flyI4
Fishizzle, I use worms but I'm looking to upgrade!
Fished the salmon river this weekend with a couple buddies and overall fishing remained fairly tough with brief windows of opportunities where it seemed the fish would turn on for a bit. First day floated Altmar to Pineville because water was just lowered to 500cfs and I figured this would throw the fishing off and wanted to be where the most fish were. We hooked up with a couple in the morning on small nymphs that were lost close to the net. Had one more hookup a little above pineville that was a nice fresh fish and landed him on a tiny yellow sucker spawn. Reports from all that day including center pinners were that fishing was tough so we felt ok about hooking up with 4-5 fish and landing one each.
Sunday I was sick of the crowds so we fished down in the DSR. It was nice with very few people around and some decent fishing. I hooked a few nice fresh fish in the early morning and landed 2 which made the ride home a lot easier. Both on size 12 pheasant tail nymphs with a blue thorax. Hooked a third that was a bigger fish on a small sucker spawn again and as a whole saw a fair amount of aged salmon eggs on the bottom still which made the fly somewhat relevant to the situation. Not sure if thats why it worked but when its 30 degrees out there you say what you gotta say to yourself to keep your mind in it. After landing a fish I went to cast and my rod snapped at the second to last guide around 10am. Decided to call it quits bc I didn't want to walk out and all the way back in again. On the walk back to the car I saw 3 people hookup and land fish so I probably missed a decent part of the day. All in all I was happy with a few fish over the weekend and to get some river to myself on sunday. As you can see below- no one around. There really is just little reason to fish the upper river right now- fishing is very slow and tough to enjoy with the amount of people up there. Far more rewarding to fish down low and see no one or at worst a couple guys who typically respect your space. Not to mention that a fresh chromer is not even comparable to these old purple steelhead up top that look like a rotting coho more so than a steelhead. If you are heading up give DSR a shot- its nice this time of year and the fish are there. Few people fishing down there lets you get your pick of the pool except for maybe the meadow if you are late, and even then you can slide in usually and rotate. Seems like small flies in the 10-14 range were taking the most fish not only this weekend but past few I have been up there. Here are a couple pics
No one around
And a nice fresh fish to end the trip
Sunday I was sick of the crowds so we fished down in the DSR. It was nice with very few people around and some decent fishing. I hooked a few nice fresh fish in the early morning and landed 2 which made the ride home a lot easier. Both on size 12 pheasant tail nymphs with a blue thorax. Hooked a third that was a bigger fish on a small sucker spawn again and as a whole saw a fair amount of aged salmon eggs on the bottom still which made the fly somewhat relevant to the situation. Not sure if thats why it worked but when its 30 degrees out there you say what you gotta say to yourself to keep your mind in it. After landing a fish I went to cast and my rod snapped at the second to last guide around 10am. Decided to call it quits bc I didn't want to walk out and all the way back in again. On the walk back to the car I saw 3 people hookup and land fish so I probably missed a decent part of the day. All in all I was happy with a few fish over the weekend and to get some river to myself on sunday. As you can see below- no one around. There really is just little reason to fish the upper river right now- fishing is very slow and tough to enjoy with the amount of people up there. Far more rewarding to fish down low and see no one or at worst a couple guys who typically respect your space. Not to mention that a fresh chromer is not even comparable to these old purple steelhead up top that look like a rotting coho more so than a steelhead. If you are heading up give DSR a shot- its nice this time of year and the fish are there. Few people fishing down there lets you get your pick of the pool except for maybe the meadow if you are late, and even then you can slide in usually and rotate. Seems like small flies in the 10-14 range were taking the most fish not only this weekend but past few I have been up there. Here are a couple pics
No one around
And a nice fresh fish to end the trip
