It’s been a few years since we’ve seen decent numbers of salmon in the local creeks. We got a couple of big storms come through and now the salmon are back with a vengeance! We went to Leo Cronin today and saw at least 10 salmon. Rumor had it that there were also some otters around, but we didn’t see hide nor hair of them. We also checked out the Inkwells; you can often see the salmon jumping there. But the water was too high and too fast from yesterday’s storm, so no salmon were to be seen there today. As a long-time Marin resident, it was really cool to see the salmon coming back.

Here is a link for more info if you want to go yourself: Viewing Coho Salmon.

UPDATE 12/28/12: I went back and also visited the Devil’s Gulch area today. I added more pictures and more descriptive text.

The sign that marks the parking area:

Nice wide (and flat) trail:

How many salmon do you see? Look close; where you see one, there is likely a second nearby:



Fighting for a mate!

This guy looks serious!


The female turns sideways and makes a “nest” (called a “redd”) in the sandy creek bed with her tail while the male watches:

An example of what salmon must jump to get to their spawning site:

The salmon’s flesh turns white as it decomposes:

A strong male may mate with more than one female, but females generally only mate with one male.