Out: Here are some fish that turn an angry red, grow hooked snouts, exhaust themselves, and die. Let's have a festival!

Okay, despite my snarky title, I actually really love the Kokanee Festival, which happens here on the South Shore each year on the first weekend in October.

The festival coincides with the annual Kokanee salmon spawning. The salmon, who have been swimming around in the lake for the past four years or so, suddenly become flush with hormones, turn a bright red, and head upstream to the spawning grounds where they originally hatched to lay or fertilize eggs themselves, before dying of exhaustion and becoming food for bears, ducks and other fish. From a human standpoint, this method of reproduction leaves something to be desired.

But it is quite a site to see--the scarlet-colored salmon are stunning, and it's an excellent chance to watch nature in action close up. And the Taylor Creek area (where the festival is held) is full of fall color, so just strolling along the path by the stream is lovely.

Below are some pics of the Kokanee. The ones sporting a huge hooked nose (also a product of hormones) are males. The underwater shots were taken inside the stream profile chamber, which offers a below-surface view of the salmon, along with the substantially less-crimson brown trout (who seemed a little baffled. But then, I guess fish always look a little baffled).