Yumi and I did a loop of the Byrne Creek ravine and spawning habitat early this afternoon. The viewing conditions were perfect with sunny skies and clear water (aside from the common oily film on the surface of parts of the sediment pond.)
We were not expecting baby salmon fry yet, but were keeping a sharp eye out, when Yumi suddenly yelled that she saw a few. I was skeptical but went over to her and scanned the bottom of the sediment pond in the spawning/rearing habitat. After five or more minutes I finally saw two little guys, just a few centimeters long. They were definitely tail swimmers, and were the size of new salmonid fry.
Coho fry were first spotted last year in Byrne Creek on Feb. 29, so this is early.
Inspired, we checked out the spawning channel, and saw many cutthroat and/or possibly coho smolts scooting around in the deep pools and hiding below the snags, but no fry. There were also lots of heron and raccoon tracks in the shallows. Several of the redds (nests of salmon eggs) in the channel looked in decent shape despite the winter storms and heavy sediment flow, so here's hoping we see lots of babies soon!
We'll try to confirm that fry have really appeared and what species they are over the next few days.
Posted by Paul at February 8, 2005 09:10 PM