Steelhead report and more



Brand spankin new, ain't she a beauty

 First the big news, the Pineville bridge is open.  Looks like it will last a while.  Sure will make traveling around the river alot easier.  Secondly and just as important, we have water.  At Pineville gauge right now 1110cfs.  It's a new world out there for boating and wading.  The fish seem to like it too.

The steelhead are well distributed through out the river.  The Pineville to 2A stretch is fishing great.  We are able to find fish most places we throw a line.  The fish so far have been dime bright, very little color showing.  Have had good success on glo bugs in Oregon Cheese with a cherise dot and chartruse with a cherise dot.  Also tie a few in light blue yarn with a cherise dot and have had success with that works too.  Because of the success with glo bugs I haven't really focused on trout beads alot but word from the river is they are working good,  try some 12mil beads, alot of guys are doing good with these.  Blue egg sacks are still producing good as well.


Mark Ullman with a fresh steelhead 10/27/2011



Looking for something to  do next Saturday, November 5? If you're in Erie, Pennsylvania check out the Steelhead Expo.  It looks like it is primarily focused on the Lake Erie fishery but should be interesting.  It runs from 1pm to 9pm and there will be some major venders there with their new product.  Click on the '"expo" above to check it out.

One last observation from the rowing seat, it was cold today, no rain or snow, but cold, late November type cold.  Time to be thinking about warmth and wading safety.  Nothing can make a day miserable like cold hands and feet.  Time to put away the stocking foot waders and pull out the boot foots.  Also, wear you korker or studded boots, felts will freeze on you and be very dangerous to wade in.  I know I don't need to tell you that, just a reminder.

Salmon River Steelhead Report



Weldon Walshe with a chrome steelie, 2nd cast of the day. 
10/22/2011



Have spent the last few day targeting steelhead and have not been disapointed.  More numbers daily but still have to find them.  I have found chrome in most of the traditional areas but not all areas holding day to day.  This means that they are on the move and need to see the runs increase.  The upper area of the river, Altmar to Pineville, is producing more consistantly.  This is early in the run for steelhead so as we move into November I expect the numbers to increase through out the river.  Also, still alot of salmon, most are looking a little beat up, but have landed a few fresh, clean kings in the last few days

We are getting fish (steelhead) and many are good sized fish.  We hooked, and lost, a brute yesterday.  I did get a couple good looks at it and I would guess it to be in the 14 -16 lbs range, would have liked to have slid the net under it.

We have had best success on blue egg sacks.  Tried beads and flies with some success but eggs are the ticket on these fresh steelhead, blue eggs.  Have picked a few on pink and chartruse, but blue is tops right now.



Good selectoin of egg patterns, need to hit the tying bench.



Fly patterns to use are Glo bugs in Oregon Cheese with either pink or roe dot, solid cherise and solid orange roe.  Sucker spawn (the fly) is also a good choice.  I also do well with a purple estaz fly tied with a short chartruse poly tail and a set of bead chain eyes. The same estaz pattern tied in butterscotch estaz with a red or bright orange poly tail works good too. All my fly fishing right now is indicator fishing although I'd guess that swinging an Intruder or a Moal Leech would work on these fresh fish.  Getting good results with indies fly fishing the head of runs in fast, oxygenated water.  Lastly, for both spinning and fly fishing I am using 6-8 lb test florocarbon P-Lines. 

The rowing seat is a great place to be this time of year.  If you want to fish from the seats in front of or behind the rowing seat, give me a call.

Salmon River fishing report



Christa Marx with a nice Chinook salmon 10/17/2011



In a word, awesome!  Since last Wednesday  there has been a steady run of fresh salmon into the river and as of yesterday, Monday, the run still continues.  Yesterday, as always, floated with clients from Pineville to 2A bridge and there are literally salmon everywhere. Fished with Austin and Christa Marx and had a excellent day.  This was Christa's first time salmon fishing and she ended the day with 7 salmon landed and probably as many hooked and lost.  Austin landed 8 Kings and lost twice as many.  Most of the spawning areas are heavy with fresh spawning salmon and there is also the constant movement of new fish throughout this stretch of river.  There is word, however, that the influx of new salmon into the lower river is done.  This would mean that the run has peaked and will get no better than it is now.  With the fish that have entered the river in the last week we should see some great salmon fishing to the first of November.  Also, yesterday's float saw VERY few anglers. Except for the Sportsman areas, there was hardly a soul to be seen.  Also only crossed paths with two other drift boats. 



