Thursday, September 28, 2017

Salmon River report , early fall 2017

Early season, early morning salmon.
September is coming to a close and the salmon fishing is ramping up.  We have had very good fishing on the river pretty much since Labor Day.  Everyday is seeing a steady push of fish up the river and the upper reaches between Altmar and Pineville have had fish bedding now for the last week and a half.  The release is at 335 cfs. with the gauge at Pineville reading 409 cfs. as I write this.  I have been fishing for the last week or so with clients and it has been very good, especially in the dawn to 10 a.m. time frame.  We have had unusually hot weather and fish start holding up in deeper water about 10ish.  Today is the first break in the temperatures in a week, things are more seasonable and we are expecting a little rain in the next day or two.  This should help the fish move throughout the day.

Tried and true pattern for the Salmon River.
We have been chasing them with the fly rod. Bead or cone head buggers are working well as are zonker-type streamers.  I tie these mostly in size 4-6.  I add weight to the zonkers to eliminate as much weight being added to the leader.

Salmon fishing will be peaking for the next few weeks.   Make sure you take the time to fish the run, it only happens once a year. 

I have about five date open for salmon through the first 3 weeks of October, one of which is Columbus Day, so bring you kid up and give me a call, let's book the day and fish together.  Neither of you will forget it.

Tight lines