Salmon River Fishing and Misc.

Made it to the Salmon River this evening to spend some time at one of my favorite walk in places.  This is the kind of spot that is going to have a predictable movement of fish, especially in the first light of morning and the evening.  What you need to have is a section of fast water between two larger holding areas, like between Frasier's Run and the Wires or the Compactor and the Upper Compactor.  These larger, deeper runs hold fish during the daytime and  since salmon trend to move readily at night, the runs between see good movement at first and last light of day. 

I didn't expect to find alot of moving fish but I knew I'd find a few and that's the way it turned out.  Saw three salmon edging up out of the deeper runs to head up stream.  Was able to connect with one, briefly.  The other two were on the move and had no intentions of giving my fly a chance to provoke them. 



New bridge looking from north to south



Was a nice evening though and I was glad to get back to the river.  I stopped by Pineville bridge to check on the progress there.  They're putting the concrete deck down now and the main floor of the bridge is done.  All that is basically left is the approaches to the main bridge. 

Fall is coming to the river.  A few trees starting to change colors and with the cooler temperatures in the evenings now the dew forms fast and heavy.  I love this time of year.  Here are a couple of pictures of the new bridge.  Should be able to use it before too long.


New concrete deck looking towards RT 13



I'll be on the river again later this week and then almost daily till the end of October as my schedule stands right now.  I will be posting updates from here on out as often as I can. 

Keeping Track of Time

This evening there is a full moon.  For many this is nothing more than a monthly astronomical happening.  It makes the tides ebb and flow.  It signals another month behind us.  But for me, ever since the salmon runs have been an event in my life, the full moon has been my time keeper.  For example, this past July we were in Victor, Idaho when one evening I watched the full moon rise over the Tetons.  Beautiful yes but in my mind I am counting "August, September, October, 3 more moons till the salmon run is at it's peak".  That's the way it is now, for me.  Every full moon I am counting how many more till the peak of the salmon run here on the Salmon River.



Full moon rising over the Tetons


The run has actually started.  This past week we received the remnants of hurricane Lee and the added push of water down the river seemed to get them moving.  Sure, right now they will enter the river in spurts, nothing steady yet.  But the peak of the run will come when the moon is full during October.  Everyone has their own idea as to when the salmon run peaks. When I began guiding here I met and worked with a guide, Tommy Cornell, who said the run doesn't peak till the leaves are floating in the river.  This also has been a reliable tell for the peak of the run.  But you can't see the leaves as you float down the river in the dark of early morning.  The leaves don't illuminate the river like a street light the way the full moon does in October.  And for time keeping purposes, the leaves don't fall every month.

For me, once the full moon of October begins to disappear, as October heads towards November, I will look at the next full moon and the one after that and the one after that, and I'll count the months off till the salmon run peaks again.

Hexagenia



Excellent Hex spinner water, the love the riffs

The fishing pressure on the local trout streams has become basically non-existent and I have found most areas here empty of fisherman.  We have good  water levels and with the warm humid weather the fly hatches are excellent. One in particular has had me on a local stream every evening for the past three nights,  the Hex spinner fall.  The first evening I noticed the larger spinners floating in the air above the riffles and mistakenly thought it was the larger Isos we have here.  I don't expect them to be this large this late in the summer, but, the fish were going nuts on them so, I played along.  Not having an Iso pattern I used a #10 brown X Caddis and in about 45 minutes up to dark and had landed @15 browns, 5 of these 18- 20" and none under 14".  The next evening I had a revelation.



Hex comparadun compared to #14 BWO









24" brown trout



As I stood along the shore preparing to wade out a fly landed on my cheek , it was a female hex spinner.  These flies are probably all of 1 1/2" long  and then I realized these weren't Iso spinners, they were Hex.  The trout don't start rising, not really rising , more like SLASHING, until about 8:10 and this continues on into darkness.  While I stood there another fly landed on the bill of my hat so I snapped a picture, it was the male spinner .  I had no patterns for this fly but I did have a few stimulators in my box and the trout loved them.  Again, another evening of BIG browns.





