The gauge at Pineville is 216 CFS at a release of 185 CFS. We are still dealing with low water conditions and there is no measurable rainfall forecast with in the next week. If you remember back to October 1, 2010 the Salmon River hit a historical flow at over 20,000 CFS. It's hard to imagine that but when I think back to that day it't kind of crazy.
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| Pineville boat launch at 20,000 cfs. |
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| Short Bridge at downtown Pulaski in 20,000 cfs. |
Since then we have had 3 seasons, including this one, were we have had to deal with low water conditions. Not being able to work out of a boat as a guide presents some challenges. One is that you are limited to river access. With the boat I am able to float from Pineville to 2A and have many opportunities to fish areas that receive little to no pressure, even in the peak of the salmon run. Now I am limited to areas I can walk into and sometimes that is limited by the physical ability of my clients to cover ground, most are out of shape and lack the endurance to walk great distances. I remember times 25-30 years ago when, do to low water conditions and we could not use the drift boat, we would leave a car at 2A and then drive a second car with clients to the Sportsman's Pool and make the 'death march' down to our waiting car at 2A.
The second challenge is carrying enough gear in with you to take care of anything that would come up. With the boat I have all that I would need and more.
And the third challenge is, if you client wants to keep salmon for the smoker, they need to be dragged out from the river. In the boat you float them out and no one is worse for the wear. On foot I always review the rules and rule #2 is that the client drags his own fish. (Rule #1 is that all foul hooked fish are released.)
As for the fishing, there are fish throughout the main river system. The tribs like Trout and Orwell Brook are in desperate need of water so the fish that are waiting to run these are stacking up the mouth of these creeks. Every morning these fish are picked off by opportunistic anglers, but each night these areas fill up again with fish. Some fish are setting up to spawn but unfortunately there are fish also setting up to spawn in the estuary now.
We need rain and need it badly. I'm not worried about the egg collection at the hatchery, they will get what they need. But there are upward of 60%-70% of the salmon that return each year that are wild fish, spawned and reared in the river and these are the fish we need here on a yearly basis. They are stronger, survive better than hatchery fish and are the early runners that we have come to depend on for our September fishery.If you are fly fishing, Deceivers, leeches and most bunny type flies will produce. I have had good success with a Slumber Buster on steroids tied on a #2 salmon hook. I use a tungsten cone head to eliminate weight on the line, but in these low water conditions sometime a non-weighted fly is all you're gonna need.
You might as well come up and give it a shot. As they say 'a bad day of fishing is better than a good day of work'.
Tight lines
