Lake Sammamish's Own Salmon Are Due Back in Ebright Creek. Here's When and Where to Look.

"Something so unique about our Lake Sammamish and our little red fish is how it brings everyone together," McKenna Sweet Dorman, Deputy Secretary of the Snoqualmie Indian Tribe, said in a King County news release in May 2025. The little red fish is the Lake Sammamish kokanee, the lake's native salmon. Its late run is starting now in the creeks that drain the plateau.

You don't need a drive to the Cascades or a trip to the hatchery to see them. One of the few known spawning streams runs between a playground and a quiet meadow at Ebright Creek Park, 1317 212th Ave SE. This winter also falls inside a window biologists flagged in advance as a likely good one.

A Run That Fell to 19 Fish

The recovery numbers explain why this run gets so much attention. According to King County, just 19 adult kokanee returned to spawn during the 2017-18 run. More than 8,300 returned during the 2024-25 run. The county called it the second-highest return since its monitoring began in 1996. The Snoqualmie Tribe's own retrospective, published in March 2025, put the 2024 return at roughly 8,000 fish and ranked it third-highest since official counts began.

Either way, the baseline matters more than the ranking. The Tribe notes that the long-term average is about 400 fish, which it describes as too few for a stable population. A good year at Ebright Creek is therefore part of a recovery that only recently pulled back from the brink. The fish aren't a reliable seasonal fixture yet.

Two changes did much of the work, King County says. The first was removing barriers in the streams that feed the lake, including box culverts under the East Lake Sammamish Trail and Lake Sammamish Parkway. The second was raising young kokanee longer in a controlled setting, then releasing them near the middle of the lake in fall, when the fish are larger, the water is cooler and oxygen levels are higher.

Why This Winter Falls Inside the Window

In that May 2025 release, King County said partners including the Snoqualmie Indian Tribe released record numbers of young kokanee near the middle of Lake Sammamish in 2023 and 2024, about 12,000 in each year. The county said survivors from those releases were expected to return to their spawning grounds over the next two years. Counting from that spring, the window covers last winter's run and the one starting now.

The fish's life cycle explains that timing. King County says Lake Sammamish kokanee spend three to four years in lakes before returning to spawn. Most come back at three. A county survey report found that 74% of sampled spawners were age three in 2011/12, and 95% were in 2012/13. In an April 2025 City of Issaquah article, the Snoqualmie Tribe's habitat manager made the same point and noted that the size of any run reflects conditions over the previous three years.

That three-year rhythm points to a second milestone further out. The 2024 spawners produced a large class of young fish. The Tribe described fry leaving the streams in spring 2025 "likely by the tens of thousands each night." Three Rivers Trout Unlimited volunteers counted nearly 40,000 fry that spring across Laughing Jacobs, Lewis and Ebright creeks. That was a sample, not a full count. If those fish follow the age-three pattern, most would be due back around fall 2027. Survival in the lake decides how many actually return, so a big fry year is no promise of a big return. The fish returning this winter belong to the release years the recovery partners named.

When the Creek Gets Busy

King County describes the spawning season simply as "late fall and early winter." The older survey records give more detail, and they don't agree on a single peak week:

• Early to mid-November: In the 2011/12 King County survey, activity in Ebright, Lewis and Laughing Jacobs creeks began around this point.
• Late November: That same survey recorded the peak here.
• Mid-December: An earlier Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife report called this the typical peak.
• Late December: In the 2011/12 survey, activity tapered off by this point.

Issaquah's field surveys run from roughly October through December. In practice, that leaves about a four-week stretch from the week before Thanksgiving to mid-December when a visit to the creek is most likely to pay off. A few visits spread across those weeks give better odds than one trip on a single Saturday.

A Neighborhood Park With a Spawning Stream

Ebright Creek Park isn't a nature preserve with a visitor center. It's a 12-acre city park in three sections. The front has a parking lot and a sports court, and two long wooden boardwalks lead to the middle section. That middle section has two play areas, a reservable picnic shelter, a large lawn and restrooms. Ebright Creek runs between the middle and back sections, and the back offers a quiet meadow, a small loop trail and benches. The City of Sammamish's park page calls the stream "one of the few known spawning areas for the Kokanee salmon," and the park is an active habitat restoration site. King County's 2026 Salmon SEEson guide lists Ebright Creek among its named viewing locations.

Downstream infrastructure matters here too. The City of Sammamish replaced the Ebright Creek culvert in summer 2021, creating a crossing fish can pass. That project is one of the barrier removals King County credits with paying off for kokanee.

A visit that fits the season:

1. Check the hours first. From October through March the park is open 7:30 a.m. to dusk. Parking lot gates open at 8 a.m. and close 30 minutes after sunset. In December that leaves a short window, so a late-morning or midday visit is the easiest to plan.
2. Cross the boardwalks to the middle section and walk toward the creek.
3. Look for small, reddish fish holding in the gravel. Kokanee spawn in their home streams, so the same reaches tend to see activity year after year.
4. Finish with the loop trail and benches in the back meadow.

Watching Without Getting in the Way

The run is still small by historical standards, so how people behave at the creek matters. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's salmon viewing guidance asks visitors to:

• Approach slowly and stay quiet at the edge of the stream.
• Stay out of the water.
• Leave salmon carcasses where they lie.
• Keep pets under control.

A dead fish on a gravel bar can look like litter, but WDFW's guidance is clear that it stays put. Follow posted park and trail closures, and don't cross onto private property to reach a better spot.

The Other Creeks in the Recovery

Ebright is the easiest creek to visit from the plateau, but the recovery depends on several streams around the lake. Laughing Jacobs Creek runs through Lake Sammamish State Park. Last November, the City of Issaquah held a guided "Salmon Sleuths" outing at Hans Jensen Group Camp to look for kokanee there. That event hasn't been announced for this year. In a September 30, 2026 City of Issaquah update, two culverts carrying Laughing Jacobs Creek under East Lake Sammamish Parkway were in design for replacement, with channel habitat improvements intended to help kokanee.

Zackuse Creek supports a small run of its own. The Snoqualmie Tribe says three culverts there were replaced in 2018. A remote stream incubator was also installed, and fish raised in it have come back to spawn.

Residents can also help without wading in. Friends of Lake Sammamish State Park holds its November Restoration Event on Saturday, November 21, from 10 a.m. to noon. Volunteers meet at the Sunset Beach Bathhouse and Picnic Area. The event is free and open to the public, registration is required, and you'll need a Discover Pass to park. The planned work is rain-garden maintenance and tree planting, and it takes place in the same state park that Laughing Jacobs Creek runs through.

At Stacy Hecht, we see a creek like Ebright as part of what makes a Sammamish address a real place, alongside the views and square footage. If you spot kokanee at the boardwalk this season, or want to talk through which parts of the plateau sit closest to these streams, we'd love to hear from you. Explore Pacific Northwest Homes.