Hale.
Another wonderful day in the watershed, with lots of fish visible from the Leo Kronin area parking lot. It was a less frantic, fervent scene than Tuesday with fewer bright red males jostling. Most of the females who came up in the last pulse of rain have spawned now - some are finished, and simply wait on their redds for the end, tidying and defending til they subside into the creek. Others still have eggs to let down -- if the males who were still determinedly courting them are correct!
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Most notable of the courtiers is a male coho with a brutally smashed in face. The fish that leap the Inkwells on their way up San Geronimo Creek often smack into the rocks before they manage to find the right altitude and the right channel to get through the high water into the upstream pool. This poor fellow never did get it right, and his efforts left him with his kype (overdeveloped jaw overhang) bashed right off his face, which now ends in a squared stub of white, exposed, tissue.
We saw him yesterday, seemingly caught in a small holding pool at the second jump of the Inkwells. His injuries looked so painful and he seemed so stuck -- it was very hard to see.
So imagine our pleasure to see that same fish today, downstream of the Inkwells, now turned right into the Lagunitas stem of the creek, doing his utmost to convince a coho female to release her eggs so that he could father a new branch of the family. He even had enough vigor left to chase off the younger male (jack) trying to get in on the action.
Hooray for perseverance, for bravery, for the refusal to give up just because you are injured and in pain and can't get to the place where all your cells tell you you should be! Hooray for the smashed-nose male; may he father hundreds in a new stream!
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December 12, 2006.
By Paola Bouley, SPAWN Biologist
Approx. 4-inches of rain with this last storm. Coho leaping through Roy's Pools this morning!
December 12, 2006.
By Candace Hale, SPAWN Naturalist
Yes, yes, it is the moment you have been waiting for --- these rains you've been grumbling about have yielded the most perfect, spectacularly beautiful, thrilling, enthralling, glorious spawning salmon run you have ever seen! Today was really the perfect day -- fish were leaping through the Inkwells in a way you're lucky to see twice a season.
But there are also another 20 or so fish in the stream just at the Leo Cronin viewing area at Shafter Bridge to be seen sighting, tussling, flapping, courting, laying, defending --- last year's storms have reconfigured the creek for maximum viewing pleasure.
Any of you who can should come on out on a SPAWN tour (email: creekwalk@spawnusa.org, or call 488-0370 ×111) this weekend - the most beautiful, sea fresh, gleaming red and silver are here right now and the sooner the better.
Is it Dylan who says "those not busy living are busy dying?" Well, the fish are busy doing both. They will be awe-inspiring and wonderful no matter when you see them, but right now - they are just so glorious in their freshness and vigor and gleam and purpose.
I would like to say that seeing them inspires me to do my best as I swim upstream against the currents of injustice --- and
maybe that's true -- but mostly seeing them inspires me to go out and see them some more.
December 12, 2006
By Steve Waldron, SPAWN Naturalist & Fish Biologist
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I went down to the Inkwells today to check out the watershed's return of salmon futures and it was jumpin'! I would say a salmon lept, skittered and slid upstream every 2 minutes or so. Several onlookers and I cheered them on as they made their way through the falls. There were also collective groans and "ugggggh's" heard from the crowd when a leaping salmon missed its mark and slammed against a rock. That must really hurt...yet the fish just keep on keepin' on goin' upstream. As impressive as all this leaping and jumping fish adrenaline is, what always impresses me the most about early season fish watching at the Inkwells is the sound of the returning salmon. I find it amazing that the sound of an individual fish struggling upstream, beating its tail and body through the water and against the rocks overpowers the sonic roar of the creek's storm flow. Like the very sound of the eternal, hopeful struggle of life's battle to overcome the destructive and seemingly overwhelming power of elemental chaos. Yes, deep thoughts from my shallow stream of consciousness. I also saw an American Dipper (i.e. John Muir's Water-Ouzel) skulking and chattering around the stream side at Leo Kronin. "...a singularly joyous and lovable little fellow." - J. Muir
December 10, 2006.