Weldon Walshe with a Salmon River steelhead. 10/15/2010



As for the rest of the river upstream from Pineville, there are plenty of salmon and you will find that most anglers and guides are in this portion of the river (easy access, low water). 

The steelhead fishing is also turning on.  We have hit several in the past week and I have been seeing other anglers landing steelhead.  As for my schedule I will be running my first float targeting steelhead on this Friday.  I will be fishing with a father/son returning after two great days of steelhead fishing same time last fall.
The predictions on the steelhead fishing this fall is to be exceptional.  I have some good dates open through November and December if you'd like to get together for some great chrome fishing.



Austin and Christa with 2 Salmon River Kings 10/17/2011



Salmon River fishing report - salmon run

Sorry it's been so long since last post.  Guide work is busy and 3:45 am wake up the last 2 weeks has left me a little tired.  But here's what's happening as of yesterdays float trip.

There is no lack of fish but most of the fish are located above the Sportsman's hole to Altmar.  Below the Sportsman's yesterday was slim pickin's.  The word I got below the 2A bridge sounded like there were a few salmon moving up, but no large numbers.  Sunday, Sept 25, I saw the first spawning activity this fall and in the week and 1/2 since the salmon are spawning full bore, beds everywhere you'd expect them to be.  There has been little rain here so water is still low, 426cfs at pineville.   This means that spawning salmon feel are vulnerable AND shy.  I've been using #10 florocarbon to at least get near the fish.  We're having some cooler temps so I'd expect the water to continue to cool down, it has dropped temperature 10 degrees since this past weekend.  This will translate into steady movement of fish into the river and we should see more steelhead entering now.  Speaking of steelhead, we had our first  one on for the season this past Saturday, didn't land it, but was nice to see chrome!



Tube fly patterns



A couple of posts back I said that the run does not peak till the full moon, so I'd look for the run to peak around the middle of next week, just  after Columbus Day.

We've been using basically egg sucking leeches in both tradition fly and tube fly patterns.  In the past few days, due to fishing pressure, the darker colors are producing better but at first light on bedded male salmon the bright colors work very good, till the sun (what sun ???) gets high.  Here are some of the fly patterns I am using.  I like hot beads!

On salmon fly hooks, I like the top left leech w/tungsten cone

Salmon fishing will be good till about the third week of October.  I will post again in a few days.

Salmon River Update

Been on the river a few times since last post.  Not a lot of movement mid river but that is changing as I type.  Has been a good movement of salmon into the river in the last day or two.  The cooler temperatures at night with some cold rain we had last Thursday have sparked this movement.  These fish should be in Pineville area by tonight or tomorrow.  We will be getting more rain tomorrow, Tuesday and should see more fish entering the river.  The fishing off shore in the lake has been good and these fish will be entering the river SOON.  

The water flow at Pineville gauge is just under 400cfs, about normal for this time of the year.  Don't expect it to increase anytime soon as no major rain fall is in the foreseeable future. Still plenty of water for good fish movement and enough to float a drift boat.  Some have asked about floating with 3 clients plus the guide, unfortunately with this water flow 2 clients is the limit.  If the flows push above 750cfs 3 clients is no problem in the boat.

As usual I will be fishing the Pineville to 2A bridge section this fall for both salmon and steelhead.  Even during the peak of the salmon run the crowds are minimal and there is plenty of both open water and fish.  Actually some of the best salmon and steehead water is in this stretch.  I have a few excellent dates for salmon open in early October and plenty of good steelhead dates from October 20 to the end of December.


Well worn foot path along the Salmon River

 
Walking along the river this time of year is very enjoyable.  The fall season is taking hold and the leaves are starting to change colors now.  The smell of fish is in the air (sometimes not a pleasant smell). The fishing is quiet right now but seeing fishermen standing in the river fishing is like a notice that something is about to happen. 

One feature of the Salmon River is the foot paths that run up and down both sides of most of it's length.  These are well wore after 40 years of use, some as deep as a foot and if this fishery vanished tomorrow you could still walk these path 50 years from now.  I always think of the thousands of anglers who walked these paths and left their own impression in the banks here.  Some of these paths look almost cathedral like.

I'll be fishing regularly now and will post as the run progresses.  Keep your line tight.



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.