Gents,
I'm thinking of heading off to the Salmon River @ Pulsaki on Saturday. From what I've been hearing, the Kings, Cohos, and trout are all in the river.
I'll be leaving at 05:30 rain or shine and returning some time in the evening. A one day NY non-resident license is $15 - there's no point in getting a full-season license because it would expire on 30 Sep.
I'll have room in the van if anyone wants to come along. It's about a 2 1/2 hr drive to the river, so by the time we pick up our licenses, and get set up, we should be on the water by 9-ish.
A WARNING: The river will be a zoo with shoulder to shoulder fishermen in the better spots.
Jerry
Salmon @ Pulaski on Saturday + Report
Salmon @ Pulaski on Saturday + Report
Last edited by Rybren on Sun Sep 28, 2008 9:12 am, edited 1 time in total.
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northernfly
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I have fished The Salmon River just outside Pulaski a few times the last few years. I am not a fly fisherman but have a friend who is big into it and would drag me along for the trips.
The one thing I did notice the last time I was down there was a couple of locals fishing and having great sucess using bright coloured pipe cleaners material tied on there flys. Not sure why but they were having alot of luck with really bright colours, pink, red and orange.
The river will be nuts this time of year, last time I was down I saw a fight between two Fly Fisherman in the river over a spot. One guy had to go and land a fish down stream and another guy jumped into his spot, needless to say when the other guy came back up stream things got ugly.
Have fun, its a great river to fish, wish I could join you but I have other things to do this weekend.
The one thing I did notice the last time I was down there was a couple of locals fishing and having great sucess using bright coloured pipe cleaners material tied on there flys. Not sure why but they were having alot of luck with really bright colours, pink, red and orange.
The river will be nuts this time of year, last time I was down I saw a fight between two Fly Fisherman in the river over a spot. One guy had to go and land a fish down stream and another guy jumped into his spot, needless to say when the other guy came back up stream things got ugly.
Have fun, its a great river to fish, wish I could join you but I have other things to do this weekend.
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Mike Lennox
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS7rKMFePIw
Saw this posted on hipwader.com.....definitely a circus....but im sure the whole river isn't like that.
I'm heading there in the winter a few times hopefully, hope i can hook into my first steelie.
Saw this posted on hipwader.com.....definitely a circus....but im sure the whole river isn't like that.
I'm heading there in the winter a few times hopefully, hope i can hook into my first steelie.
Yeah, it can get crazy on the river. I lived down there for 5 years and my wife became a fishing widow every Sep to Dec. I never saw any fights, but there was the occasional screaming match. I tend to walk the river and look for quiet spots, although the occasional foray into some of the bigger pools can be fun when 4 or 5 guys are all fighting a fish at the same time.
As for colours - I use bubblegum - cheese - yellow - orange - red egg patterns tied with egg yarn and some bright eztaz flies. For some reason, I have found blue to to be very effective.
As for colours - I use bubblegum - cheese - yellow - orange - red egg patterns tied with egg yarn and some bright eztaz flies. For some reason, I have found blue to to be very effective.
wow. speechless.Mike Lennox wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS7rKMFePIw
Saw this posted on hipwader.com.....definitely a circus....but im sure the whole river isn't like that.
I'm heading there in the winter a few times hopefully, hope i can hook into my first steelie.
Well, it was a solo trip for me. Left Ottawa at 05:30 and pulled into the tackle shop to pick up a license at 08:30. Not bad, considering that there was a Timmy's break and a 5 min wait at the border.
The pool at the town bridge was a zoo - literally people standing shoulder to shoulder. I drove on to get to one of my favourite stretches of the river. There was no one on my side of the river, and only 3 people on the opposite side. Looking upstream and downstream for about 400 or 500 metres each way, there wasn't another fisherman in sight. Over the course of the next 4 hours in that stretch, maybe 5 or 6 other fishermen showed up.
The water was extremely high and fast - the power company opened the floodgates at the dam on Friday night for a 24 hr purge of the resevoir. It made for tough wading and tough fishing. On the plus side, the higher than normal flow should bring in a lot of fish.
The fishing was slow - I only managed 3 very short-lived hookups in the first 4 hours. I moved to another spot downstream of Pulaski, looking for a fresh run of fish brought in by the increased flow. I wasn't disappointed. I must have had 40 fish swim through the stretch of river that I was working. Unfortunately, most of them weren't stopping but were pushing through like freight trains. It's quite the sight to see them moving through the riffles with bodies half out of the water. I managed a few more quick on and off hookups and had a couple of good battles (which, I am ashamed to say, the fish won). One large fish took me almost to the end of my backing in about 10 seconds. I managed to get him turned around and coming back downstream, only to have him get wrapped around some rocks and break off.
Even though I didn't manage to land a single fish, it was a great day. For those who prefer trout over salmon, the steelies are coming into the river. I saw a couple on stringers and, judging by the bright silver flash, one of my on/offs was probably a steelie as well.
The salmon river gets a bad reputation because of the crowds, but it's an incredible fishery and it's easy to get to a spot where you've got a lot of room to yourself. The salmon run will peak over the next few weeks and by then there'll be a ton of steelies and browns in the river as well.
The pool at the town bridge was a zoo - literally people standing shoulder to shoulder. I drove on to get to one of my favourite stretches of the river. There was no one on my side of the river, and only 3 people on the opposite side. Looking upstream and downstream for about 400 or 500 metres each way, there wasn't another fisherman in sight. Over the course of the next 4 hours in that stretch, maybe 5 or 6 other fishermen showed up.
The water was extremely high and fast - the power company opened the floodgates at the dam on Friday night for a 24 hr purge of the resevoir. It made for tough wading and tough fishing. On the plus side, the higher than normal flow should bring in a lot of fish.
The fishing was slow - I only managed 3 very short-lived hookups in the first 4 hours. I moved to another spot downstream of Pulaski, looking for a fresh run of fish brought in by the increased flow. I wasn't disappointed. I must have had 40 fish swim through the stretch of river that I was working. Unfortunately, most of them weren't stopping but were pushing through like freight trains. It's quite the sight to see them moving through the riffles with bodies half out of the water. I managed a few more quick on and off hookups and had a couple of good battles (which, I am ashamed to say, the fish won). One large fish took me almost to the end of my backing in about 10 seconds. I managed to get him turned around and coming back downstream, only to have him get wrapped around some rocks and break off.
Even though I didn't manage to land a single fish, it was a great day. For those who prefer trout over salmon, the steelies are coming into the river. I saw a couple on stringers and, judging by the bright silver flash, one of my on/offs was probably a steelie as well.
The salmon river gets a bad reputation because of the crowds, but it's an incredible fishery and it's easy to get to a spot where you've got a lot of room to yourself. The salmon run will peak over the next few weeks and by then there'll be a ton of steelies and browns in the river as well.