Salmon River Steelhead

[MNJoe]

Hello!
I'm heading out to Pulaski for late winter Steelhead on Sunday with a co-worker. Though I'm an avid and (I hope) moderately proficient trout fisherman (i.e. 4-weight, 5x), I'm totally new to the Steelhead situation.

Anybody have advise as far as:
+The Salmon River
+Patterns
+Tech
+Misc

Help Appreciated! Ask me about the Miller's or Deerfield...(or Horn Pond if you live near Winchy-).

Thanks so!

joe

[Thunder Rod]

First timer?

River Flow rate: (Keep an eye on the weather and hope for 850 CFS or less): http://www.h2oline.com/365123.asp

Informative links:

http://janz.dreamhost.com/SalmonRiver.html

http://www.yankeeangler.com/FishingReport.html

http://www.salmoncrazy.com/

http://steelheadsite.com/reports/new_york/

That should get you going.

Any local tackle shop will sell you patterns to use, but sometimes I think the steelies will mouth just about anything out of curiosity or if they are hungry. The key is in getting a natural presentation down deep in front of their noses. But if you throw a few $$ down on some gear in any shop, they'll slide some recommendations your way. Get a map of the river that show's the popular holes. Most shops have them. Can't help you with flyfishing technique as I usually use a float fishing technique, (and will sometimes bottom bounce egg sacks). Don't discount the use of a noodle rod and some egg sacks (or even night crawlers) if the fishing is tough.

Good Luck, I'm hoping to get out there again in April...

You can e-mail me at: Thunder_Rod@yahoo.com if you have further questions.

Where are you staying?

-John-

[Jim Miller]

What Thunder Rod said is all good!
I would add.....that at this time of the year you need to be on or very near the bottom....the fish will be reluctant to move for a fly. I'd use small nymphs (stone flys & caddis...size 12-16) and maybe sucker spawn imitations (yarn flies). Streamers to imitate Chinook smolt work also. Fish can be anywhere....from the deep pools to gravel areas (some are starting to spawn). Take your time and work it like a trout stream....it will suprise you how small a pocket, a big steelie will abide in! Good luck and let us know how you make out!
18lb March steelie from a few years back......and a couple others :-%

[ChuckD]

I went last February for the first time. It was similar freezing temps. to what we have right now. Flow was decent(not too low and not too high). Fished the Douglaston Run which is pretty much the first wadable stretch upstream of the lake. I got skunked but my buddy hooked one steelie, fought it for 5 minutes before it shook off, and landed one decent brown. Some other guys fishing next to us landed one steelie and one beautiful brown.
If there are fish running fresh out of the lake this is where they will come through first as they make their way upriver. You have to pay $10(off-season rate) to fish this area but it does keep the #s of anglers down a bit and they have a big parking lot and decent trails to access their pools(some of which may be closed due to ice danger especially those closer to the lake). They also require stream cleats at this time of year but believe me you want them. You can check for all updates, location, flies, etc... on this stretch at this website:
http://www.douglastonsalmonrun.com/conditions.asp

Bring tons of layers, especially wool(stays warm even if god forbid you take a swim like I did last year). I recommend some of those shake-n-bake hand warmers, toe warmers, and even one for the back of the neck. A thermos of hot liquid would be a nice call too.

Good luck and let us know how you did.

[Thunder Rod]

Geez Jim, looking a bit psychotic there, aren't ya? Do you always get that Jack Nicolson "Heeeeeere's Johnny..." look when you land a steelie? If so, I imagine other fishermen give you plenty of fishing space at least...
;)


See what chasing chromers in sub-zero degree weather can do to a man's sanity!? (#$119)
(so don't forget your meds!) :-%

That the Altmar Bridge behind the Cowboy's hat? (or the High Bridge?)

[Jim Miller]

Altmar bridge....hooked the fish in the Cemetary pool and landed him below the Bridge....he made me run a little! --123-3

Now to the second topic
The steelies don't make me crazy........I'm always that way! (#$119)
Catching one ALWAYS puts a smile on my mug!

[ANeary]

I may be heading up next week for Friday Saturday myself. I will be using a 6 weight rod with running line. I use an 8 foot leader of 8 lbs with 4 foot tippet normally 4 - 6 lbs. I like high sticking / dead drift with nymphs. I have had good luck with naturals this time of year, hares ears, pheasent tails and stone flies, princes etc. They have really gooMost of the flies i use will be sizes from 12 - 18's. Its really the same as winter trout fishing, fish deep, fish the bellys of pools and the tailouts, seams. I will switch up with wooly buggers on occassion, caught a small brown of about 6 lbs last year on one. I love douglaston but you have to make sure its not slushed over, really depends temps. Good luck.

[MNJoe]

Thanks guys! We're staying at the 1880 right in town - fishing the Douglaston a bit, then I think maybe higher up?

I'll report back straight-away Monday night. Man! I have the jitters already!!

[dlangan]

If/once you have the confidence you are doing things right, then think of finding steelies as an easter egg hunt.... The distribution of fish is anthing but uniform along the river. Don't be afraid to move around a bit. Severl good areas were mentioned. I'll add i you are told the Sportman's Hole has fish - consider going in on the back side from rt 13. If the hole itself is crowded the stretch below it produces well :-)

[MNJoe]

Ahhh, winter on the Salmon River. Well, we didn't catch any steelies, but on the plus side it was cold, snowy/rainy, and really windy!

Actually, it was really great. Though we didn't catch any, there were two plusses:
1. Nobody was catching - even the guides we talked to were pretty much skunked. Makes you feel a little better as an amateur, I guess, though I would've loved to have seen somebody land one.
2. I did get to spend about 90 minutes stalking a 25 incher in the mouth of trout creek. Down on my belly in 3 feet of snow - that's my kind of fishing!! It was great. The only problem, I was totally unprepared for that kind of work. My buddy and I ended up tag-teaming him for about 20 minutes - one of the smartest fish I've ever seen. We must've put a dozen different treats in front of him, and I swear he'd just cock his head and look at us like we were idiots. Pretty great!

Only saw one other fish, but he was under a tree overhanging a cutbank, and again not terribly interested in coming out.

Great river - thanks again for your help guys! I can't wait to get back out.

joe

[ANeary]

Sounds like fun MNjoe, I was going to head up tomorrow evening for a long weekend but decided to postpone for a week. I have found if you can be flexible and time your trip to good water flow 350 -750 cfs and a warming trend things tend to turn on pretty quickly. If you can time it and the water temp goes up a couple degrees, hang on. I'll post when I head up next weekend.

[Thunder Rod]

We've been hitting the spring run the last couple of years in April. You can hit a few freshies coming in and/or the starving, post spawn "dark -n- uglies" heading back down...not to mention the occasional brown...

A couple years ago we got it perfect as a warming trend hit the day we arrived, just as the river was being brought down to 750 and below. My fishing pal and I landed 11 steelies and a couple browns combined between the two of us on a long weekend.

But last year was just the opposite. High water and chilly weather had spring coming in late and the steelies were late on the beds. I only landed one 8-lber all weekend...(and a sh-tload of creek chubs!)

Anyway, I think we'll be heading back up around mid-April this year, depending on conditions. We'll likely stay at the Portly Angler...