Coho Salmon Spawn 1-6-05

November through January is the Coho Salmon spawn in Marin County. These fish spawn each winter up the Lagunitas Watershed and Redwood Creek in Muir Woods National Monument. Trout spawn as well in these waters. Some reports state that this is the largest Coho Salmon run in California. On the endangered species list, these fish have increased their population over the past decade. The current population is in the several hundreds, which is down from the hundreds of thousands, which have historically called this region home.

I found out about the situation about a year and a half ago through word of mouth when I was working as an aquarium naturalist at the Aquarium of the Bay. Intrigued, I started visiting in November 2003. I saw interesting fall foliage but no fish on the first trip. It wasn’t until my third or fourth trip in January ’04 when I saw my first fish.

My first salmon sighting was nothing short of amazing as I witnessed it swimming in a shallow pool near a short waterfall. After a minute or so, it leaped over the waterfall and continued its’ journey up the creek. My camera was in the trunk.



I went back to my car and got my gear but haven’t seen a repeat performance since. However, I walked to the next set of waterfalls and saw about ten fishes over the course of an hour jumping up the creek. I didn’t get any satisfactory pictures but it was worth the experience. I wasn’t disappointed at all.

Fast-forward another year to today. I went to the Leo Cronin viewing area in Lagunitas and saw about ten fishes swimming upstream along the trail. The water was muddy due to the recent heavy rains so it wasn’t hard to get clear shots of the salmon. I’ve had salmon practically swim up to my feet in the past but it’s hard to get good shots of them because of muddy water and reflections. Using a polarizer is an option, but salmon don’t stay still long enough to get clean shots of them. Unless you have a new, high-end digital SLR with good high ISO performance, you’re out of luck as I am.



The Olympus E-20 that I’ve used over the past three years works well on ISO 80 and decent on 160 if you shoot on RAW, but neither has been fast enough to adequately capture these fish with a polarizer. I’ve seen decent pictures of the fish, but it seemed more a result of luck than technique. I think you need clear water and have them swimming in the shallow parts of the creek near the surface. The problem is that they mostly spawn after a heavy rain which creates a full creek of raging water.

My camera has been acting up on my lately. Dying on me repeatedly on what is supposed to be fully-charged batteries. I doubt it is because of winter weather as it isn’t that cold in California. This is the same camera I’ve used without problems at 5:30 a.m. in 19 degree weather and in 40 degree hurricane force winds. It doesn’t handle humidity and moisture very well though so that could be a factor. But it started acting up on me at Mission San Juan Capistrano over a week ago during nice weather. By switching the power off and on repeatedly, I somehow got the camera working long enough to get my shots for the day. Ugghh. If this keeps up, I will have to go back to Nikon and Provia/Velvia.

I went across the road to the Inkwells but didn’t see any fish despite a full creek. Maybe next time. I got in the car and drove to Fairfax to have lunch at Grilly’s. Grilly’s is a little hole in the wall on the corner of Bolinas Road and Broadway that I’ve been told several times. I recommend the Grande Chicken Burrito. It’s very good. It tastes like there’s a hint of lime in there.

I planned on spending the rest of the day at Cataract Falls high on Mount Tam, but decided to try Cascade Falls. Located in Elliott Nature Preserve in Fairfax, I looked for the falls last year but couldn’t figure out the trail system. This time I walked every route of the trails until I found it. Stupid me. I should have just followed where everyone else was walking last year.



The falls were worth it. To reach it, it’s probably about a mile walk or so over some hillside and stream crossings. Definitely a lot less strenuous than reaching Cataract Falls. Cascade Falls is probably between 25 to 40 feet high with a large run off. I scrambled over some rocks to get to the foot of the falls where I proceeded to drench my pants and lens. I got a few shots handheld and with my tripod used as a monopod on the rocks. Some teens came by later to smoke some cigarettes so I went to the top of the waterfall to find a new perspective.



I came back to the bottom once they left and got several more images by putting my tripod in the middle of the creek and sitting on a small rock in the creek before leaving when it was getting dark. Everything was soaking wet on me except for my ass; which was sitting on that small rock barely above the water in the middle of the creek oddly enough.

Waterfalls and creeks are my favorite places to go outdoors. I prefer these scenes over rocky beaches, great desert light, and even mountains. Unlike general landscapes, these scenes allow for more creative freedom. I’m as guilty of shooting “postcard shots” as anyone else, but I hate that and try to go beyond that to something more meaningful.

All shots were with a polarizer to remove the glare from the overcast weather. It also serves to slow the exposure to create the milky water in waterfall photography. Why buy ND filters when you need to use a polarizer anyway? It’s basically a two-stop ND filter as is. Unlike a lot of my fellow nature photographers, I’m not an equipment freak nor am I a technique wizard. I learn what I need to learn and I work hard to master those skills. I’m constantly on the look out for new techniques to improve on, but equipment is rarely on that list.

My basic equipment I take everywhere I go are my camera, small Gitzo backpacking tripod, UV filter for protection, a polarizer to cut glare and deepen skies, and Singh-Ray Galen Rowell Graduated ND filters. Different from ND filters, half of the filter is clear while the other half is a neutral-gray two or three stops darker. They help balance the exposure from ground to the sky with no color cast; which is essential for serious photographers. A major difference between a good nature photographer and someone who wonders why their pictures are either washed out or too dark or both is because they don’t know how to spot meter and aren’t familiar with Graduated ND’s. I started experimenting with Graduated ND’s during my second year of photography and I don’t know how I could have survived without them. Half of the pictures on my website wouldn’t exist without them! Also, look at what they did for Galen Rowell’s career.

A final note on the salmon: Stay out of the protected areas. Disturbing them can kill their chances of reproduction by causing silt to bury their eggs or scare the fish off altogether. Keep quiet in those areas well because they get scared easily. Harassing them is a felony with a stiff punishment. .