The salmon head to spawn in phases with the three different breeds coming at slightly different times.  They head through the ladder at the locks in Ballard in the fall but, before they head into Lake Washington, they pause in the approach area.  The transition from salt water to fresh is something that they have to adjust to and the area just by the locks where the fresh water is spilling out provides a good place for them to get adjusted.  They can stay for a couple of weeks or more.  The result was that we saw a lot of salmon swimming around in the waters by the dam.  This was not a risk free occupation as shall be covered in a future post.