Large fish swimming up Don River

[dodo]

This morning around 10am I saw about 15 large fish swimming up the Don River during the half hour time span when I was watching. They were splashing and making waves as they powered through the shallow water south of the pedestrian bridge that crosses the Don at Riverdale Park. I assume they are Salmon.They are probably over 2 feet in length.

On Sunday morning Sept 18 I counted about 30 swimming upstream in ten minutes. They could be seen jumping a small dam beside the bike trail north of Pottery Road.

[KP]

The large fish that you saw swimming in the Don River would indeed be Chinook Salmon.  The rainfall we got last week was the first rainfall that brought up the first wave of Chinook Salmon, combined with the cooler weather.

[dodo]

Thanks for the info KP. I was wondering what would have triggered the fish stampede. Does anybody know how successfull the Chinook are at reproducing in the river? I assumed most of the fish came from fish hatcheries because the water in the creeks is not clean enough to support a large population.

[KP]

I would assume most of the Chinook Salmon in the Don River are from the hatchery.  There may be some wild reproduction.  To know if the Chinook Salmon are from the hatchery or from the wild, look for adipose fins.  Chinook Salmon grown from the hatchery have their adipose fins clipped, while the wild Chinook Salmon will have adipose fins.  I have seen a fair number of wild Chinook Salmon with adipose fins in the Etobicoke Creek.

[dodo]

Thanks for the info again KP. I saw lots of Salmon at 7pm tonight trying to jump over the small dam north of Pottery Road beside the bicycle path. I expected to see them today because of all the rain yesterday.

[KP]

Get ready for another run of Chinook Salmon.  There is lots of rain coming up in the next few days.