Salmon Run at Grindstone Creek

Grindstone Creek Marsh in November

Sam and I visited Lake Ontario at the first of the month and our experiences with the Trumpeter Swans in Burlington Bay have already been shared here. A few kilometers away, Grindstone Creek empties into the lake. There are mud flats, a marsh, and thickets loaded with seeds and berries along the trail. It is a haven for birds especially during migration periods. I saw my first Hooded Mergansers a few days earlier in the marsh. On this day there were hundreds of Cedar Waxwings and White-throated sparrows about as well as many other birds.

Sam at Grindstone Creek

The air was damp and the wind biting and cold. We walked a short distance up the creek when Sam saw what he thought were giant carp in the water. He was so excited I thought he might run into the stream as he got closer to see them. There were many large salmon in the shallow creek swimming upstream to spawn.

Salmon swimming upstream

These fish were old and scarred as they struggled through the gravel bed. There are a number of types of salmon in Lake Ontario including chinook, pink and coho salmon. My husband has spent a lot of hours fishing far out in the lake during the salmon derbies held each summer. I am not an expert in fish identification and would not want to guess what kind these might have been.

Fisherman at the mouth of the creek

I might have asked one of the fishermen who were leaning over the bridge or sitting in chairs at the mouth of the creek staring at their motionless lines in murky water. The season is open year round here for rainbow and brown trout.

I asked one grizzled man,
"What are you fishing for?"

He quipped back,
"Because I don't know how to golf."

I laughed and asked no further questions. Fishermen are a breed unto themselves!