Male Hex spinner





 Yesterday I took a few minutute at the vise and tied a couple Hex comparaduns on #8 4x long hooks and hit the riffs again for the third evening in a row.  To the point, another tremendous evening and the largest brown I've ever take out of a local trout stream, a 24" male.  The spinner fall seemed to be lighter yesterday, I don't know if the showers we were having was affecting the Hex or if the hatchs/ spinner fall is nearing it's end for the time being.





Well, I will once again hit the riff tonight, it's an urge I can't resist.  It's like being hooked on a bad habit.  I've been Hexed.



















Local Fishing and the Salmon River

My wife and I came home early from the west.  With water still high on the Snake River, Wy and the probability that it will stay high till late August,  we decided to come home.  We did spend some time in Montana though and the Madison and the Gallatin were fishing fine.

Locally the rivers and creeks are down which is typical for the summer.  The trout fishing has been good here if you stick with the small stuff, #18-20 BWO and #20-22 Midge working fine.  I was up to the West Canada Creek  and it is in very good condition.  Did some searching with Parachute Adams and had good success thru mid afternoon but as it moved towards evening had to shift to the small stuff again, BWO primarily.

It is the Salmon River, however, that most are interested in.  It's August now and we wait for the first movement of salmon into the river.  The water release is 185cfs but with the rain we've had the last couple days the gauge at Pineville is at 268cfs, the run off from Orwell contributing to this and Trout Brook probably adds to this down below.  Reports from the lake are good, indicating the fish are moving this way.  Normally Labor Day weekend marks the un-official start of the run, doesn't matter if it's 10 fish or 100 fish that show up around this time, it's ON. 



In the river now you'll find good bass fishing as well as a few brown trout.  Any summer run steelhead have found refuge in the deeper spring fed areas of the upper river and have been keeping their mouths shut.  I'm going to float the river in the next few days and check it out 'from the rowing seat'. 

Wyoming, Idaho, Montana Reports



An Idaho fatty



As I suspected the big water in these states are high and off color and there is still alot of snow in the Tetons, Snake range, Greys and Salt range.  Probably wont see any serious fishing on the big water till August.  But there is fishing.  I floated the Salt River in Wyoming with friend and guide Dave Barber.  The Salt was up and a little silty but the spring creeks feeding it were clear to mildly colored, these provided good dry fly action on Cutts.  The first one I landed pushed 18" with the rest in the 12" range.  I did have one BIG fish on for about a minute.  It made three runs pulling line off the reel and fighting me deep.  I never did see it but I'd say was fighting like a brown trout, a BIG brown trout.  Based on my Salmon River experience I'd guess around 5 to 7 lbs.  He spit the fly. 



20+  Idaho Cutthroat

Moving into Victor/Driggs, Idaho basically offered one option.  Pine Creek,  from the summit to Swan Valley, was in great shape and still held post spawn Cutts.  The first outing produced my biggest Cutt, +20".  Through a week of fishing it I managed a pair over 20" and most in the 16" -18" range.  In a typical, "normal", year these fish would have dropped back into the South Fork by this time but with the higher water flows they had stuck around for a little longer, good for me.  As we left Teton Valley for Montana the Teton River was beginning to fish.



Another Post Spawn Cutt

 The Yellowstone in Montana was blown out for fishing which was disappointing cause we'd rented a house on the Yellowstone in Livingston.  But west of Bozeman the Madison was perfect and the fishing was excellent, as was the Henry's Fork and the Buffalo River. The Gallatin from the Yellowstone Park down to Taylor Creek was in perfect condition.  From Taylor down through the canyon it was milky but very fishable.  Through out, the same flies produced well.  Comparadun PMDs and BWOs #18 tied for 1st.  Parachute Adams #12 a close 2nd and in Wyoming I had good success on a Comparadun Green Drake #12



Cedar Strip Kayak



As a side note, they say curiosity has killed a few cats, but sometime it leads to some interesting finds.  While staying in Victor,  I'd heard the neighbor sawing, sanding and pounding away everyday.  Finally curiosity got the best of me and I walked over to see what was going on.  I met Howard Bybee, a young fellow who's garage was a scaled down wood shop full of wooden patterns and two cedar strip kayaks, one finished and one in the assembly stage. Howard is a true craftsman.  His work was meticulous, thought out and looked dang near perfect to me.  If you've ever wanted a hand crafted kayak click on his name and send him a message. 

