Salmon River Report 2008

[AKSkim]

Couple of days ago TKHour had to tell me the Salmon River has a flow rate of 1,000 cfs...

I have to go up there and try my luck for some Summer Steelhead - Samania this weekend.

Today it is down to 500 cfs, but the plans are set, there is no turning back.

Have plans to fish my buddy's private club waters in PA this coming Tuesday - Wednesday, when he called yestreday afternoon to confirm.. I told him I was heading up to Pineville Saturday through Monday... "wanta come along?" I know.. I know.. dumb question...

So the two of us will be fishing from Saturday through Wednesday...


<TABLE class=dataTable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><THEAD><TR><TD class=taC style="WIDTH: 20%">Friday</TD><TD class=taC style="WIDTH: 20%">Saturday</TD><TD class=taC style="WIDTH: 20%">Sunday</TD><TD class=taC style="WIDTH: 20%">Monday</TD><TD class=taC style="WIDTH: 20%">Tuesday</TD></TR></THEAD><TBODY><TR class="wHover noBorder"><TD class=taC>

77° F | 52° F
25° C | 11° C


</TD><TD class=taC>

77° F | 56° F
25° C | 13° C


</TD><TD class=taC>

81° F | 61° F
27° C | 16° C


</TD><TD class=taC>

83° F | 63° F
28° C | 17° C


</TD><TD class=taC>

81° F | 63° F
27° C | 17° C


</TD></TR><TR class="wHover noBorder"><TD class=taC>Partly Cloudy </TD><TD class=taC>Clear </TD><TD class=taC>Partly Cloudy </TD><TD class=taC>Chance of T-storms 20% chance of precipitation


</TD><TD class=taC>Chance of T-storms 40% chance of precipitation


</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

So this year the SR reports have started in July v. August.

I have my notebook puter, so I will try to post nightly reports with photos.

Fishing the Salmon River is like baseball, the season isn't decided in the first few games, but what it's like over the course of an entire season. The next 5 to 9 months (weather depending) will tell the story of the 2008 season.

Hope to meet many of you on the river this year.

AK Skim

 

[AKSkim]

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=634 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left>365123 THE SALMON RIVER AT LIGHTHOUSE HILL
PUBLISHED ON JUL 04, 2008 AT 00:02:35 - EXPIRES JUL 08 11:59 PM


</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=634 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left>Recent precipitation has allowed reservoir and flow conditions to return to more normal levels. Please. note this change in the following forecast.


Until 9:00 PM today, 350 CFS

From 9:00 PM today until 9:00 PM Sun, 750 CFS

From 9:00 PM Sun, until 9:00 AM Mon, 350 CFS

From 9:00 AM Mon, until 11:59 PM Tue, 185 CFS


</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

[tkhour]

Good luck, let us know how you do.

 

[Kahoona103]

Traveled <ST1</ST1 with my Buddy. Water was 750. Very nice. Used my Orvis TLS 6 weight with a sinking line. Near the braids I hooked into two fish and landed both on an un-weighted muddler minnow (Silver body). I found that beads or cones on the fly was not the answer. Weather there was 70’s and clear. Saw only three others there fishing.
Today will be even better.

 

[tkhour]

In case you haven't seen this. Straight from the DSR website.



The power company has posted their summer water releases. These releases are a rare opportunity to fish for summer steelhead and atlantic salmon. The release dates in August bring an early push of King Salmon. These fish congregate in the lower river which makes the DSR the place to be for these early fish. If you would like to take advantage of this early action, the water release dates are June 21-22,July 5-6, July 19-20, August 2-3 and August 30-31. We have experienced some heavy rain and the reservoir is at capacity!!

 

[AKSkim]

Salmon River Report July 2008 UPPER FLY ZONE

When you are so use to seeing a place that is always cold, over cast or snowing, seeing it in green takes some getting use to.

Upper Fly Zone foot path.

Remembering last year with flow rates of 100 cfs... this was nice to look at.

As we entered we past two fisherman heading out, couple of small brown trout.
This guy had the entire Upper Fly Zone all to himself till we showed up.

UFZ regulars will spot this pool... looks much different with leaves on the trees and NO ONE AROUND!!!!

Holy sh!t.... Paradise Pool.. all to our selves!

 

[AKSkim]

Salmon River Report July 2008 LOWER FLY ZONE

Strange seeing no one elbow to elbow here.

Nice to see some moving water and the level was high to boot!

