Salmon River, NY 10/11-13

[jayL]

Got up there late wednesday and slept in thursday before heading to the estuary to fish the still water. I had a ten foot sink tip on my 9 weight so it was pretty good for slow rolling streamers through the deeper pockets. On my third cast, I caught a monster hen king after she slammed a slow stripped pink estaz fly. After she headed down a few hundred yards to the bridge, I finally turned her. All in all, I was in the backing three times during the fight. Good stuff... I've never been in the backing before, as I always spin fished the SR, and don't do too much big water fishing. Lost a few more fish before it started getting REALLY windy and cold, and we called it a day.

Day 2 was spent at the Douglasston run, mainly in the lower area. On the way in, I almost stepped on a big king as it ripped up through the shallows, so I knew it was going to be red hot. After hooking up and landing a nice male on (yet again) my third cast of the day, it slowed down considerably. Ate a few little debbie cosmic brownies for sustenance and took a few minutes of shut eye while waiting for the big run to happen. Around 2pm, all hell broke loose. Ended up landing something like 4 kings and lost countless fish. Using 6lb floro in the low steelhead-rich water is necessary, but costs you a few kings here and there. Fished til almost dark, as pods of 7-8 fish were pushing through the riffles in to our pool at about 30 second intervals. The bottom was black with fish.

Day 3 was spent in the same run, and started with yet another slow morning. Landed one fish within the first 15 minutes and after a few more hours of fruitless fishing, it was time for yet another nap. It was real windy and cold, so it was hard to sleep. My friend somehow managed to foul hook his first steelhead while blind casting... I've never seen that before with a steelie. Two guys around us landed 14 and 17lb steel, so it got the adrenaline pumping. Never got my steel, but caught and released a few more kings before calling it a trip.

I took a whole lot of pictures and a few low quality/low content videos that I'll be posting this week.

Thanks to all that gave advice, and thanks a ton to the guys that sold/gave me gear and tips for heading up there.

 

[jayL]

Here's my pictures.

I have two videos but they really look bad when blown up at all, so to hell with them.

My fly box:
http://www.cs.drexel.edu/~jal63/salmonriver/1.jpg

First (and biggest) king of the trip:
http://www.cs.drexel.edu/~jal63/salmonriver/2.jpg

Other fisherman waiting for the first run of the morning:
http://www.cs.drexel.edu/~jal63/salmonriver/4.jpg

A pretty king. My boot is size 12, and that's a big CSR 4 large arbor for perspective:
http://www.cs.drexel.edu/~jal63/salmonriver/5.jpg

THEY BITE, DAMNIT!
http://www.cs.drexel.edu/~jal63/salmonriver/6.jpg

Me with a big hen:
http://www.cs.drexel.edu/~jal63/salmonriver/7.jpg

Another king
http://www.cs.drexel.edu/~jal63/salmonriver/9.jpg



Enjoy.

 

[OlyphantLacky]

Great Fish!!! i might be heading up to the river the last week of october

 

[jayL]

You might be able to rent, but I can't vouch as to whether it would be a good idea. Your best bet might be to get a cheap cabela's combo. I just had a relatively cheap St. Croix rod with a cheap reel and line. I figure that I'll only use it once or twice a year, so why break the bank. I will, however be buying a better reel. Those fish really run like hell.

As for tactics, read up on salmoncrazy.com. Their forums are pretty good. If the fish are still in the lower river, I pay the $30 to fish the Douglaston run. It's well worth it. Other than that, blind cast glo bugs, estaz eggs, buggers, etc. Fish them with as little weight as possible, ticking the bottom three or four times per drift.
Just like nymphing a trout stream, really. Be warned that you'll foul hook a good number of fish with this tactic since they sit in such large pods.

Also, swinging streamers, buggers, and wets was working well. The strikes are brutal.

You can sight fish if the flows stay low too. I caught a few fish that I spotted sitting in runs by aggressively drifting around them. After a bit, you'll get an anger strike out of them.

The number one tip is to avoid listening to all of the snaggers. They'll tell you that the fish won't bite and that the only way to catch them is to "lift". This basically means drifting through pods of fish and repeatedly setting the hook until you snag one. That's no way to fish IMO... though you'll inadvertently lift a few when you go to make a new cast.

 

[Acristickid]

Awesome reel burners! Sometimes they make me curl up into a ball and mumble to myself!

 

[jaybo41]

Awesome pictures and story to go along with them! Looks and sounds like a great time was had by all. Congrats! 😎

 

[gulfgreyhound]

Real nice fish. Headed to western New york tomorrow for 8 days. hope to be as lucky. Any word on the browns and steelies?Have they started to run?

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

wow i really need to go salmon fishing.....but i need a new rod then lol.....dont think my superfine would like catching salmon :lol:

 

[jayL]

gulfgreyhound,

From what I've been reading, the river is currently filthy with dime bright steelhead. They were beginning to push my last day there, and appear to still be coming. The salmon should be tapering off. Didn't hear anything about browns, but the time should be right...

Sal,

Yeah, I don't think the superfine would do 😛. I wouldn't break the bank on a new rod, but get something with some backbone.