Looking for Spawning Salmon Below Monte Rio

Thursday October 26, 2017 Monte Rio CA.

Looking for the spawning salmon

I decided to go down to Monte Rio today and head on down stream to see if I could see any of the salmon starting to come up the river to spawn.

On the way down I stopped at John’s to see if he wanted to come along, but no one was home so I continued on to Monte Rio.

It was  a nice day, no wind and the sun was out and almost no one else on the river.

I put the boat in the water and headed down stream at a leisurely pace.

I went by this turtle. The way it was wedged in there I was thinking I bet I could grab it before it could get away, but I didn’t.

Just below Monte Rio the river was looking nice.

These three cormorants seem to be getting use to me going by as they didn’t fly off today.

I went by this great white egret which was preening along the shoreline.

Here’s what can happen if one builds too close to the river. Last winter during some heavy rains, the bank washed out and took the outer deck pillar. I bet this is rather costly.

The guy is putting big rocks down one at a time.

I continued on down the river keeping an eye out for any big fish action, so far, none, but I did see a seal on the hunt.

This is just above Moscow hole. If the water is down it’s a good place to look for salmon that can pile up here, but with the river’s mouth closed down at Jenner the water is backed up and higher, so I didn’t have any luck looking for salmon.

I continued on to the upper side of Casini Ranch RV campground where I stopped and then turned back up river which  looked like this looking at Rein’s beach.

I was checking out this great blue heron when this cormorant pops up with a fish.

That cormorant swallowed that fish fast, but here it is.

Eventually I  made it back to the Monte Rio area. With the mouth closed at Jenner, there wasn’t much current, it’s like a big lake.

That was a good paddle even though I didn’t see any big fish.

I went on home, but was too tired out to get anything going, so I went to bed and woke up around 11PM so am writing this blog.

Nice day.