Salmon River report and local trout streams

As I write this the Salmon River flow is 810 cfs. at 500 cfs. release.  This is scheduled to run till Saturday evening.  The recent release over Labor Day saw salmon pushing into the river, Kings mainly with a few Coho in the mix.  The current increased flow can only encourage fish to continue to enter the river.  Another plus is the temperatures over night have been hovering in the 50's this past week or so, all good.  Most reports are focusing on the river from Pulaski down to the Douglaston, however, with the flows we have you will find decent numbers in any of the bigger pools from Sportsman down stream.  My moneys on the Birdhouse.  Tomorrow's full moon (Sept 8) means that the next full moon will see the salmon run peaking and will stay there for the week of October 8th.

18" Fish Creek brown trout.

Local streams are prime right now for big trout.  I have been spending a couple evenings a week on local streams and prior to dark the fishing is explosive.  I have been fishing only 1 fly for the past 2 weeks, size #18 Adams parachute and have been 'killing' them (not literally).  I have been landing 10- 12 trout in 30-40 minutes of fishing and loosing as many.  4-5 browns per outing are in the 16"-18" range.

Now is the time to make your way up here for salmon or trout.  Have a good season.

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Salmon River Labor Day weekend report

It's hard to focus these days.  Summer projects around the house seem to annoy me more than normal, the Delaware River guiding schedule seems to have lost some of it's appeal and I suddenly feel the urgent need to tie salmon flies.  The night time temperatures for the last week have been in the upper 40s/ low 50s, there is a noticeable changing of the color on more trees here and these have me distracted most of the time now.  It is the salmon run that occupies a lot of my thinking these days and I know that within the month I will be guiding clients again for salmon.

This weekend will 'unofficially' mark the beginning of the salmon season here for the Salmon River.  The reports from the lake are encouraging and the river will be up to a 750 cfs release this weekend.  I am giving serious thought to putting the drift boat in and making an exploratory run down to the ballpark, with my fly rod of course.  If I don't float I will definitely be wading some areas below Pineville looking for early runners pulled in by the cooler water temps and higher flows.

A vision of things soon to come.

Just a few things to keep in mind that may encourage you to visit this fall.  Fish for free days, there will be 2 this fall in New York.  September 23, 2017 will be a free day.  This is usually an annual date you can depend on as it runs in conjunction with the National Hunting and Fishing Day.  This also usually coincides with an open house at the Salmon River Hatchery in Altmar, NY.  There is always demos, informative lectures and activities for the kids at the hatchery, oh, and there will be salmon in the fish ladders to see by then.

The 2nd fish free day is Veteran's Day, November 11, 2017.

I have some good dates thought the end of September (a few) and October and November have some excellent dates available.  Give me a call or drop me a note, let's fish together this fall.

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Fish Creek, Mad River fishing report

Spent the last few evenings in these creeks fishing the last hour or so to dark.  Has been excellent using a parachute Adams size # 16.  Fished the other evening and never changed flies, landed well over a dozen nice fat, robust browns.

Fished the same stretch on Fish Creek 2 nights ago bringing 6 plus browns to the net I about 20 minutes, 2 over 18" using a size # 10 Iso comparadun. 

This has got to be the best time of the year to catch big browns.  They are aggressive and blow-up on the fly.  Saw a few Hex flying up stream the other night so the fishing is going to get better!

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Mid-summer report, local streams and Salmon River forecast

Yep, still here.  It's been awhile since last post but things keep moving forward.  Summers is moving faster than most of us prefer, then again, some of us are eagerly looking down the road into fall.  Here is a current update on the trout fishing on local streams.

After a lot of rain through most of this spring and early summer the creeks are down to their summer levels and have been for about the last 3 weeks.  This has translated into some excellent fishing. Fly hatches are great with very good BWO size 18-20, Light Cahill's and Sulphur's size 14-16 and Isos size 12 being the main stay for the late afternoon into evening angler. There are also some good caddis action on the smaller patterns size 18.  I am anxiously waiting for the annual Hex hatch here on a few of the local streams.  This hatch typically starts about now into September and is the hatch I look forward to all year.

Nice Delaware River brown trout.

Been working on the Delaware River quite regularly and the fishing is good.  Similar hatches as to the ones listed above.  The West Branch is fishing well although we did have a little color in the water last weekend due to some rain but streamer (small ones) worked and flies continued to hatch.  The Delaware River fishing should really start to pick up as we move on into September.  The fish seem to know winter is coming and they put the feed bag on.  We will see some excellent Iso fishing picking up through this time frame as well.

As for the Salmon River, you should make plans to be here now for Labor Day weekend.  The last release for the summer season is slated for the Saturday/ Sunday, September 2,3.  This will be a release of 750 cfs. and should pull a few salmon into the river.  As we approach the salmon run

Nice, early run Salmon River King

this year as always we have high hopes.  Last season was not a disappointment as the salmon came in good, steady numbers into the third week of October.  I am getting excited just typing this!

My schedule is booking good but it is still early and I have many good dates open for both salmon and steelhead later into November and December.

