Wednesday, July 17, 2013

A little trout fishing through a heat wave

The Redfield boat ramp, lots of water.
It's officially a heat wave, three days in a row over 90 degrees.  That make 8 days this summer so far over 90, last year we had 28 days over 90.  It's all relative cause 90 with humidity is HOT.  It wont last long, we're past mid-July and that means in about 7 weeks we'll be chasing salmon around the river again, can't wait.  The next full  moon in August will bring us to with in two months of the salmon runs peak.  We have had good rains up to this point in the Salmon River water shed.  I took a drive up to Redfield two nights ago and the reservoir is in great shape, nice and full, at least full pool. 

The local streams on the other hand are getting low.  The Salmon River is running 650cfs at Pineville and the release is 500cfs.  Pretty nice flows for the middle of July.  It's sure to help the summer run steelhead live a little more comfortably.  The smallmouth fishing in the river is still nice, lots of cooperative fish.  Also, Oneida Lake is starting to turn on for smallies.  Drifting in 8'-10' of water working the edge of rock piles, shoals or under water points gets the smallies.  If the are weeds near by, all the better.

Late evening brown on a brown x-caddis.
I've fished the Mad River and Fish Creek this past week, LOW water.  The trout are feeding after dark due to the heat.  I have had a few takers before dark, few being the word that best describes the action.  But a few are better than none.   The old traditionals, BWO sparkle dun and hi-vis Adams are not doing the job.  The picture shows a brown that fell for a brown x-caddis #12 and all the trout in the past week have been on that fly.  They take it hard, probably hungry by late evening.  All these trout are strong and healthy.

Still a few drakes hanging around.
There are a few Green drakes hanging around.  Not much of any thing else on the water though.  I am anticipating the Hex hatch to start in about 4 weeks here on the local streams, always a highlight of summer for me.

 The Hex hatch marks the transition for me from stream fishing for trout to Salmon River fishing for the fall/winter season.  My drift boat is all ready to go, no last minute prep this year.  Now I am prepping rods, reels and line.  Check the fly boxes, boat gear and terminal tackle.

Salmon trips have been booking nicely and late Sept and 2/3 of October is booked.  Looking forward to fish with some old clients and a few new ones this year.  If you are interested in booking a guided trip this fall for salmon or steelhead give me a shout, I'd be happy to accommodate you if I can.

Enjoy the rest of your summer.

Tight lines.


Thursday, July 4, 2013

Salmon River report mid-summer

A lone angler with Ellis Cove all to himself.  A rarity here
9 months out of the year.  Water flow here is at 300cfs.
The summer to this point has been a mixed bag of weather with most of the bag full of rain.  Thirty days in June and nineteen of them rain days.  A little over a week ago the Salmon River was pushing 3000cfs in anticipation of some heavy rains forecast, in the Tug Hill water shed this rain never developed the way it did to the south of us.  As I type this the river release is 1000cfs with the Pineville gauge at 1130cfs.  Yesterday the gauge struggled to hit 300cfs.  If you are a kayaker come on out and have some fun, this flow should hang around for the weekend to accomodate 4th of July vacationers.  The forecast for the next week is more of the same, hazy, hot and humid...and rain.


Fish these and hold on, smallies crush 'em.
If you are interested in fishing the Salmon River right now you can have a lot of fun with smallmouth bass.  They are eager to play and are never disappointing.  If you are fly fishing swing a deep fly like a cone-head wooly bugger, MOAL leech or a nice wool-head sculpin pattern.  Fish these in a size 6 or 8 and work the fast water at the head of runs like the Long Bridge, Compactor, Bird House or Sportsman Pool.  I fish these type patterns with a 7wt fly rod and Rio indicator line.  Run a straight 10lb test P-Line Floro-clear leader at 7' and tie on a 6lb test P-Line florocarbon tippet.

These smallies are also a lot of fun on an ultra-lite spinning outfit.  Run 6lb test and Mepps, Panther Martins and small Rapalas will work great.  Same deal, fish them through the fast water at the head of a run, instant fun!  The water temp is mild and great for wet wading.  A word of caution, wear your wading boots, the river is full of sharp pointy things that have been left there by countless anglers over the past 40 plus years.  Oh, and bug spray, don't forget bug spray.
Navagational hazzard at the head of Frazier's Run.  Get the
chain saws.  I can see a drift boat trying to get through the
right side with 50 salmon fishers standing there come September.

The local streams like the Fish Creek, Mad River and the Salmon River above Redfield are fishing nice with plenty of good water to keep the bugs coming and the trout and happy.  Area rivers like the West Canada Creek and Mohawk River have been impacted more by the rains so far and are hard to fish with the high water or, as with the West Canada Creek right now, un-fishable being at flood stage as recently as yesterday.  Be careful out there.

The graphs for Delaware River system looks like a roller coaster track and at present are at good fishable levels.  The problem is that the West Branch is susceptible to mudding up fast and if the tribs that feed the East Branch are muddy then so is the EB. 

Enjoy your summer.

Tight lines