(double click for a better view)
The chum have been working their way up Beatty Creek for the better part of the month. At the moment they are only to be found at around the 150' level of the creek, well below the elevation where I've most often observed them. This summer, when I walked down stream from The Bend (my favorite observation site, and only a quarter of a mile up stream from where they are today) I came across a pretty massive blockage with a deep splash pool on the downstream side. I'm guessing that it was high enough and solid enough to keep this year's chum from going any further upstream.
There's no overland route to that spot with public access, and I don't want to wade the stream until I'm sure the little ones have hatched and headed back downstream towards Mud Bay and the Sound. But come mid-May, well after the youngsters have departed the stream, I'll wade downstream from The Bend until I reach the spot where the run met its end. And if a blockage is indeed responsible for the problem, I'll petition the HOA for permission (and maybe some help) clearing it.
A post-script here: Beatty Creek is a tiny body of water. In many places it is narrow enough to jump over, and in others it's so shallow you can tiptoe across without getting your ankles wet. This makes it possible to get close enough to the chum to actually touch them - not someting I've ever done, nor would ever recommend. Late In the run the exhausted fish tend to ignore most intrusions - they are too tired by then to either flee or fight. But until then, it doesn't take much to distract them from the main task at hand. Out of respect for this, I always approach the creek as cautiously as possible, and always avoid places along the bank where serious redd preparation is taking place.
It is not unusal for me to actually crawl the last few feet through the brush to the water's edge, especially when trying to get top-water photos like the one above. This time round I lost track of where I was and ended up with my elbows right at stream's edge. I lay there for a good fifteen minutes, my heavy coat and the knees of my jeans soaking up stream water the entire time. A stench only rivaled by the uncleaned floor of a busy fish market hung about me for the entire walk home from the creek... a very small price to pay.