An interesting fact about
fishing the Great Lakes tributaries, is that how fast conditions can and do
change. Over the past week the salmon fishing on the Salmon River has improved
on an overall basis. This is not to say the fishing is hot and heavy but the
pace of the fishing is slowly improving. We are still fishing for a few hookups
day and a couple of fish in the net. But the salmon are silver bright, hot and
angry when hooked up. The fishing pressure overall is still very light for this
time of the year and we are able to work the water and fish where we like. This
is definitely my favorite time of the year to fish for salmon. For now most of
my fishing efforts is focused on the lower river, fishing in the Douglaston
salmon run. At this point I am able to
start to put together a daily pattern. Most days we will see early morning
movements of salmon that I would rate as a light but steady trickle of fish.
This fish activity will generally last until mid morning. After that it is time
to cover water and hunt for holding fish. At this point there has been enough
fish moving through the system that there are groups of salmon scattered
throughout the entire river. Some hunting
maybe required to find the small groups of fish. With a little effort locating
a pod of salmon should not be a problem. Also keep in mind the lower fly-fishing
zone is now open and there is a few salmon that have already made it into this
section of river. Over the past week the Salmon River watershed has received
some decent rainfall. Water flows still remain at fall minimum flow of 335 CFS.
water temperatures has warm over the past week, Temperatures now are in the
upper 60s low 70s degree range.
I’m starting to notice a
pattern develop. At first light in the
morning we are having good success with larger flies like size 4 willy buggers.
After that once the water gets lit up by the sun. We have needed to drop down
in tippet size and fly size. At this point we are fishing size 6 willy buggers
or other patterns an equal size. Also picking flies with the flash that is tone
down has been more effective.
Note;
At this time I still have
some prime September days available these are October 3,4,5,6,27,29,30 ideal
dates for fishing Chinook salmon and possibly catching a run of Coho Salmon.
Please feel free to give me a call [Cell
585-233-0436] and discuss any concerns and your options.