 

[AKSkim]

Salmon River Report 2008 MID RIVER

Ball Park.

Clam Shed

 

[AKSkim]

Salmon River Report July 2008 BLACK HOLE

Had the place to ourselves...

Two handed rod action.

 

[AKSkim]

Drove 260 mile from home to the parking lot of the Upper Fly Zone.

Only two other cars in the lot when we arrived. I parked out of the way.

While we were looking at the Paradise Pool I commented to my fishing buddy that he should have
brought along his GPS. He ALWAYS has his GPS with him. He turned and looked at me and said that
I had it. I didn't. He then stated that when we were at the house he put it on the hood of my car.

To be honest... I never saw it up there.

Two hundred and sixty miles later.. it was right where he left it. On the hood of my car.

2008 Eddie Bauer Expedition.. a REAL SMOOTH ride.

 

[AKSkim]

Salmon River Report 2008 YOU GUYS PLACE

Last year I posted a report about the new restaurant in Pulaski, this year I am happy to report that Kathy's in Altmar was sold and they have cleaned the place up.

(new owner's are waiting on their new sign)

The bar area, pool table

The dining area

Bill-O-Fare.

Prime Rib on Saturday's

AK gives You Guys Place a TWO CORONA BOTTLES of out three rating.

Why only 2 out of 3 rating???

Only because they don't allow sleeping on the bar.

 

[AKSkim]

You can't go up to Pineville and have it all work; now can you???

After all... life is to be enjoyed.

If you're not enjoying it, that is because AK and his fishing buddy are using up all your happy points.

Steaks on the barbie

When you start taking photos like this.. you know the Corona's are hitting the mark.

But what would you expect with trailer trash...

As Always, I get the last word...

 

[D'ANGLER]

:kewlpics:
Those pic's sure look inviting! Just a few more weeks till the DSR opens (five to be exact), can't wait for the first rush of fresh kings & coho's. Let's hope the flows maintain at a more reasonable level than last years 83cfs around that time.

 

[AKSkim]

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=634 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left>365123 THE SALMON RIVER AT LIGHTHOUSE HILL
PUBLISHED ON JUL 23, 2008 AT 00:02:33 - EXPIRES JUL 26 11:59 PM


</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=634 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left>
For the Salmon River at Brookfield Power's Lighthouse Hill Dam, Altmar, NY. The following predictions are for flows in the river just below the powerhouse unless otherwise noted.

Information about the timing of water level changes downstream of the powerhouse is included after the forecast.

This forecast reflects normal operating conditions for this time of year.


Until 11:59 PM Sat JUL 26, 185 CFS


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[Corndog]

The DSR just posted their summer newsletter on their site and you won't believe what your eyes are reading.​

Maybe the most exciting addition is that we have added more area to the run for 2008. In years past the DSR has owned on only one side from the glide upstream. This year by request of several of our neighbors, we have acquired access for DSR customers only from the Little Black hole to the island just downstream of the Big Black Hole. The remainder of the DSR will remain as it has been. This new addition will alleviate the traditional crowds associated with the Little Black Hole area. We will offer new maps upon your arrival this fall. ​

The Little Black Hole is no longer open to the public! Unbelievable!!!​

Cdog​

 

[AKSkim]

Corndog:

Forget the Little Black Hole.

Picture this... snow up to your ying-yang and cold beyond belief...

You have the entire river all to yourself...

My all time favourite photo of the Salmon River.​

 

[Corndog]

Corndog:

Forget the Little Black Hole.

Picture this... snow up to your ying-yang and cold beyond belief...

You have the entire river all to yourself...

My all time favourite photo of the Salmon River.

Ahhhhhhaaaa...yes. My favorite time of the year. Noone but me, my buddies, and lots of steel.

You ever get caught standing to close under the Pineville bridge when the plow truck passes over?

Cdog

 

[AKSkim]

You ever get caught standing to close under the Pineville bridge when the plow truck passes over? Cdog

NOPE.

You have your reservations already??

Corndog last season, we didn't hear from him for a while...

That is until he thawed out.

 

[bkill]

IMO, The best accommodations in the area... Linda is a great host!

 

[AKSkim]

Pulaski, NY.

 

[theartoflee]

Pulaski, NY.

Seen the crew that rools in that hoopta back when I attended Spey Nation. Very nice simple folks no sin-pinning for them.

Hope to have a report for the SR after this weekend hear the surf is up and only going to get higher this weekend.

