Causey salmon run question

[regehr]

In 2012 my kids and I went to see the salmon run at the stream at the end of the Skull Crack Trail at Causey and the fish were quite big, well over a foot long and with very distinctive humps.

Today we went back and the creek was full of salmon but they were much smaller, with only a small minority of the fish approaching 12 inches and also they lacked the humps.

Anyone know what's going on here? Are there multiple species of salmon in Causey perhaps?

 

[Aldaron]

Things look bigger when you're younger?

I went last year and they seemed smaller than I remembered them from several years ago, too.

 

[uintahiker]

There's only one species of salmon in Causey (Utah as well)- kokanee. You could have hit the spawn earlier or later then you did last year. Also, the bucks and hens (males and females) look differently- the males get the hump and a more pronounced hook jaw (kype). As I think about it though, they were probably mostly females that you saw this year.

 

[regehr]

Thanks Ben! I guess the males must come up the stream after the females? Otherwise the whole fertilization thing wouldn't make much sense. But then why didn't we see a ton of dead female salmon two years ago?