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.

Tight lines