A handful of glittering salmon flashed their fins in the shallow water of South Prairie Creek on Wednesday morning as they fought against the current and charged each other.
Mid-September into early October ushers in the prime time to see pink and chinook salmon as they return from the ocean to spawn and die in fresh water.
The timing of when you might see salmon spawn depends on the species, said Gabe Madel, a South Puget Sound fisheries biologist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Some of the best places to see salmon right now in Pierce County are at Veteran’s Park in Buckley and along South Prairie Creek next to the Foothills Trail, he said Tuesday.
Washington has five species of salmon. The WDFW started seeing pink salmon enter the Puyallup River drainage in mid- to late July and chinook salmon enter there as early as April, Madel said.
A pink salmon swims in South Prairie Creek on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025, in the Prairie Ridge area of Pierce County.
“Probably through the end of October we’ll still see pink salmon spawning that late, and then we have a bunch of fall chinooks that are also spawning,” he said. “Right now is kind of really the peak for spawning for fall chinook, I would say. And we’re getting fairly close to the peak for pink salmon as well.”
When salmon re-enter fresh water they undergo a number of physiological changes, Madel said. Their scales start to harden, they change colors and some male salmon develop a “kype,” or a hook-like jaw to help them compete for spawning grounds.
During spawning season salmon are seeking suitable habitat for their eggs, often in smaller tributaries off a main channel like the Puyallup River, Madel said. Female salmon will dig a depression in the gravel and lay eggs in the clean pit they’ve created. Male salmon will then fertilize the eggs, and the females will dig new depressions to cover them up, he said. Depending on the type of salmon, the juveniles will eventually emerge and return to the ocean, transforming their shape and color, and migrate north. Many Puget Sound salmon populations end up off the coast of British Columbia, Madel said.
Where can you see salmon spawning?
WDFW has an online map of places to see salmon spawning in the state. Spots in Pierce County include Clarks Creek Park, Swan Creek Park, Donkey Creek Park and the Minter Creek Fish Hatchery.
If you don’t see salmon at one point, try another spot or return at a different time. Approach streams slowly and don’t enter the water, as it might startle the fish or damage salmon nests with eggs, Madel said. You may see dead or dying salmon but leave them because their carcasses provide valuable nutrients to the ecosystem and the next generation of salmon.
Some of Madel’s favorite places to see salmon in South Prairie Creek include:
Madel says to respect private property when looking for salmon.
A salmon’s fins rise above the surface of South Prairie Creek as it swims upstream on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025, in the Prairie Ridge area of Pierce County.
“Viewing salmon spawning in the wild like that and completing their life cycle, I think helps tie things together for people,” he said. “For the majority of their life you can’t view salmon because they’re out in the open ocean, feeding and migrating.”
Salmon are culturally important to the Northwest, for tribes and for those who grew up fishing or observing them spawn every year, Madel said.
“When you see people observing for the first time, it kind of blows people’s minds a little bit,” he said, adding that although some species of salmon have seen population growth in recent years, others like the fall chinook are struggling.
“We still have work to do for all species, and that starts with protecting suitable habitat [and] trying to prevent any further degradation of habitat. Things like that are critical, because a lot of the harvest-control measures have been in place for decades that really control overharvest[ing],” he said. “A lot of [conservation efforts are] focusing on protecting the available habitat that’s suitable, trying to improve habitat in places where it’s degraded or [addressing] migration barriers.”
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