By Katherine Jones, SPAWN Naturalist
Well, the fun has truly begun! Yesterday's rain was enough to send the Coho moving upstream.Sunday's light was beautiful and the visibility fine. My tour this afternoon was able to see at least 15 attempts (some successful and some not) to leap over the inkwells in the space of 15 minutes. The photo, taken Bobbi Benson, shows the brightly colored male just as he hit the rocks and fell back into the pool. There are fish coming past Leo Cronin toward the dam and plenty (hard to count, but at least 8 new fish plus the one already building a redd) to see without having to cross the "big dip".
December 4, 2006.
By Megan Isadore, SPAWN Naturalist
The coho, some apparently unwilling to wait for rain to bring them upstream, are nesting in several spots along the main stem of Lagunitas Creek. SPAWN Naturalist Susan Farrar caught a river otter snacking on a jack coho (small male) - SEE PHOTO AND ARTICLE BELOW. There are also several chinook redds to be seen.
North Creek Trail in Samuel Taylor Park is a good place to walk and look for redds in the gravel. The redds are large areas of pale gravel, usually at the tail of a pool, near the head of a riffle. They're generally at least 6 feet by 8 feet, so are not hard to see if you keep your eyes open. When the salmon dig into the gravel to deposit their eggs, their muscular tail action sweeps the fine sediments and summertime grit and moss off the gravel, exposing paler, larger stones. Don't forget to listen....often the first sign of a fish working on her redd (nest), is the splashing noise of her tail sweeping stones away. The redds are also marked by striped blue and white plastic flagging....watch for that along the creek bank, tied to trees.
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December 2, 2006.
By Susan Farrar, SPAWN Naturalist
Early Saturday morning I stopped at the bridge by the swimming hole in Samuel P. Taylor State Park to search for the chinook salmon that was supposed to be spawning nearby. I walked out onto the bridge, slippery from the rime of frost, and cautiously moved to the railing to search for the chinook redd. I searched downstream and saw nothing and then moved to the upstream side of the bridge and found nothing there as well. As I turned to leave, I heard a curious crunching from the downstream side of the bridge. I walked over and searched for the souce of the noise, which appeared to be coming from the large accumulation of woody debris in the creek. As I searched with my binoculars, I found a cute, furry face with enormous whiskers and a salmon in its paws staring back at me.
The happy otter was bobbing in the water with a salmon in its paws and it was munching away (hence the crunching noise). It seemed unperturbed by my presence and continued to knaw away. It kept trying to stuff the whole thing in its mouth, but it just wouldn't fit and the tail end of the salmon would pop out again and again. I ran and got the camera but by the time I returned the otter had the whole thing in its mouth and its cheeks were enourmous as it chomped away.
After finishing its meal, it submerged and swam away to the back side of the debris and it hung out there.
The otter's meal appeared to be a salmon jack as it was not very large (not more than 8 inches), but from the color of the flesh, it was clearly a samon.
I walked downstream to search for the female chinook but couldn't find her nor any of her satellite males. I did stop by later in the afternoon and found her digging downstream from the bridge and she had a very large mail escort.
November 27, 2006
By Megan Isadore, SPAWN Naturalist.
As always, it was a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend for the watershed. Canny fish-seekers were rewarded with sights of salmon jumping in White House Pools at the mouth of Lagunitas Creek and a coho holding in a pool in Samuel P. Taylor Park, as well as several 9-inch steelhead. The patient sitters-and-watchers saw a young otter sneaking around quietly at Leo Cronin Viewing Area, hoping for a salmon snack, and the just-plain-lucky got to see a newly-hatched pipevine swallowtail butterfly (or possibly a lookalike), preparing itself for flight.
