This short (1 minute) movie shows what it’s like to be a salmon swimming upstream in a small creek, in this case, Cowling Creek in Suquamish, WA.
This is slightly atypical since most of the salmon activity occurs at night, however it was not practical for me to film it at night. It took about 3 hours to film this one minute, since the salmon spend most of their time resting between bursts of swimming. And like most wild animal filming, it was not easy to predict which animal would be performing next, so the camera was often pointing at a salmon who continued resting while another one made a break for upstream goal.
Still, it was a very pleasant 3 hours, hanging out in a beautiful forest. The salmon run is pretty much done for 2016 on this creek, but the 42 acre Cowling Creek Forest Preserve is still there and is a treat to visit any time of year. You can park at the Cowling Creek Center, look for the sign on Miller Bay Road, about 1/4 mile south of the marina (Island View Marine Center, 20622 Miller Bay Rd NE).
More information is available at the Mid Sound Fisheries Enhancement Group web page.
