When I hear the words “salmon run”, I can imagine the voice of David Attenborough narrating video footages of salmon jumping up waterfalls into the mouths of hungry bears. I started looking up online for more information when I heard that we can watch this natural phenomenon right in the heart of the city. Salmon which were in great abundance centuries ago were reintroduced to Lake Ontario in the last decades and have since seen its numbers rise after extirpation before the turn of the 20th century. When the water turns cold during fall around September, they migrate up north from the lake through various rivers towards their place of birth. Some species die after spawning while others continue this arduous journey for several cycles.
After some research, I picked a spot along Humber river and headed out there with Mika. From the Old Mills bridge, I could see a small dam about 1.5 meters high and a small group of people gathering on its bank, seemingly waiting for something to happen. As I approached, I saw the first salmon leaping up against the fast flowing water and falling hopelessly back into the water. We stopped by the dam and watched them for a good 20mins, mostly unsuccessful attempts to clear the dam. Whenever a fish made it up the dam, onlookers will cheer but more often than not we hear a collective ‘oh no’ for those that almost made it, only to slide back into the lower river. We made our way along the river upstream until we saw another dam. This time round, there weren’t any salmon jumping. My guess was either we were too early into the season.
Having found this amazing spot, I revisited it three times, hoping to capture some good images and footages. During one of those trips, I struck a conversation with someone who was there to fish from the banks. According to him, who had lived in the neighborhood all his life, one can literally walk across the river during the migration season (because of the amount of fish congregating at the dam) 20-30 years ago and told me that I was too late in the season to see much now. I wasn’t sure if I should believe him since he had a fishing rod on one hand and weed on the other.
Some weeks later, while out at one of the apple farms along Credit river, the folks told us we could see a salmon hatchery right at the end of the farm (one of the highlights of the activity filled farm). True enough, we saw them hanging around the river, constantly swimming against the flow. It’s like being 24/7 on a treadmill… cranked up. We were happy to witness this natural phenomenon and we’ll leave the bears for another episode of Planet Earth.
