The small fish defend these territories aggressively. Juvenile coho salmon occupy different stream habitats in the fall and winter. The fry move out of faster water into side channels and streams with deeper pools, and undercut banks where dense vegetation drapes into the water. Most coho salmon spend 2 to 3 years in saltwater. Coho salmon from California to British Columbia tend to travel north and spend the summer along the central Alaskan coast.
Most Alaskan fish travel a counter clockwise path following the currents in the north Pacific Ocean.
As ocean temperatures increase in summer, the fish move north throughout the north Pacific Ocean and into the Bering Sea. Most of these fish winter well south of the Gulf of Alaska.