In our neck of the woods, it's Salmon country. The Pacific Northwest (PNW) has abundant rivers, streams and water ways most of them draining into the Columbia River and out to the Pacific Ocean. On a recent trip to Mt Saint Helens, we stopped at a fish hatchery. Outside the hatchery we saw these Coho Salmon coming up stream, trying to get over the spill way and into the hatchery waters, the likely place of their birth. On that particular day the gate to the hatchery was closed, so all these fish were backed up at the headwaters. These particular ones range about 12-18 inches long. We were astonished at the sheer number of fish. Hope you enjoy seeing just a portion of their journey in the pictures we took that day. (You might need to look closely to see the red in the water or maybe enlarge the photos to see the fish.)
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| Waiting for the gate to open |
This bright red spawning color is another to add
to our autumn palettes, don't ya think!?
