Redmond's Salmon Season Moves Upstream After the Ballard Locks Counts Go Quiet

By October 1, the daily fish counts at the Ballard Locks were zeros. In the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's preliminary 2026 tables, the last coho was logged on September 28, and the Chinook column hasn't changed since September 25. At the Seattle end of the run, the tables have gone quiet. In Redmond, the stretch of the year with the most variety is just beginning. Coho, late Chinook and Lake Sammamish's native kokanee keep showing up in local water through late fall and into winter.

Where the fish counted in Ballard end up

Every adult salmon counted at the Locks was heading into the Lake Washington basin, and the Sammamish River runs through downtown Redmond as part of that basin. The counters at the Locks track the fish on their way in, and spawning happens later, upstream. WDFW explains that it counts sockeye only in June and July so the numbers stay comparable from year to year, and it posts Chinook and coho counts later in summer and into fall.

Compared with recent years, 2026 brought more fish up the ladder.

The sockeye number is a big improvement on last year, but it's small next to the goal. WDFW says its escapement goal for Lake Washington sockeye is 350,000 fish, and the 2026 count reached less than a tenth of that. WDFW also labels all of these daily numbers preliminary and subject to revision. All the same, more sockeye came through the Ship Canal this summer than in any year since 2022. Those fish are now upstream.

Which fish are still due after Halloween

King County publishes spawning windows for each species, and they explain why a walk in late October looks different from one in early September. These are countywide ranges, not schedules for a particular creek. Even so, they all run past the date the Locks counts went quiet.

• Coho spawn from mid-October through early January.
• Chinook spawn from September through mid-December.
• Sockeye spawn from early August through late December.
• Lake Sammamish kokanee spawn from November through February, with the peak in mid-December.

King County's salmon and trout identification page lists all four. Coho are just entering their window as this week begins, and kokanee haven't started yet. Most salmon-viewing guides peak in September and October. The ParentMap Eastside guide, updated this September, says those two months are best at Redmond's river spots. By the county's own calendar, though, November and December in Redmond still have fish in the water, just different species than in September.

Where to stand in Redmond

On September 16, the City of Redmond named its two most popular viewing spots in a post announcing this year's migration, which Hoodline wrote up the same day. The post lists the Redmond Trestle and the Redmond Way bridge over the Sammamish River. It also says the river, Lake Sammamish and the city's smaller streams provide habitat for Chinook, sockeye and coho, along with trout and Lake Sammamish kokanee.

Together with a couple of trail connections, that gives you a short circuit of spots to check:

1. The Sammamish River Trestle. The City lists the trestle as a feature of the Redmond Central Connector Trail. Phase two of the trail project, which runs east of the Sammamish River toward the Willows Road and 9900 block intersection, included retrofitting the trestle.
2. The Redmond Way bridge. This is the City's other named spot, on the same river, an easy walk from the trestle.
3. The Northeast 90th Street bridge and the pedestrian bridge near the Powerline Trail. ParentMap lists both as Sammamish River viewing points in Redmond for Chinook, coho and sockeye.
4. Marymoor Park by light rail. According to King County's Marymoor page, the Marymoor Station Trail runs straight from Marymoor Village Station into the park. The Bear Creek Trail Bridge also connects the East Lake Sammamish Trail to the Redmond Central Connector. Sound Transit's 2 Line stops at both Marymoor Village and Downtown Redmond, so you can ride to one station, walk the river and catch the train home from the other.

Bear Creek used to be a ditch beside SR 520

Lower Bear Creek is worth the walk because the City of Redmond rebuilt it. The Lower Bear Creek Rehabilitation project relocated the lower 3,500 feet of the creek away from SR 520. Before that, the channel had been straightened, and the project added meanders and large wood, according to a WRIA 8 project fact sheet.

The fact sheet describes three changes that matter for fish. The new channel's gentler slope lets salmon pass at every life stage. Parts of the old channel were kept as backwaters where young fish can rear and shelter from strong currents. The project also added planting area along the banks and more buffer between the creek and the highway. Construction ran from 2013 through the end of 2014. That means the reach has been settling in for more than a decade, long enough for the planted banks and placed logs to look like part of the creek. The meanders and wood are the kind of habitat late-fall spawners use.

December belongs to the kokanee

Lake Sammamish kokanee are the last fish on Redmond's calendar, and their season hasn't started yet. Kokanee are a freshwater salmon. They spend three or four years in Lake Sammamish before heading up its tributary streams to spawn. Their spawning peaks in mid-December, about eight weeks after this post goes up.

Not long ago the run nearly disappeared. In a May 2025 release, King County reported that only 19 adults came back during the 2017-18 run. Biologists then counted more than 8,300 returning adults in the 2024-25 spawning run, the second-highest return since the county started monitoring in 1996. The partners in the recovery, including the Snoqualmie Indian Tribe, released about 12,000 young kokanee near the middle of the lake in each of 2023 and 2024. The county expected survivors from those releases to return over the following two years. By that timeline, this winter falls inside the expected return window.

In the same release, McKenna Sweet Dorman, Deputy Secretary of the Snoqualmie Indian Tribe, said "something so unique about our Lake Sammamish and our little red fish is how it brings everyone together."

The county credits much of the comeback to clearing barriers in the streams that feed the lake, including box culverts under the East Lake Sammamish Trail and Lake Sammamish Parkway. Ebright Creek is the closest example to visit, a short drive south of Redmond in Sammamish. King County lists it as a kokanee spawning stream. The City of Sammamish built a fish-passable culvert where the creek crosses East Lake Sammamish Parkway. The city also reported kokanee spawning at the new culvert in December 2021.

Timing a walk around the rain

The City and the County give slightly different advice about rain, and between them you can plan a good day. Redmond's September post says salmon often move during or right after rain, so it's worth going back to check on wet days. King County suggests looking around midday on a clear, calm day with polarized lenses, and it warns that heavy rain can stir up sediment and cloud the water. In November, that adds up to a simple plan. Watch for a storm system to bring fish upstream, then go out on the first calm, bright midday after it, once the water has had time to clear.

Bring polarized glasses, or stand in shade to cut the glare on the water. Move slowly and stay out of the water, because the fish are already working to avoid predators. ParentMap adds a few more rules. Don't disturb the salmon, leave dead fish where they are, and keep dogs leashed wherever dogs are allowed.

At Team NSRG, we think part of knowing Redmond is knowing what's happening in Bear Creek in December, along with what's for sale on the next street. If you have a favorite viewing spot on the Sammamish River or Bear Creek, we'd love to hear about it. And if you're ready to talk about what's next for your home, schedule a consultation with us.