Snow, lots of water and beautiful scenery



Lamoille Canyon, Ruby Mts., Nevada



We made the trip from California to Idaho with no problems.  Stopped by the Trukee in California and was unfishable.  As with most of the west the snow pack was so deep at the end off winter that it still continues to melt keeping many rivers high and off color.  We stopped in Elko Nevada for 2 days and spent some time in the Ruby Mts, truly a beautiful place on this earth.  I fished Lamoille Canyon one evening and spent more time taking pictures of the scenery than fishing.  I fished through a couple of beaver pond at about 8500 ft and with snow still on the ground it was a little cool.  Managed a few small trout but the water was high and getting close the the main channels through the ponds was difficult.  Still was a nice evening in a beautiful place.

Arriving in Idaho found the Snake in Wyoming and the South Fork high and dirty.  The South fork is running at 22,000+ cfs. They've started floating it 2 days ago with most boats that I've seen running from Conant down through the canyon.  The Tetons still have about 8-9 feet of snow pack above 9000 ft.  Teton River and Fox Creek here in Teton Valley (Victor/ Driggs, Id) are basically blown out.  I did float the upper Salt River in Wyoming this past Wednesday from Grover to Auburn.  It was high and a little off color but we floated up a few spring creeks running into the Salt that were clear and the cutts were rising good to dries.  Managed to land a few  in the 18-20" range and did lose one that was big, my fishermans quess would be 5-7lbs.  Picked up these fish on Green Drake comparaduns and parachute Adams , both #10-12.  There were small yellow stones and yellow sallys hatching all day and even saw a few PMDs and BWO.

We drove up to West Yellowstone Montana Tuesday and the Henry's Fork looks perfect, as did the Madison around Island Park and the Henry's Lake outlet. Gonna head up to the Henry's Fork again and spend some time fishing it. 

The fishing oportunities this year are a little thin but still enjoying the beautiful country here.  We'll be heading to Montana for a few days next week, really looking forward to it.  Will keep posting.

The trip west, Northern California and the Fishing

You ever have the dream were you're running and it's like slow motion or you're running in water, just can't seem to make any progress.  Well getting on the road and out of New York seemed like that.  One delay after another.  Now, however, seems a distant memory.  We made it to California almost a week ago and things are going good.  It's hot here, 100+ the last few days so we are adjusting to this.  We spent a few days in Redding checking out Lake Shasta and the Lassen Volcanic National Park, really beautiful here.



Wyoming Sky

Had the chance to stop in at The Fly Shop in Redding. Nice place and the sales person I talked to was full of info.  These guys seem to take alot of pride in their outfit.  I was pointed to the upper Sacramento River, above Shasta Lake.  As with most of the west this spring the water levels here are high and finding fishable water has been a challenge.  The lower Sac was high but the upper was in good shape.  Spent an evening on the upper Sac at Soda Creek.  Indi fished and picked up a few rainbows, nothing spectacular but it was good to finally get the fly rod out.  I would like to have tried the McCloud up there but just no time.





Lassen Volcano, Northern CA



We are in Vacaville, CA with some friends right now and will be heading to the Truckee tomorrow.  We'll be there for a couple days and then it's on to Idaho.  Tonight though, when the temps drop a bit I am planning to check out the Putah Creek, about 20 minutes from here.  It's a tailwater fishery so should be some good fishing.  Would like to hit a caddis hatch or PMD's, we'll see. 

I'll be posting regularly now as we are getting better adjusted here.  Once we get to Idaho we are set up in a house for a few weeks and things should settle down with alot more time on the water.

Hope you enjoy these pictures.  I'm going to try to put a slide show together here.