Los Gatos Creek giant salmon spawning

[SSSdave]

I live in Santa Clara County. Currently over the last couple weeks since that first half inch storm 3 weeks ago, huge chinook salmon have moved into the Guadalupe River and its tributary Los Gatos Creek. A monitor already counted 200 fish a week ago. Historically unprecedented numbers of fish the result of the South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition cleaning up these urban streams over the last couple decades and the heavy winter precipitation of 2022/2023 fish can apparently smell effects of. Lots of giant 2 to 4 foot long fish. Illegal to fish of course, so just for viewing, so bring a camera and binoculars. I as a rare person that visits our streams, raised the flag on Nextdoor that has since caught the attention of KTVU Channel 2 and ABC 7.

https://www.ktvu.com/video/1373734

The best areas to see spawning are in the Campbell area viewed from the heavily used paved Los Gatos Creek Trail that runs for miles. One cannot cross the fences along the trail and wander down to the stream that would otherwise scare the fish. The stream flows depend on Lexington Reservoir outflows that at this time of fall are typically a foot or two deep and 20 feet across. Salmon only spawn in limited sections where there are riffles with clean stone cobbles and gravels. The stream is so shallow the fish fins often are sticking out of the water as the females create redd depressions in the stream gravels. Lots of splashing sounds of huge fish wiggling up rapids.

Suggest parking at the city park at the Campbell Avenue creek crossing that has access pathways down to the paved trail. Look at the Google Map. Walk downstream from there to see multiple spots over a mile or two. There are some places to watch right along the creek however I won't divulge that herein publicly.

[wildhiker]

This is great news! Decades of work to undo decades of pollution and trashing seem to be paying off!

[texan]

Thanks for the info. Someone also caught a big King Salmon in the San Diego River too. Great news. https://wonews.com/san-diego-shocked-ba ... ego-river/

Texan

[giantbrookie]

That is terrific news indeed. Whereas I knew of the historical sea run fish of SF Bay Area streams, I was not aware of the recent success in restoring spawning habitat.

[John Harper]

Hopefully the poachers don't watch TV or you can kiss those fish good bye. Lost a nice wild trout stream down here in San Diego County about 10 years ago because some folks just had to take everything.

John

[SSSdave]

Saturday 12/2/2023 attended a South Bay Clean Creeks Coalition event where Steve Holmes, executive director, and others showed about two dozen of us how they did their work. Wearing fly fishing waders, he walks up creek channels with a fork like rake to grab dead carcasses that he then cuts off the heads, puts them in Ziplock bags, that are sent to UC Davis labs for spectrographic tests that from eyes and operculum can tell the exact streams they came from and whether or not they are hatchery or wild stream spawned fish.

https://sbcleancreeks.com/

This is their interactive map showing areas where fish are spawning. If one zooms in on the 2023 Campbell section, one will see all the riffle spots where one can view salmon from the paved Los Gatos Creek Trail. Park at Campbell Park along E Campbell Avenue, cross the bridge, then on the east side take the path down to the trail and walk north downstream watching for those areas.

https://sbcleancreeks.com/spawning-map/SCU-Map.html

One can expect people fishing in decades past ended historical runs of fall salmon in these streams. There are homeless people living along the streams in some areas. Holmes said they are paying such homeless $50 each to report carcasses that makes them much more valuable to the. Also as someone occasionally visiting the creek for decades, I've rarely seen any others actually down along the streams as the ravine the stream channel is in has difficult to climb down steep sides and on the east side the trail is fenced with NO TRESPASSING signs. The west side can be climbed down in a few spots as I quietly have enjoyed for years. However for most folks creek ravines are scary places and that is why homeless use it.