Anyone have an update on VHS? I can only help but feel dynamo is stealing it's spotlight.

Lots of posative changes to the SR over the years. What does everyone feel about the new hook regs?

 

[Corndog]

Seen the crew that rools in that hoopta back when I attended Spey Nation. Very nice simple folks no sin-pinning for them.

Hope to have a report for the SR after this weekend hear the surf is up and only going to get higher this weekend.

Anyone have an update on VHS? I can only help but feel dynamo is stealing it's spotlight.

Lots of posative changes to the SR over the years. What does everyone feel about the new hook regs?

Wylie,

Enlighten me...what new hook regs???

Cdog

 

[bkill]

No More Chuck & Duck!!

Fly-fishing: Traditionalists should approve of DEC 'chuck-and-duck' ban
Thursday, February 28, 2008

Morgan Lyle

Beginning Oct. 1, you may start seeing something along the fly-fishing-only zones of the Salmon River that, so far, you haven’t seen very often: back casts.
The Department of Environmental Conservation is poised to rid the fly zones of “chuck-and-duck” fishing, which employs large amounts of split shot or similar sinkers, and basically converts a fly rod to a kind of plug-casting rig. Only true fly-fishing — casting the line, not the lure — will be allowed.
Generations of anglers after steelheads and salmon on the Lake Ontario tributary have considered heavy sinkers necessary to get their flies to the bottom of deep pools where the fish lie.
The split shot also enabled an alternate way of casting: You gather in your slack, raise the rod tip over your left shoulder, snap it forward, lobbing your sinkers and fly into the current. This works even when you’re pinned up against a wooded bank with no room for a back cast, or when you’re shoulder-to-shoulder with other anglers, which are both fairly common occurrences on the Salmon River.
Of course, if a pool is ringed with anglers lobbing “slinkies” — three-inch lengths of parachute cord stuffed with split shot and clipped to the leader — then real fly-fishing is going to be difficult, if not impossible. Getting a fly near the bottom of an eight-foot-deep pool, even when using a sinking fly line, requires casting well upstream of the target lie. That’s not possible in crowded conditions. Chuck-and-duck fishing leads to crowding, and crowding makes chuck-and-duck necessary.
And, of course, all those flies dragged to the bottom by all that weight cause lots of foul-hooking. For a significant percentage of chuck-and-duck anglers, that’s the whole idea. They’re convinced salmon and steelhead seldom, if ever, bite, and believe snagging them is the only way to catch them.
All that ends in the fly zones on Oct. 1. You’ll still be allowed to use weighted flies and weight on your leader, the way you would nymph-fish a trout stream, but you won’t be allowed to use weight to the extent that it becomes “the primary means of propelling the cast.”
In other words, you have to cast the line, with the fly going along for the ride, which is the basic defin*ition of fly-fishing.
At first, I imagined an uproar in the parking lots when anglers who drove all night from Pennsylvania or Massachusetts are told they can’t use their slinkies. Indeed, there have been a handful of complaints to the DEC about banning chuck-and-duck from the fly-fishing-only water.
But overall, the trend on the Salmon River’s fly zones has been toward traditional fly-fishing, back cast and all, according to Fran Verdoliva, the Salmon River program coordinator for the DEC.
“You see less and less people in that particular section using the running line, strip-casting technique,” Verdoliva said. “You see people using some weight, but still able to roll cast or overhead cast.”
I wondered about how the rule would be enforced, since the new regulation doesn’t say specifically how much weight is allowed. Verdoliva said DEC law enforcement officers know the difference between chuck-and-duck casting and trad*itional roll casts or overhead casts. As he noted, the difference in the two techniques is pretty obvious.
What about the catching? Is it possible to catch bottom-oriented salmon and steelhead with traditional fly-fishing gear and tactics? You bet. There has always been a small group of Salmon River anglers who fish that way. They catch their share of fish, and while they probably hook up less often than chuck-and-duckers, they probably find the fish they do catch more rewarding.
“There have been a couple of people who’ve contacted me through the department and said, ‘I won’t be able to fish anymore,’ ” Verdoliva said. “To put it bluntly, that’s kind of stupid. If that’s the only way you can fish, you’re pretty limited.”
And as Verdoliva, a former Salmon River guide who still enjoys chuck-and-duck fishing sometimes, pointed out, if you simply must chuck and duck, you’ll have 12 miles of river on which to do it. Meanwhile, those of us who really want to fly-fish will finally be able to.
By the way, during the summer, weight will continue to be banned altogether from the Salmon River’s fly zones, in order to provide fair chase for summer-run steelheads and Atlantic salmon.
Most people think of the Salmon River as being a fall, winter and
early spring fishery, but the summer species are becoming more common, and people who know how to fish for them are having success, Verdoliva said.
<!-- google_ad_section_end --> “It doesn’t sound like much, but we had 20 Atlantics here come to the hatchery this fall,” he said. “We’ve never had any at all before.” __________________