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Salmon River fishing report - fat lady singing

I have one more float scheduled for the 2017 spring steelhead season and it's timed just about perfect.  The last few weeks have seen good action on drop backs and with the water drop a little over a week ago things heated up.  There have been good numbers of steelhead in the upper river over this past week, most drop backs, however, there were still good numbers of spawners.  That was till yesterday, someone hit the switch and a large part of the upper river is void of fish.  There where areas holding a few pockets of fish but most fish appear to be below Pineville.  For my last float I am going to try to make the Pineville to 2A float work for my client.

Nice meat eating Delaware River brown.

After that I am guiding a few turkey hunts and then starting my Delaware River floats mid-May.  Reports from the Big-D are very good with streamers working well and this past weekend saw the surface activity begin in earnest.  Water temps and flows are good, temps pushing 60 degrees and flows are nice but slowly dropping.  I will be down 'pre' fishing a few days and am looking forward to getting on the East Branch.

Spring turkey season starts Monday, May 1 here in New York.  I can't wait.  I have a few trips booked through the month and have plans for my own hunts.  There are good numbers of turkeys around and even had a half dozen in my yard a couple days ago.  If you'd like a guided hunt or a float on the Delaware for big trout give me a call, I'm sure we can set something up.

I'll post again soon.

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Salmon River area report - early April 2017

The river pushed the 7000 cfs mark this past Friday as 'inches' of rain had been falling over several days last week.  Currently the controlled release is 1750 cfs with a gauge reading at Pineville of 2210 cfs.  Dry and warm weather is forecast for the next few days so we can expect the river to stabilize, if not drop even further.  Water clarity is good and getting better, and with virtually no more snow to melt we can expect temperatures to begin to climb.

The high water has done nothing to stop the steelhead in their spawning activities.  From here on out the fishing for post-spawn steelhead should start to heat up.  Right now it's hard to predict how long we will have good water into the future for good drop back fishing. 

Steelhead egg collection for this year was completed this past Wednesday, April 5, at the Salmon River Hatchery.  640 female steelhead were handled over 4 days resulting in 2.4 million eggs collected, exceeding the target collection of 2.15 million eggs.  These eggs will be raised in the hatchery for about a year, then released as yearlings.  Approximately 150,000 Skamania strain steelhead eggs were also collected.  Currently Lake Ontario received annual stockings of 497,000  Washington strain steelhead, 43,000 Skamania strain steelhead and 43,000 'domestic' rainbow trout.  All are released as yearlings.  We can look for their return in about 2 - 3 years from stocking.

Local Trout Fishing

The first week of trout season locally found streams blown out by several days of heavy rain.  As of Saturday these creeks have begun to recede and water clarity is very good and will continue to improve.  As the water warms we will see bugs start to show up and you can expect to see Hendricksons and Blue Quills initially.  Prior to the high water black stoneflies were showing up on the surface, #10,12 patterns would match the size and the nymphs for these should work as well.  For gear anglers live minnows, spinners and the standard garden worm will work well as water drops.

Central New York spring turkey hunting forecast

Nice spring gobbler shot on Public Land

Spring turkey season is fast approaching, beginning May 1 here in New York.  Locally turkey have been in strutting mode for about 6 weeks now and looks like things are heating up.  We seem to have had good recruitment and winter survival as I have been eyeing several large flock around home here.  I am still booking spring hunts and have some good dates through out the month.  If you would like to try it, give me a call.

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Saturday's the day - NY state trout opener

In the past week or so around New York state you have probably noticed people, guys mainly, standing on bridges looking at water, myself included.  Saturday, April 1 is the state wide trout opener and I like many others are eagerly waiting for this rite of spring.  For as long as I can remember, fishing the opening day of trout season has been a mile-marker in my year.
I grew up near a small creek in north-central Pennsylvania and as I remember, I would stand on the bridge below my house and stare at the creek, envisioning myself hooking a limit of trout on the opening day, and everyday after that. 

Nice brown, not big, but it will do.

The weeks before the opener would find me in the local department store's sporting good section looking at fishing tackle, wishing I had a some money in my pocket.  Of course, I had equipment to get the job done.  I had a nice Fenwick glass rod and a Plueger Medalist reel, some cheap fly line and a roll of monofilament for leader.  I was a fly tyer so I had a box full of flies I had been working on through the winter.  I wasn't real savvy about fly hatches and the such, but I knew my soft hackle wet flies and a hand full of streamers would work for me on opening day.

These days I have more tackle and such that now the challenge is which rod and reel to go with.  I am more savvy about fly hatches now but I would bet real money that I will be fishing with soft hackle wet flies and a handful of streamers come Saturday morning.

I am betting that I am not alone in this spring tradition.  Things in a persons life like the opening day of trout season, are the things that give some balance to a persons life in a world that has basically gone crazy.  Saturday morning will find my head empty of politics, social unrest, terrorism and even the anxiety that comes from making a living for my wife and I.  Peace will be enjoyed for a few brief hours.  I hope you find peace too.

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