Salmon River–salmon fishing over the past week has been disappointing to say the least. Earlier in the week, Conditions were starting to look promising. We had salmon staging in the estuary and little pushes of fish each morning. This activity quickly died out earlier this week. As of now there are conflicting reports about salmon staging in the estuary, not sure what story to believe. We are back to covering a lot of water for a bite or two in the lower river. The Salmon fishing is definitely not as it should be for this Time of the a year. I think as many Coco salmon have come in to the river as Chinook salmon. The Coho Salmon are moving through the river so fast that they hardly taking time to stop and bite a fly. The fly zones for now are the only saving grace. Salmon are starting to concentrate in the main pools of both the upper and lower fly-fishing zones.  Along with the salmon, there is an occasional steelhead being hooked. As for steelhead, we are starting to see a few more fish each day, Still not a lot of fish but if a few. The good news is that reports coming from the lake are still positive. Looks like we are dealing with grumpy and stubborn salmon, nothing that we have not experienced before.  As always conditions can in will change quickly. Water flows for now remain at a constant 335 CFS. Hopefully the rains that are predicted for this coming week come through. We can definitely use some wet weather. Our productive flies have not changed much this past week. We are using wooly buggers, primarily in earth tone colors brown, copper, black, olive.  Keep in mind it is more important to cover as much water efficiently as possible then the fly we are using at this time.  When there is just a few fish in the system, we need to fish through as much prime fish holding water as possible.

Up coming spey casting clinic on the Salmon River, there is still room available for October 3 Saturday, starting time 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Meet at 2.A fishing excess parking

My guidebook remains open, and there is still of prime days available for

October dates 17, for both salmon fishing and steelhead fishing.

November dates 28,29,30 Open. This is Brown trout and steelhead fishing. Note; Rick Smith, many of you already know Rick, Will be available to do trips on the Salmon River and the surrounding Creek for steelhead.

December remains wide open, this can be an interesting month to fish with lots of opportunities and light fishing pressure.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me cell 585-233-0436

It has been a slow start to the salmon run on the Salmon River. The week started out with just a few fish moving each morning in to the river, not much to fish to.  Earlier this past week, larger groups of salmon started to move into the estuaries. Over the last few mornings these groups of salmon have started to move in to the lower river. And make there way throw the DSR. Looks like this coming week we should see some decent numbers of Salmon starting to run the river.

Over the past week the lower fly-fishing zone has reopened, for now there’s only a few fish in both upper and lower fly-fishing zones. For now the fishing pressure is very light especially mid week, we are basically fishing for a fish or two a day. Still, a very pleasant time to be on the water, especially before things get busy.

As for files we are using wooly buggers, primarily in earth tone colors brown, copper, black, olive.  It is more important to cover as much water efficiently as possible then the fly we are using at this time.  When there is just a few fish in the system, we need to fish through as much prime fish holding water as possible. Doing this will increase our chances of crossing paths with cooperative fish. When the fish are not moving or very few fish are moving, we need to move.

Over the past weekend we received a decent amount of rainfall, over 2 inches. Unfortunately we have been very dry lately all this rain amounted to is what I call maintenance. We definitely still can use more rain. Water flows have remained at a constant 335 CFS, fall minimum flow.

Up coming spey casting clinic on the Salmon River, there is still room available for October 3 Saturday, starting time 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Meet at 2.A fishing excess parking

My guidebook remains open, and there is still of prime days available for

October dates 17,29,30 for both salmon fishing and steelhead fishing.

November dates 28,29,30 Open. This is Brown trout and steelhead fishing. Note; Rick Smith, many of you already know Rick, Will be available to do trips on the Salmon River and the surrounding Creek for steelhead.

December remains wide open, this can be an interesting month to fish with lots of opportunities and light fishing pressure.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me cell 585-233-0436

It has been hot! Way too hot for the month of September. Going into the upcoming week, weather conditions appear to be improving. At this point we definitely can use some serious wet weather. Over the Labor Day weekend, the water release on the Salmon River was bumped up to 750 CFS for white water recreational use. Normally this water release will trigger a run of salmon. But with the hot weather and water temperatures, water temperatures in the low to mid 70s only an hand full of salmon came into the river. Hopefully the weather forecast is accurate and we receive some rainfall over the weekend. As of now I think all the salmon need is an excuse to run. As of now the fishing is happening in the morning from first light to mid morning, while the air and water temperatures are still cool. With the low numbers of salmon in the river as of this time it is best to concentrate your efforts in the lower river and cover as much water as possible. The most consistent action has been in the Douglaston salmon run {DSR} portion of the river. For flies: we are using willing buggers in our favorite salmon fishing colors of Black, Brown copper, olive, and small intruders style flies.

The trout fishing, water flows in all of our streams and creeks are now very low. As for the bug activity, other than the window of opportunity being very early morning and not lasting long. Once again all this heat has left its mark. Not much has changed with the trout fishing.

Up coming spey casting clinic on the Salmon River, there is still room available for October 3 Saturday, starting time 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Meet at 2.A fishing excess parking

My guidebook remains open, and there is still of prime days available for

September I have 17, 19,20, open.

October dates 9,17,21,23,29,30 for both salmon fishing and steelhead fishing.

November dates 28,29,30 Open. This is Brown trout and steelhead fishing. Note; Rick Smith, many of you already know Rick, Will be available to do trips on the Salmon River and the surrounding Creek for steelhead.

December remains wide open, this can be an interesting month to fish with lots of opportunities and light fishing pressure.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me cell 585-233-0436

It is finally September. Many of us have been nervously watching to see if there is any signs to the quality of the upcoming salmon run is going to be.  What I can tell you is we have been seeing small groups of salmon trickling through the DSR on a daily basis. To have a few salmon moving into the river the last week of August is a strong positive sign. Starting this month the minimum water flows are now going to be 335 CFS, I suspect the day the water goes up there will be a tiny search of fish, but that will be it. The weather for this coming week is supposed to be hot. Water temperatures are going to rise into the low 70° mark, and the cold water in the Lake is going to push way offshore. This will for all practical purposes put a stop to the fish that are ready to move into the river, temporarily. However the long-term whether forecast for early next week looks very promising.  It is still early but there seems to be some salmon are eager to run, all they need is just a little encouragement. Keep in mind we are now fishing the tributaries, conditions can and do change quick.  

The trout fishing has not changed much over the past week. At this point some trout streams are making the transition into their fall fishing pattern. Fish are starting to feed the larger food sources such as crayfish. While others are still having there late summer hatches. Tricos are still going all up and down the Oatka creek. This is a size 20 mayfly; the timing of the hatch is in the morning. You will want to be on the water around 7 AM, Depending on air temperatures that day the hatch will around up sometime between mid to late morning. The rivers that have an Isonychia hatch are now going on. This hitch trickles off throughout the day. You do not always see a lot of bugs around but, the fish are looking for the bugs.

There is still space available for the spey casting clinic.

Clinic 1; September 5 Saturday, starting time 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Meet at Pineville fishing excess parking Clinic 2; October 3 Saturday, starting time 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Meet at 2.A fishing excess parking

My guide book is open, and there is still plenty of prime days available for September I have 17,18,19,20,21 open. Also if the fish starts to run early, I do have early September dates open. I also have October dates available for both salmon fishing and steelhead fishing. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me cell 585-233-0436