Lake Sammamish’s freshwater salmon are making their way back to their birthplace.

The kokanee, most recognizable for their red bodies, began returning to their Sammamish and Bellevue breeding waters in late October.

Sammamish resident Wally Pereyra and Issaquah Salmon Hatchery crews reported seeing almost 100 return to Ebright Creek thus far.

Pereyra is a Lake Sammamish Kokanee Work Group member and longtime advocate for the kokanee, a species closely related to sockeye salmon.

He also lives on Ebright Creek, one of three kokanee-bearing streams that feed into Lake Sammamish, and he expects a good turnout this year, he said.

At the end of their life, kokanee return to theses creeks: Ebright and Laughing Jacobs Creek on the Plateau, as well as Lewis Creek in Bellevue.

The females find a nice place to clear away silt and sand before laying a few thousand eggs, also called spawning. The males find a female, stand by and then deposit their sperm, called milt.

In 2012-2013, there was a large kokanee return, Pereyra said. Those fry should be adults now and ready to make the journey inland before dying.

It’s a good sign to see the signature red fish begin to trickle in early, Pereyra said. Usually the fish will return to the creeks sometime in November and continue through February.

Kokanee once thrived, numbering in the tens of thousands. In recent decades the species saw a dramatic decline in population.

Issaquah Salmon Hatchery workers have been collecting returning kokanee as part of the hatchery’s program that aims to increase and stabilize a healthy population of the rare, freshwater fish.

The hatchery program, implemented by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and King County, is primarily funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

To watch a live feed of Ebright Creek and to catch a peak of spawning kokanee, visit http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/animalsAndPlants/salmon-and-trout/kokanee/kokanee-cam.aspx.