 

[theartoflee]

The new regs are on hook gaps... I am not sure exactly but I have heard its anywhere from 1/2 to 1 inch. Apparently a lot of people are confused about what it actually is. The regs are for the entire great lakes areas.

For me its less of an issue since I fish a lot of tubes but its something to be mindful of. call me a dope if I am worng but I think the regs are new. Dont even know if you can still fish size two salmon irons.

 

[Corndog]

Yea, I knew about the Chuck-n-duck changes for the petting zoos, but is this what Wylie is calling the new hook reg?

IMO chuck-n-duck should be banned on the whole river. No need to bottom bounce to catch fish legally anyway.

Cdog

 

[Corndog]

The new regs are on hook gaps... I am not sure exactly but I have heard its anywhere from 1/2 to 1 inch. Apparently a lot of people are confused about what it actually is. The regs are for the entire great lakes areas.

For me its less of an issue since I fish a lot of tubes but its something to be mindful of. call me a dope if I am worng but I think the regs are new. Dont even know if you can still fish size two salmon irons.

lol I must have been typing while you were.

I haven't heard about a gap change, but I'm usually the last to know anyway. I rarely fish anything larger than a #10 hook anyway.

I love it when the DEC officers pull the Russian guys off the river for using 3/0 hooks.

Cdog

 

[AKSkim]

I couldn't find no regulation changes to the size of the hook gap permitted on the Salmon River.

Which as far as I could tell is still at one half inch (about a size 1/0 hook) gap between tip and shank.

Great Lakes Fishing Regulations - NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation

Special Regulations for the Salmon River (Oswego County) Fly Fishing Catch-And-Release Areas

Location

Two stream sections between County Route 52 Bridge in Altmar and the Lighthouse Hill Reservoir.
Fishing Hours, Season Dates & Boundaries

Angling permitted: from 1/2 hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset. Trespassing prohibited at night.
Lower Fly Section: September 15 through May 15. From County Route 52 bridge in Altmar upstream .25 miles to the marked boundary at Beaverdam Brook.
Upper Fly Section: April 1 through November 30. From a marked boundary upstream of the New York State Salmon River Fish Hatchery property to marked boundary approximately 0.6 miles upstream at the Lighthouse Hill Reservoir tailrace.
Regulations

Catch & Release: All fish must be released without unnecessary injury.
Tackle Restrictions: Tackle is restricted to a traditional flyrod, flyreel and flyline.
Flies: A single unweighted or weighted artificial fly having one hook point with a one-half inch maximum gap. A weighted fly may have no more than a one-eighth ounce added weight.
Leaders: The total length of the leader including the tippet shall not exceed 15 feet.
Additional Weight: Between August 15 and April 30 of the following year, the maximum distance between the artificial fly and any added weight to the line, leader or tippet shall not exceed four feet. Between May 1 and August 15, no supplemental weight shall be placed on the leader, tippet or fly line. At any time during the year, weight shall not be added to the line, leader, swivels or artificial fly in any manner such that the weight hangs lower than the attached fly when the line or leader is suspended vertically from the rod.

 

[AKSkim]

I looked and looked for a photo of the Little Black Hole...

I believe this one is of the Glide, which is just down stream of the LBH.

 

[Corndog]

I looked and looked for a photo of the Little Black Hole...

I believe this one is of the Glide, which is just down stream of the LBH.

That looks like the tailout of the Wall Hole to me.

CPdog

 

[AKSkim]

That morning I started off at Josh's Pool, crossed over and walked a good distance up stream on the southern bank, pass the DSR entrance. I came back in and worked my way up stream fishing from there.

It is a westerly view looking down stream, notice the slight change in elevation on the bank, not as steep as the northern bank would have to be on the road side of the river.

The island I believe is the one between the Glide and Sycamore Hole.

Reason I took that photo was to mark where I got into fish, because it was one of those banner days, not easily forgotten.

Memories do fade with time though.