Sockeye Salmon

If rivers are the veins of Olympic National Park, then salmon are the blood coursing through them, delivering essential nutrients from the sea to freshwater and forest ecosystems. The park, with its abundant rainfall and snowy mountains, hundreds of lakes and streams, 10 major rivers and the Pacific Ocean, provides habitat for 37 species of native fish.

Unique Fish
Besides salmon that may travel thousands of miles during their lifetimes, the park also has freshwater fish that spend their whole lives isolated in their home lakes. The tiny Olympic mud minnow of lowland lakes is found nowhere else in the world. The Beardslee and Crescenti trout isolated in Lake Crescent are genetically distinct from their rainbow and cutthroat ancestors. Interested in fishing Olympic National Park waters? Check the park's current fishing regulations before you go.

Click here to learn more about Olympic's anadromous fish populations and how and where to see them.