Don's Home California Putah Creek | Salmon Putah Creek Pictures, fish, animals

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Fish and Critters in Putah Creek
Mink Old Davis Rd. Don & Robert
Mountain Lion Footprint under I-80 bridge. A person 20 minutes in front of us saw the mountain lion. November 2022.	Picture (looks like salmon) from UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences They don't say where it is from. I don't know anyone who saw any salmon in 2024. 2
Salmon Infrastructure
Fish Ladder at Los Rios Check Dam 1 Closed for hunting most of the Salmon season.	A special fish compatible culvert was installed at Rd 106A crossing Ptah Creek off of Rd 35 between Mace Blvd, and the Yolo Bypass. The existing culverts were impediments to the Salmon. Other solutions like rerouting the creek could have cost millions.
Salmon Viewing Locations
Deck on the Putah Creek South Fork Preserve. Parking on the South side of the River on Mace Blvd. Stream is wide and slow moving there so it is not the best place for observing.	A small dike just downstream from the bridge at Old Davis Rd. Take the Raptor Center exit on the North side of the creek and turn into the parking lot on the right.
Putah Creek Riparian Reserve, Levee Rd across from the airport.	About 100 yards upstream from the Pedrick Rd. bridge there is a narrow spot in the river where you can get close to a fast moving section. The fish will jump to get thru that section.
Under the Putah Creek Bridge in Winters. Go down from the south side between the road and railroad bridge.	1/4 mile downstream from Putah Creek Bridge in Winters.

1. The south part of the Yolo Bypass is closed for hunting South from a point just North of the the Check Dam from the end of October thru February, so the fish ladder will not be accessable then.
The fish ladder is a temporary Woden ladder. it will be up up each year from the end of October until January or February.

2. You have to be patient to see any Salmon:
There were 15 salmon at Winters during the Salmon Festival on Nov 2, 2024, but no one saw them that I know of.
As of November 20th the count was 181
But if you look at the peak count per hour, except for Nov 3-6 and 18th it was less than 2 per hour, and the times are spread out thru the night and day, and over the 23 miles from the Toe drain to the diversion dam, so you'd have to wait for hours to see one.
I did see one downstream from Winters moving upstream, but couldn't my camera up fast enough to capture it.
See 2024 Chinook Salmon count