I never thought of Putah Creek as a salmon stream. I’ve fished it a few times for it’s wild trout it never occurred to me that salmon could also be be found in this watershed. Well, I just found out that last year a record 2,100 Chinook salmon returned to spawn in Putah. As it turns out, Putah has supported a small salmon return over the years. But 2025 was exceptional. So, what were the contributing factors?
- A 25 year collaborative effort with key partners UC Davis and Solano County Water Agency funded with a $20 million grant.
- Work to create a salmon passage in the lower creek that was funded by California Department of Fish and Wildlife and Wildlife Conservation Board.
- Pulsing of creek flow that appears to attract more fish to make their way into the stream to spawn.
- Habitat enhancement including adding gravel that is required for salmon spawning.
- Years 2023-2025 were “wet” years in our region, which typically favor increased salmonid numbers.
- The commercial salmon fishery has been shut down for the last three years.
Most of salmon found in Putah Creek last year originated from the Mokelumne River Hatchery. The team would like to see increased numbers of returning of adult wild salmon. The hope is the robust 2025 spawn will achieve that goal.
There are other early reports coming out with increased Chinook returns in the Sacramento, Feather and Klamath Rivers. One of the Klamath River tributaries—Fall Creek—had about 65,000 juvenile Chinook counted.
While we can’t control the weather, those that are committed to protecting and growing healthy populations of salmon and other fish recognize that projects to improve floodplain connectivity, provide cold water and habitat improvement (like clean spawn gravel and large wood refuge) can help mitigate the periods of dry years.
Information for this edition of Conservation Concerns was found in the two articles below. For more details, check them out.
https://www.ucdavis.edu/climate/news/record-returns-2100-salmon-spawned-putah-creek?utm_source=The+Fish+Report&utm_campaign=28d2aba8b6-EMAIL_FR_2025_salmon_returns_2026_01_12&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_4a3609ac31-28d2aba8b6-579602216
https://fishbio.com/right-as-rain-salmon-surge-after-consecutive-wet-years/
Posted on January 21st, 2026