Seasonal guide

Where to see salmon spawning in California

Coho salmon and steelhead return to coastal California creeks after the first substantial winter rains. The window is short, weather-dependent, and easy to miss by a week.

When

• Coho salmon: roughly late November through January, keyed to the first storms large enough to open the creek mouths.
• Steelhead: later and longer — roughly January through March.
• Best conditions: two or three days after a good rain, when flows have dropped and the water has cleared.

Where to look

Watch the tail of a pool where it shallows into a riffle. Spawning gravel is clean, loose, and roughly walnut-sized. A redd looks like a pale oval patch of disturbed gravel, noticeably lighter than the streambed around it, often with a fish holding just upstream of it.

Public access in coastal Marin, Sonoma, and Santa Cruz counties is generally through county and state park trails that parallel the creeks. Check the managing park district for current access — some reaches close during the run.

How to watch without doing damage

• Stay on the bank. Never wade — walking through a redd kills the eggs buried in it.
• Keep dogs leashed and out of the water.
• Move slowly and stay low. Fish that flush off a redd may not return to it.
• Watch in small groups. Bank trampling widens quickly.