RandyJones
12-03-2008, 01:46 PM
Salmon River Steelhead, Pulaski, NY
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The fishing has been reeeeealllly good for myself and others!
My guest's have been averaging around a dozen Steelhead each day. Some shore anglers our hitting them real good while other's are working for them. I'm finding fish in every spot that I fish. I'm fishing both transitional spots as well as Winter holding pools.
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Transitional spots are where the fish stop and rest for a short period, to all day, while they are transitioning up the river. But the current break (Also see below 1-3) is not good enouph to hold them there for any longer.
A Winter holding pool is a quality current break (for this water flow) that supplies the fish with everything it needs to survive for an extended period of time.
1. Food
2. Quality current break to conserve energy (Shelter)
3. Safety from predator's
We need the exact same thing as the fish to survive :)
-
The fish holding in the Winter lyes are getting their Winter colors (darkening up) and the transitional fish are dime bright. In many cases the Winter fish are more educated than the Tran. fish. This is due to most anglers fishing the prime Winter holding pools that are easily accessible to them. (Fishing pressure) If you dont mind walking aways thru the snow you can find some less educated Winter fish.
We are finding fish top to bottom of river in all the normal places.
There are a number of spot's where they are stacked up!
All presentational techniques are working with varying degrees of success. Same with what you are offering the fish to eat.
I'd obviously recommend coming up with the quality fishing we are finding now. It should remain good all Winter into the Spring at this rate.
The fishing to me is almost as good as last year. And last year, as many of you know, was one of the best since the early 90's late 80's :)
Best Fish's,
Randy
-
Mail Bag:
Hi Randy,
I have been planning to make trips up to the salmon R for probably 8 to 10 yrs and havent made it yet. I hit 18 mile creek a couple of times right around this time of yr...but am interested in getting knowledgable enough to make annual trips up to the Salmon R (about half the drive). I have all the gear (7-10 fly rods & flies).
I am interested in getting a handle on where, how to fish the Salmon from shore in areas where I can wade fish without killing myself (58 yrs old, in pretty good shape but my knee joints have some wear and tear)
Any suggestions on areas I could target? If you have some good ideas on locations to point me at and think I would benefit from scheduling in some time with you, please advise. Are weekdays much better (crowdwise) than weekends? Any insight/recommendations will be greatly appreciated. Thanks - Randy
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Hi Randy,
Any place where there is a bridge or road crossing the river. Any place where there is a road that runs along the river. They also have a number of public parking area's adjacent to some of the holes. A map would show you these area's nicely. I'd start there.
Weekdays are the way to go!
Happy Hook'n,
Randy
---
Fish Fighting Techniques for Steelhead:
Yes, that's me with the stupid looking hat and the spinning rod.
The first thing I did upon hooking up was to immediately get even or below the fish. This tires the fish out sooner by knocking it off balance and causing it to work harder to stay upright. (An exception to this would be if there was very fast water (drop in the river), deep hole that you can not get around, snags or anything below you that might cause the fish to break you off. Then I would stay a little above the fish)
(For all pictures please see http://www.yankeeangler.com)
I see 95% of the angler's on this river never really load their rod properly when fighting a fish. This is totally understandable (as with everything else :) because if you've never been told or learned much of this, then it's all new. I certainly didnt know much of this when I was new and I still don't know it all. :) Most angler's only pull back 1/4 to 1/2 way back. In the above photo I am about 3/4 of the way back with the rod. Before I stop pulling back, the rod is pointed directly behind me with the rod horizontal and next to my ear. The butt (very bottom) of the rod is pointed at the far bank. It's hammer time!
By holding your rod upside down with rod tip in the water the fish will normally, slowly and quietly come in without much fuss. By keeping it's head under the water the fish feel's much more comfortable and tends not to freak out. This at times can also be used as a stalling tactic. You will notice some of the more experienced Salmon River anglers inverting their rod shortly after the hook up. This greatly increases the odds for the fish to remain in the hole-pool and not speed off down river. It also helps by hopefully controlling the fish's attitude. Keeping it from thrashing around and breaking off.
(For pictures, please see Web-site)
The above is an example on how many Steelhead are lost with the rod tip up. (If snag's or strong current's are around you then this would be the correct way) Notice the splash? Miss Steelhead did not like it when I pulled her head out of the water. Many fish are lost-broken off at this point.
If you listen to the fish it will pretty much tell you at what angle to hold your rod. If the fish is on the other side of the river I always hold my tip high. If I held it low then the full amount of the rivers current would put an awful lot of additional pressure on my line and tippet as it bow's. Many times resulting in breaking the fish off. If the fish is approx. from the middle of the river towards me then I always hold my rod tip just off the surface of the water down low. (Providing I dont have any real fast currents or snags.)
