Introduction:

Morrison Creek is home to all 7 of the Pacific salmonids except Sockeye.  This means that you can find Coho, Chum, Pink, Chinook, Cutthroat Trout and Rainbow Trout in Morrison Creek at sometime during the year.  Because of its year round cool temperatures, Morrison provides excellent rearing conditions for juvenile salmonids so trout, Coho and Chinook can almost always be found in the system somewhere.

Coho:

Coho come back to spawn at 2 – 4 years old and are easily recognizable in their bright red breeding colours.  Once the eggs hatch the coho fry stay in the system for while until they reach smolt size and then they migrate out to the ocean.  This means that you can find little coho in the creek pretty much all the time.

Chum:

Chum come back to spawn at 3 – 4 years old and are one of our biggest species.  Their breeding colours are interesting as they get what I call purple tiger stripes along their sides.  Once the eggs hatch the chum fry head almost immediately out to the ocean so apart from a couple of months in the spring when the fry are out-migrating and a couple of months in the Fall when the adults return to spawn you won’t see chum in Morrison Creek.

Pinks:

Pinks come back to spawn at 2 years old and are one of our smallest salmon.  They are also called Humpies because the males get a pronounced hump on their back.  Once the eggs hatch the delicate, little fry head immediately out to the ocean.  Since they are 2 year fish that don’t interbreed between years, Pinks have a boom and bust cycle with the odd year being abundant and the even year being quite sparse.

Chinook:

Chinook come back to spawn at 3 – 6 years old and are generally too large to spawn in Morrison Creek although we get a few that try.  Due to its year round cool waters Morrison is more important as a rearing habitat for the young and they can often be found in the system.  Like coho, Chinook spend a year in the system rearing before heading out to the ocean as smolts.

Coho Videos