This weekend's rain brought the discharge rate of the creek up from 20 to a high of about 32 cubic feet per second, and we'll hope it brings more coho upstream to begin to spawn. We'll keep our eyes open and continue to update as the salmon begin to move upstream.
November 27, 2006
A report by Eric Ettlinger (MMWD Aquatic Ecologist) follows:
"The first adult salmon was observed on October 24. That adult Chinook was being chased by two river otters near the mouth of Devil's Gulch. It apparently escaped and was seen in the same location, with another Chinook, on November 3. The first Chinook redd of the season was observed on November 2. Twelve adult Chinook and four Chinook redds were observed between November 15 and November 22. That brings the season total so far to 14 live Chinook and five Chinook redds. The total count for all of last season was only eight Chinook and eight redds.
The first four coho salmon of the season were observed on November 21. One of these coho was a female on a redd a short distance downstream of the confluence with San Geronimo Creek. Two other coho were observed further downstream on November 22. Despite little rain to date, the coho arrived three weeks earlier than they did last year. Yesterday's rain briefly increased flows high enough to potentially allow salmon to get up into San Geronimo Creek. We'll survey that creek later this week."
November 1, 2006
By Todd Steiner, SPAWN Director
and Paola Bouley, SPAWN Biologist.
Not quite spawning news, but .... here is a new twist on invasive non-native species impact on native fishes. A steelhead/trout (approx 23.5cm in length) was found floating dead in Larsen Creek today. To our suprise, upon rescuing the fish we discovered that it appeared to have choked on a bluegill (an invasive fish species). The photo shows the fish stuck in the mouth of this dead. The trout's belly appeared to be empty and the bluegill seemed to lodged in w/fin spines embedded. (i.e., it wasn't possible to pull the bluegill out).
Photos (including the one to the right) were taken today, 1 November 2006, on Larsen Creek (a tributary of San Geronimo Creek) along SGV Golf Course. This stream runs through a golf course pond which is a known source of bluegill and largemouth bass in the creek system.
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October 30, 2006
By Paola Bouley, SPAWN Biologist
Last Tuesday (Oct 24), on my way back from a morning paddle over the eelgrass beds on Tomales Bay, stopped off on Lagunitas Creek at the swimming hole bridge, and there it was! A giant salmon coming down the riffle above the new lage-woody-debris structure. Got to watch it for a few minutes as it swam well into view along the flats upstream of the bridge. Also caught a glimpse of a half-pounder in the turbid pool under the bridge.
One chinook redd spotted by Larry Serpa (USGS) below Tocaloma. Also, Eric Ettlinger (MMWD) reported seeing otters chasing chinook salmon on Lagunitas (same day I saw a big salmon at Swimmimg Hole Bridge)."
While kayaking on Lagunitas Creek, Megan Isadore reports having seen a salmon jump at White House Pools again last Thursday (Oct 26th).
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October 12, 2006
By Megan Isadore, SPAWN Naturalist
FISH AND OTHER SIGHTINGS
I'm a happy fish-ogler, as I went kayaking last Friday morning (Oct 6th) and managed to spy my first salmon of the season, steaming downstream from White House Pools (where Lagunitas Creek meets Tomales Bay), creating a wake against the incoming tide. I couldn't see well enough to identify the species, but it was large and beautiful, still in ocean colors. That was the only definite salmon-sighting, but there were plenty of little fishes leaping, and a beady-eyed kingfisher scolding us loudly. More kayaking tomorrow, and I'll report back.
I continued the fish-seeking behavior yesterday (Oct 11), with Candace, but sadly no salmon to be seen in the murky waters. We did see some gorgeous anise swallowtail pupa stage butterflies, and identified them as instar larval stages from: http://www.dbc.uci.edu/~pjbryant/biodiv/lepidopt/papilio/anise.htm. Really stupendous, and well worth the lack of salmon. Check out the website for great photos of each stage of their lives. You can find them chomping on fennel leaves by the roadside just as fast as they can.