(For pictures, please see Web-site)
The funniest thing about this picture and the above photo was as I was playing the fish. Anytime I had my rod tip up I lost total control over the fish. It pretty much went anywhere it wanted to. It also took much longer to tire it out. But, as soon as I put the tip low (down and dirty) or in the water. It came straight in at me. This lower rod position combined with standing below the fish will put approx. 3 times more pressure on the fish when it is within 60 feet or so. Tiring it out sooner and gaining much more control over the fish.
When reeling in the fish with the tip up:
There are 2 things wrong with the previous sentence.
#1. I will sometimes hold my rod upside down with tip in water when bringing in a steelhead. Fish don't breath air and with tip up it feel's as if (which you are) trying to pull it's head out of the water. This creates a havoc, wrecking ball of nerves that sometimes ends with fish off. I breathe air, so if you put my head under the water you can be assured I would not be happy. (Same with the fish) By holding your rod upside down with rod tip in the water the fish normally will slowly and quietly (within reason) come in without much fuss.
#2 Whenever targeting large species of fish the rod becomes a flexible lever. We never reel the fish in; we PULL the fish in. The reel is only used to recover slack line. Pull-up, reel-down. Now combine #1 with #2 and by George, you've got it!
(For pictures, please see Web-site)
Nice lil 7lb Female Steelhead along with my Elmer Fud Hat. Whirrs that cwazy wabbit!
--
All of us (the local economy) who benefit from this fine fishing would like to "Thank you all" for spending your valuable fishing dollar's here :)
-
I hope all of my complementary past, present and future reports, tips, articles, pictures and ramblings entertains and keeps you safe while helping you in your Steelhead quest! Sharing this free info. with you has and always will be my personal pleasure.
As always, my (Our) prayers and hopes go out for a safe stay and return home for all of our service men and women who are fighting over sea's and who also visit my site on a regular basis. Thanks to all of you who have used my guide services in the past, refer trips to me and to anyone who stops by and spends their valuable internet fishing time here. :)
Best Fish's,
Randy
For more Reports, Pics, Tips, Ramblings, Articles, to entertain and hopefully help you to catch more fish, please see Fishing Reports @ http://www.yankeeangler.com
A Reel-Time Sponsor
-
The fishing has been reeeeealllly good for myself and others!
My guest's have been averaging around a dozen Steelhead each day. Some shore anglers our hitting them real good while other's are working for them. I'm finding fish in every spot that I fish. I'm fishing both transitional spots as well as Winter holding pools.
-
Transitional spots are where the fish stop and rest for a short period, to all day, while they are transitioning up the river. But the current break (Also see below 1-3) is not good enouph to hold them there for any longer.
A Winter holding pool is a quality current break (for this water flow) that supplies the fish with everything it needs to survive for an extended period of time.
1. Food
2. Quality current break to conserve energy (Shelter)
3. Safety from predator's
We need the exact same thing as the fish to survive :)
-
The fish holding in the Winter lyes are getting their Winter colors (darkening up) and the transitional fish are dime bright. In many cases the Winter fish are more educated than the Tran. fish. This is due to most anglers fishing the prime Winter holding pools that are easily accessible to them. (Fishing pressure) If you dont mind walking aways thru the snow you can find some less educated Winter fish.
We are finding fish top to bottom of river in all the normal places.
There are a number of spot's where they are stacked up!
All presentational techniques are working with varying degrees of success. Same with what you are offering the fish to eat.
I'd obviously recommend coming up with the quality fishing we are finding now. It should remain good all Winter into the Spring at this rate.
The fishing to me is almost as good as last year. And last year, as many of you know, was one of the best since the early 90's late 80's :)
Best Fish's,
Randy
-
Mail Bag:
Hi Randy,
I have been planning to make trips up to the salmon R for probably 8 to 10 yrs and havent made it yet. I hit 18 mile creek a couple of times right around this time of yr...but am interested in getting knowledgable enough to make annual trips up to the Salmon R (about half the drive). I have all the gear (7-10 fly rods & flies).
I am interested in getting a handle on where, how to fish the Salmon from shore in areas where I can wade fish without killing myself (58 yrs old, in pretty good shape but my knee joints have some wear and tear)
Any suggestions on areas I could target? If you have some good ideas on locations to point me at and think I would benefit from scheduling in some time with you, please advise. Are weekdays much better (crowdwise) than weekends? Any insight/recommendations will be greatly appreciated. Thanks - Randy
-
Hi Randy,
Any place where there is a bridge or road crossing the river. Any place where there is a road that runs along the river. They also have a number of public parking area's adjacent to some of the holes. A map would show you these area's nicely. I'd start there.
