Kokanee salmon

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It’s the time of year when B.C.’s landlocked salmon are travelling upstream to spawn, and there are opportunities to watch it happen throughout the Okanagan.

Kokanee salmon typically live in Okanagan Lake or Skaha Lake for four years. Eventually the time comes for the fish to return upstream to where they hatched – the perfect place to lay their eggs for the start of the next generation.

The distinctively red fish are already filling up the streams in and around Penticton, according to a release from the City.

This year’s spawn is expected to peak between Sept. 20 and 25, though many fish will continue the journey later into September, the release says.

Some of the best viewing spots in the city are along Penticton Creek between Okanagan Lake and Nanaimo Avenue. The footbridge at Wade Avenue is another prime location.

READ MORE: The best spots to see spawning salmon in the Interior

For years, the city has been restoring the creek to create a more natural environment, and fish have an easier time spawning. Upon completion of the work in 2023, a public viewing platform will be built to offer the public a close-up view of the show.

“The long-term vision is to create a pleasant location for viewing the salmon, and it will become an attraction to see the salmon right here in town,” Paul Askey, a fisheries scientist and the chair of the Penticton & Ellis Creek Restoration Committee said in the release.

North of Penticton, kokanee can also be found spewing up Hardy Falls Regional Park in Peachland.

This Sunday, Sept. 25, the Peachland Watershed Protection Alliance is inviting the public to Hardy Falls for a community cleanup and water ceremony with local First Nations and representatives from industries and governments. It takes place from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Those who attend will be asked to help cleanup Peachland’s watershed areas.

And in Kelowna, Mission Creek Regional Park is a popular spot to watch the Kokanee spawn. However, Dyking and channeling of the creek in the 1950s led to a massive decline in populations, according to B.C. Parks. The number of kokanee spawning today is in the tens of thousands, compared to over a million before the channel was built.

In the North Okanagan, one of the best spots to watch the spawning is at the Coldstream Park behind Coldstream Elementary School.

"It’s a lovely nature park with parking, a picnic shelter, playground, spawning interpretive signs and a variety of creekside spawning viewing sites on enhanced spawning beds," said Roseanne Van Ee, a columnist known as Okanagan's Nature Nut. 

— This story was updated at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23, 2022, to add comment from Roseanne Van Ee and a video.

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