Wild Coho spawning in our creek-Boring area

[nontypical]

To my amazement, there are wild coho spawning in our creek!! This is the terminus of a branch of Deep Creek, and our yard is the end of the road, so to speak, for the several wild coho that have made it all the way from the Clack.

Word got out really fast, since the creek is basically a channelized ditch along the road. Immediately, there were some neighbors with baskets trying to catch these endgangered and wild resources. I informed them that A) they are protected and B) they aren't fit for human consumption. Still, we saw several children throwing rocks at them. Pretty sad. A number of them were attempting to spawn, digging out redds in what is a mix of natural gravels and road gravels. I was actually lucky enough to see a hen, flanked by two large bucks, spawn. A huge plume of milt colored the little creek for a moment. Then the hen continued to try to dig out gravels from under a rock to cover the eggs. It was incredible.

I put in several calls to ODFW biologists, so they are now aware of the situation. One biologist, by random chance, happened to stop by since he was driving by. He was able to educate some of the people there, though most were being very respectful. It just takes those couple of folks to make you cringe. Even well-meaning folks were getting WAY too close, climbing down in the ditch to get pictures, while these fish were on their spawning gravels. Anyways, wanted to share with you all this incredible and historic event, as it was moving to know how far these fish have come (and strayed) to spawn in a tiny little "creek." Think of all the coho in more viable creeks right now!! They are an amazing and resilient resource.

 

[Troutier Bassier]

Great Pics. :clap: Thank you for sharing.
Is this the first year that fish have returned? And is that a natural creek or just a waterditch?

 

[nontypical]

Great Pics. :clap: Thank you for sharing.
Is this the first year that fish have returned? And is that a natural creek or just a waterditch?

I forgot to mention that people who have lived there all their lives have never seen salmon or steelhead in that little creek.

It is a natural creek, but it has been channelized at that location. It starts just in the field behind my house, it's crazy!

There's another thread on this forum about it, someone mentions that Deep Creek fish have strayed for some time.

 

[Troutier Bassier]

Ok thanks.

that would be fun getting the fly rod in there.

 

[Fishtopher]

Amazing!

 

[FishSchooler]

Ok thanks.

that would be fun getting the fly rod in there.

First, It's a illegal... but why would you want to? There's no room for a fight and you would need a 2 foot rod! :lol::naughty::lol:

 

[bigdog]

Great pics man that is something eles to see thats for sure. Now just think in three to five years you might just have a couple hundered of them fish coming for that drain ditch. That should be something to see:lol:

 

[Troutier Bassier]

I bet I could catch that one with one of Kodiaks "Blue Foxes".

 

[wormosa]

great pics thanks for sharing them....

 

[youngbuck307]

lol thats great the same place i was talking about!!

 

[nontypical]

I'm glad you guys enjoyed the pics! The update is that ODFW is now all over it, so they are aware of the situation and have been at the site. I hope they can educate people to not harass the fish. Yesterday there were about as many fish, maybe a few less, as the first day. It seems clear that they all made a huge push up with the rains, and (the ones I saw) spawned immediately. I saw one already about dead.

As to the hatchery-strain vs wild debate, they probably do derive from hatchery fish at some point, but if we can get such a critical component back into the ecosystem, how cool would that be! There may be some true wild genes in there, you never know. I think it's really great and encouraging to see. If the hatcheries can get the whole wild fish thing figured in the future, it wouldn't be a problem if they strayed and this sort of thing would be marked as a true success story.

bigdog, yeah, it really will be amazing to see if they successfully return in 3 years!! I can't wait to see if we get a separate "run" next year.

mike123, crazy pic! I don't know what I would do if I saw fish trying to swim across the road.

 

[bigfootfish]

Awesome coho.

Awesome coho.

That's a great pic. If these coho are in that small of a stream, then I can think of several dozen smaller streams down south near Albany that I'd like to check out. Just to see them, video them, etc. An easy way to discover if any stream is open is this: if the stream in question is not listed under special regs, then it is closed to salmon & steelhead fishing.


BFF

 

[Mustangdan23]

That is really cool to see. I would be checkin on that everyday! Hope they come back for you. Thanks for sharing

 

[zeezer51]

we too live on compton rd and creek runs through our inlaws back yard,fish there too,I have never seen this before,what happend to get them back here,

 

[FishSchooler]

Thats a very easy target for herons and other birds when the smolt... :shock: what if pikeminnows block the mouth of the creek?

 

[Troutier Bassier]

Thats a very easy target for herons and other birds when the smolt... :shock: what if pikeminnows block the mouth of the creek?

Then you will see me fishing for them.

 

[youngbuck307]

the creek has been changing for years down low and when it rains deep creek gets way muddy and brown could be them just looking for better area to spawn in do to the silt and what not in the creek. They have been in deep creek for years just not this hi.

 

[nontypical]

Following that big push from the sudden rains, the fish have decreased. The second day there were about the same #s, maybe a couple fewer. Yesterday, I walked partway down and only saw the same hen and two bucks. She was right over her redd, must be protecting her eggs until she dies, I suppose. Pretty incredible creatures.

 

[Troutier Bassier]

Haha, that would be cool if Next year that creek was FULL of Fish.
Too bad that wont happen.