Weekdays are the way to go!
Happy Hook'n,
Randy
---
Fish Fighting Techniques for Steelhead:
Yes, that's me with the stupid looking hat and the spinning rod.
The first thing I did upon hooking up was to immediately get even or below the fish. This tires the fish out sooner by knocking it off balance and causing it to work harder to stay upright. (An exception to this would be if there was very fast water (drop in the river), deep hole that you can not get around, snags or anything below you that might cause the fish to break you off. Then I would stay a little above the fish)
(For all pictures please see http://www.yankeeangler.com)
I see 95% of the angler's on this river never really load their rod properly when fighting a fish. This is totally understandable (as with everything else :) because if you've never been told or learned much of this, then it's all new. I certainly didnt know much of this when I was new and I still don't know it all. :) Most angler's only pull back 1/4 to 1/2 way back. In the above photo I am about 3/4 of the way back with the rod. Before I stop pulling back, the rod is pointed directly behind me with the rod horizontal and next to my ear. The butt (very bottom) of the rod is pointed at the far bank. It's hammer time!
By holding your rod upside down with rod tip in the water the fish will normally, slowly and quietly come in without much fuss. By keeping it's head under the water the fish feel's much more comfortable and tends not to freak out. This at times can also be used as a stalling tactic. You will notice some of the more experienced Salmon River anglers inverting their rod shortly after the hook up. This greatly increases the odds for the fish to remain in the hole-pool and not speed off down river. It also helps by hopefully controlling the fish's attitude. Keeping it from thrashing around and breaking off.
(For pictures, please see Web-site)
The above is an example on how many Steelhead are lost with the rod tip up. (If snag's or strong current's are around you then this would be the correct way) Notice the splash? Miss Steelhead did not like it when I pulled her head out of the water. Many fish are lost-broken off at this point.
If you listen to the fish it will pretty much tell you at what angle to hold your rod. If the fish is on the other side of the river I always hold my tip high. If I held it low then the full amount of the rivers current would put an awful lot of additional pressure on my line and tippet as it bow's. Many times resulting in breaking the fish off. If the fish is approx. from the middle of the river towards me then I always hold my rod tip just off the surface of the water down low. (Providing I dont have any real fast currents or snags.)
(For pictures, please see Web-site)
The funniest thing about this picture and the above photo was as I was playing the fish. Anytime I had my rod tip up I lost total control over the fish. It pretty much went anywhere it wanted to. It also took much longer to tire it out. But, as soon as I put the tip low (down and dirty) or in the water. It came straight in at me. This lower rod position combined with standing below the fish will put approx. 3 times more pressure on the fish when it is within 60 feet or so. Tiring it out sooner and gaining much more control over the fish.
When reeling in the fish with the tip up:
There are 2 things wrong with the previous sentence.
#1. I will sometimes hold my rod upside down with tip in water when bringing in a steelhead. Fish don't breath air and with tip up it feel's as if (which you are) trying to pull it's head out of the water. This creates a havoc, wrecking ball of nerves that sometimes ends with fish off. I breathe air, so if you put my head under the water you can be assured I would not be happy. (Same with the fish) By holding your rod upside down with rod tip in the water the fish normally will slowly and quietly (within reason) come in without much fuss.
#2 Whenever targeting large species of fish the rod becomes a flexible lever. We never reel the fish in; we PULL the fish in. The reel is only used to recover slack line. Pull-up, reel-down. Now combine #1 with #2 and by George, you've got it!
(For pictures, please see Web-site)
Nice lil 7lb Female Steelhead along with my Elmer Fud Hat. Whirrs that cwazy wabbit!
--
All of us (the local economy) who benefit from this fine fishing would like to "Thank you all" for spending your valuable fishing dollar's here :)
-
I hope all of my complementary past, present and future reports, tips, articles, pictures and ramblings entertains and keeps you safe while helping you in your Steelhead quest! Sharing this free info. with you has and always will be my personal pleasure.
As always, my (Our) prayers and hopes go out for a safe stay and return home for all of our service men and women who are fighting over sea's and who also visit my site on a regular basis. Thanks to all of you who have used my guide services in the past, refer trips to me and to anyone who stops by and spends their valuable internet fishing time here. :)
Best Fish's,
Randy
For more Reports, Pics, Tips, Ramblings, Articles, to entertain and hopefully help you to catch more fish, please see Fishing Reports @ http://www.yankeeangler.com
A Reel-Time Sponsor