Jay Peck's Blog

This past week the salmon fishing has slowed down. However for this time of year the fishing is still very good. I contribute the slowdown to weather conditions. This past week was a warm one. Probably some of the warmest driest weather we’ve had all season. Of course right when you want the cold wet weather to start, it gets hot and dry. Water temperatures have been and are still slowly warming up. As of now for temperatures are in the mid to upper 60° mark. The good news is water flows have remained a constant 500 CFS release. One of the patterns that I’ve noticed is that one day the fishing will be slow, not a lot of fish moving but plenty of fish in the pools. The next day we will have a nice study trickle of fish throughout the day. As most of you know, I spend my fall fishing in the Douglaston salmon run. Days that the fish are not actively moving the water on the DSR will empty out of fish. This is normal behavior, but not this fall. Lower River traditionally does not hold fish for long, at this stage of the salmon run. One of the trends this year is salmon are staying in the pools for extended periods of time. This is very helpful trend on slow days. If the fish are not moving, we need to move. This fall, if the fish are not moving at least they will be holding in the polls.  

The rest of the Salmon River is fishing about the same. There is salmon distributed from one end to the other end of the river. Even the upper fly zone has fish holding in it. A final note this past week the lower fishing zone is now open. I recently took a look at the hatchery water. There is an impressive amount of fish already at the hatchery. We are definitely having an outstanding salmon season. Also this past week both steelhead and brown trout were caught in the DSR. Very early for these fish, which gives me great hope for the upcoming Brown trout and Steelhead run.

Production flies; I have not see a pattern when it comes to flies. However the old stand buys such as Willie burgers in black and olive, sizes 4 and 6 are doing very well. I have also had a few occasions where the add stuff performs very well. So for flies we are still doing that try it and see what happens is still going on.

  

Note:

I still have prime days available for mid to late October. These dates are steelhead fishing. The fish are fresh from the lake in full of flight. October steelheads are some of the hottest Fish of the entire tributary season. I also have also have dates available for Rick, true October and November. For those of you do not know Rick Smith, He has been working with me for over 10 years and is an excellent fly fisherman and  Guide. I have no doubt you will enjoy your day on the water with him.

If you’re interested or have any questions please feel free to give me a call. Cell 585-233-0436