Story and Photos by K.C. Foore

Editor's Note: Foore is a Calgary-based writer and photographer.

BRITISH COLUMBIA, Canada -- This year's salmon run (in October) on the Adam's River in British Columbia, Canada, was the biggest in the past century. Millions of sockeye salmon returned to the spawning grounds where they were born four years ago.

Both male and female salmon lost their blue/grey colors and turned crimson red with green heads. Their bodies rapidly transformed from a typical salmon shape to one with an elongated, curved snout and (especially prominent in the males) a dorsal hump.

The salmon making it past a throng of fishermen, nets and boats at the mouth of the Fraser River then needed to deal with the torrents of Hell's Gate before reaching the Adam's River to spawn. Many were badly beaten up, sporting wounds, torn fins and resulting infections.

They also endured great stress due to the change from cold saltwater to relatively warm freshwater. They are among the few fish species capable to tolerate such an extreme range of environments.

But many salmon, having completed the instinctual final duty of spawning, already lay dead on the banks and river bottom. The smell of rotting fish couldn't be mistaken, even from a nearby parking lot.

The living salmon swam over and around the garish spectacle, driven only to find a mate to spawn. They didn't bother to eat for the last few weeks of their lives, living off their body reserves until finally perishing, successful or not.

Seemingly, there were twice as many females as males, prompting much fighting among the females. With so many salmon spawning in close proximity at the same time, it did not appear that many eggs would be left unfertilized. In one picture here, some fish already have paired up. Many seem to lay dead in pairs too. How poignant!

The spectacle was thrilling and sad to witness. Human visitors from around the world cheered the salmon as they made their way upstream, sighed in anguish when the tired salmon allowed themselves to be carried downstream for a bit, losing the hard-gained ground (river bed). People excitedly spotted the bright pink eggs and mournfully noted the dead salmon. This was real nature in a life-and-death drama.

Unfortunately, ripples on the water acted as a distortion lens, creating difficulties to get undistorted images of the eggs. Still water was rare too. Not only did the water flow naturally, but it was turbulent with the salmon. I know the photographed eggs were freshly laid because the parents soon covered them with gravel as protection against being carried away by predators or currents. The only undistorted image of eggs shows some splashed up onto the bank in the spawning frenzy. Pink eggs were fertilized and viable while white ones either weren’t or lacked viability for another reason.

A few marauding trout lingered to gorge on the fresh salmon roe -- the fishy version of eggs, over(ly) easy.

My travel companions and I rose at 3:30 a.m. for a seven-hour drive (in thick fog) through the Rogers Pass to witness this. It was an amazing, bucket-list type of experience.


Peek between the trees at real
nature's life-and-death drama.


Moving water distorts images of the eggs.


Determined salmon gradually battle upstream.


A smell of rotting fish can't be mistaken.


Poignantly, many fish lay dead in pairs.

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