Fall time seems to encompass most of our family traditions. One of our favorite traditions is to head up the mountain and watch the salmon run at Porcupine Reservoir. This natural process always fascinates me. Every year one of my kids is tempted to grab a fish and help it up the river. This year Ali was my sweet-hearted girl who kept expressing how sad she was for the tired Salmon who would reach the swift parts of the inlet, give up, and let themselves float back down to the lake. When she asked me why they gave up, I told her my famous life lesson talk. I’ve given that talk to each of my older kids through the years as we have attended the Salmon run and I’m sure my older kids were smiling knowing that I was anticipating the life lesson talk.
http://youtu.be/XSFMTWFiiqk
Here is part of the reason why the Salmon run upriver:
“Early spawning runs begin in late August and reach a peak around the middle of September. As kokanee near the time for their spawning run, they stop feeding and congregate near the inlets of spawning streams. Then, kokanee salmon begin to physically change. Their bodies turn a bright red and the males develop humped backs and hooked jaws. As the changes become more advanced, the fish begin their spawning run. Kokanee are landlocked sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka), and have been fairly widely stocked across the intermountain west. Kokanee are established in Utah in Flaming Gorge, Strawberry, and Porcupine reservoirs. Each fall they participate in a spawning run from the reservoir where they matured for the last 2-5 years into a tributary, where they fight, make nests (called redds), spawn, and die. “
Read more here: https://wildlife.utah.gov/publications/pdf/2010_kokanee.pdf
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