Where to see spawning salmon in Langley: five parks, five creeks
The Township names five parks where you can watch salmon spawn in November and December. Which creek to look for at each, where to park, and the one park with a construction fence in the way this fall.
That fish in the photo is a chum, holding its spot in a few inches of fast water in Yorkson Creek, in a wooded ravine with Walnut Grove houses on every side. The Township took the picture at McClughan Park. You don’t need to drive up the Fraser Canyon to see this. You need a free afternoon in November, a pair of boots, and the right creek.
The Township says salmon can be seen in its streams from November through December, and it names five parks to try. The trick is that the park name is only half the answer. Each one has a particular creek, and at a couple of them the creek is easy to miss if you walk straight to the playground.
Photos and maps: Township of Langley.
Williams Park
If you only go to one, make it this one. The Township has said the Salmon River carries the largest wild Pacific salmon run in Langley, and the Langley Environmental Partners Society has pointed to Williams Park as prime spawning ground. The Township lists Coghlan Creek here as well.
It’s also the easiest outing of the five for a family that might lose interest after ten minutes of staring at water. There are forest trails, picnic shelters, a play area and washrooms, and the park is open dawn to dusk. Walk the river trail slowly, and look for movement in the shallow, gravelly stretches rather than the deep pools.
Our Williams Park page has more on the trails and the December light drive.
McClughan Park
McClughan sits right in the middle of Walnut Grove housing, between 204 and 206 Street, and Yorkson Creek runs down a wooded ravine through the middle of it. A path along the north side of the park crosses the ravine on a boardwalk bridge, and that’s your viewing spot.
The bridge has its own story. Grade 4 and 5 students from Dorothy Peacock Elementary, a short walk away, spent a couple of years studying the ravine and then wrote and illustrated interpretive panels for it, with words translated by Fern Gabriel of Kwantlen First Nation. The panels are mounted on the bridge and cover the ravine’s animals, plants and cultural history. The kids learned about coho and chum in this creek, along with crayfish, barred owls and lamprey.
Parking is off 206 Street, at the north end by the tennis and pickleball courts or the south end near 90A Avenue. The playground and washrooms are on the far (204 Street) side of the creek. One small thing: the Township’s facility listing says dawn to dusk, but the park map says 9 am to dusk. Go after 9 and you’re fine either way.
Otter Park
The quiet one. Otter Park is a small Township park in the farmland south of Aldergrove, on 248 Street just north of 19 Avenue, and Bertrand Creek winds right through it. Drive in on the entry drive from 248 Street and park at the end. The washrooms, a picnic shelter and a little bridge over the creek are all within a few steps of the lot, so it suits anyone who doesn’t want a long walk.
The park also has a long, skinny equestrian trail that heads north from the lot to a second entrance at 21B Avenue. That’s a nice stroll, but it isn’t the salmon part. Stay down by the bridge. Open dawn to dusk.
Noel Booth Park
Most people come to Noel Booth for the pond loop, the ball diamonds, the new playground or the off-leash area. For salmon, the Township sends you to Anderson Creek, not Brookswood Pond. Walk the trails to the creek and watch from the path.
If you’ve brought the dog for the off-leash area at the south end of the park, clip the leash back on before you head for the creek.
Everything else about the park, from parking to the pond, is in our Brookswood Pond and Noel Booth guide.
Walnut Grove Community Park
West Munday Creek wraps around the west and north edges of Walnut Grove Community Park, behind the ball fields and the high school. It’s on the Township’s list, and in a normal year the creek trails there are an easy walk from the community centre lot.
This fall isn’t quite normal. The Township is replacing old baseball infrastructure and upgrading the fields, and its closures page lists the baseball fields and some walking paths closed until further notice. Since the creek runs right behind those fields, check the closure map against the park map before you go. If the path you want is fenced, McClughan is about a kilometre away and has the same kind of ravine.
Be kind to the fish
The Township’s requests are short. Keep dogs leashed and away from spawning fish. Stay on the trails and don’t trample the plants along the bank, because that streamside growth shades the water, feeds the insects the young fish eat and holds the bank together. Take dog bags and litter to a bin or home.
A few things that help you actually see something: polarized sunglasses cut the glare on the water, a slow walk beats a fast one, and a fish holding still in a riffle looks a lot like a rock until it moves its tail. Nobody can promise you a fish on a given afternoon. Some days the creek is busy, some days it isn’t, and either way it’s a decent walk in the woods.
If you get a good photo, send it to us through Spotted. We’d love to see what’s in the creeks this year.