AKA-"The Day"
Earlier this week, my friend Gary asked me if I wanted to make a last minute trip to one of our favorite fishing spots, the Salmon River in Pulaski, New York. It was going to be a quick trip lasting about 36 hours of which I would spend almost 11 of it driving to and from the river. This isn't typically a good fishing time for the Salmon River but knowing that I wouldn't be available during prime time this year, I decided I would give it a shot and meet Gary up there anyway...you just never know.
I left on Wednesday morning and arrived in Pulaski around 4:30pm. Eager to get out of the car I just spent the last 5 1/2 hours in, I was on the river fishing ten minutes later. I fished until 7:00pm and saw a grand total of 3 fish. It was not looking good. By all accounts, Thursday was setting up to be a big disappointment. First of all, fish generally run up the river from Lake Ontario when the time is right. For the fish this means lots of cold water. The water level on Wednesday was as low as I have ever seen it in all the 15 or so years I've fished there and there was no indication that this would be changing anytime soon. The river level is primarily dam controlled by a power company and because of the drought they've been experiencing, the company has been hesitant to release water from an uncharacteristically low reservoir. No water release also means no "Cold" water. If you're keeping score that's Two strikes against us. There was no forecast for rain and instead of cold weather, the predictions were for unseasonably warm temperatures on Thursday, close to 80˚. That was more or less the third strike but hey, we're fisherman...and I wasn't that eager to get back in the car for another 5 1/2 hours. Gary arrived around 7:00PM and so with only about a half hour of light left, I pack it in for the day and we go to dinner to formulate our game plan for the next morning.
Up at 4:30am and arrive at Dunking Donuts a few minutes later where we meet up with our friends Doc and Anthony. They've been driving since 2:00am to get here before sunrise. When we finally walk to where we are going to fish that morning, it's still dark but we are encouraged by the half dozen or so fish we barely see in the shadows moving up the river, this is going to be good. We wait approximately 10 minutes for the first light to come up and begin to legally fish. And at that point...there's not a fish around anywhere. No fish. No Bites. Just like it's supposed to be under the conditions described above. I begin to think to myself, how long should I put up with this before I call it quits and head home? Mind you, I've only been fishing for about 20 minutes. It's not even 7:00am yet and I'm ready to hit the road!
Eventually I decide to give it more time and move downstream about 300 yards, beyond a group of fisherman who have set up in a very popular spot. I move to a section of the river where there are no other fisherman which usually translated means...bad place to fish. Just as I approach the section of river where I'm headed, the sun finally breaks from behind a huge cover of clouds that have been there all morning. Now I'm thinking, "Great! Nothing like a gorgeous sunny day to spoil the fishing."
I could not have been more wrong.
At almost the very moment the sun broke through the clouds there was an explosion in the river 50 yards downstream from where I was fishing...and it was coming my way! A pod of no less then 200-300 salmon and lord knows what else mixed in, was pushing up the river through a very shallow section of the river. Water was flying everywhere and the noise got my heart racing. Where I was standing was the exact place where the fish would be taking a very short rest before they made their next push up the river. At this point, Gary was standing about 30 feet downriver from me. The two of us went bug-eyed and performed our fishing prowess just like two seasoned veteran fisherman as the fish made their way directly in front of us. Gary got a snag on the bottom and broke off his hook, I some how managed to tangle up my line, leader, fly and split shot into a huge knot. Both of us gasped as hundreds of salmon swam by and there was nothing we could do to stop them.
Eventually, we both got our lines figured out and fortunately for us, this pod of fish was just the scouting party. There was a battalion of fish following these first few and the action was nothing like I have ever experienced before. A constant wall of fish continued to explode up the river, over and over again for hours. Around noontime, it seemed as though the last of the big schools stopped running through. A few fish stuck around our spot and we still managed to catch fish with much ease. I say "Managed" because by this point, we have caught so many fish that our muscles are killing us. Keep in mind, these fish weight anywhere from 10 to 20 pounds and they are strong!
When we finally decided to call it a day, we each estimated landing approximately 15 to 20 fish with many more having been fought and lost. We took a handful of pictures but after a while determined...why bother, we have enough.
The fish Gods must have been smiling on us. There was no reason those fish should have been there. We all joked about how we now know what it must be like to fish at the Hatchery. In fact I've debated weather or not to even tell this story because it's just the type of story we create (lie) for our friends who couldn't make a trip. We were in essence, living the lie. I would be lucky and thankful to someday have a day of salmon fishing half as good as this one. I'm sure that those of us who were there will be talking about our experience for years to come. We will forever refer to it as "The Day" and would like to apologize in advance to everyone who will be hearing "The Story" for years to come.
)
Coho Salmon weighing about 10 to 12 pounds
)
King Salmon weighing about 18 pounds.
)
Beautiful Steelhead that shouldn't be in the river this time year. Just my luck on "The Day"
I left on Wednesday morning and arrived in Pulaski around 4:30pm. Eager to get out of the car I just spent the last 5 1/2 hours in, I was on the river fishing ten minutes later. I fished until 7:00pm and saw a grand total of 3 fish. It was not looking good. By all accounts, Thursday was setting up to be a big disappointment. First of all, fish generally run up the river from Lake Ontario when the time is right. For the fish this means lots of cold water. The water level on Wednesday was as low as I have ever seen it in all the 15 or so years I've fished there and there was no indication that this would be changing anytime soon. The river level is primarily dam controlled by a power company and because of the drought they've been experiencing, the company has been hesitant to release water from an uncharacteristically low reservoir. No water release also means no "Cold" water. If you're keeping score that's Two strikes against us. There was no forecast for rain and instead of cold weather, the predictions were for unseasonably warm temperatures on Thursday, close to 80˚. That was more or less the third strike but hey, we're fisherman...and I wasn't that eager to get back in the car for another 5 1/2 hours. Gary arrived around 7:00PM and so with only about a half hour of light left, I pack it in for the day and we go to dinner to formulate our game plan for the next morning.
Up at 4:30am and arrive at Dunking Donuts a few minutes later where we meet up with our friends Doc and Anthony. They've been driving since 2:00am to get here before sunrise. When we finally walk to where we are going to fish that morning, it's still dark but we are encouraged by the half dozen or so fish we barely see in the shadows moving up the river, this is going to be good. We wait approximately 10 minutes for the first light to come up and begin to legally fish. And at that point...there's not a fish around anywhere. No fish. No Bites. Just like it's supposed to be under the conditions described above. I begin to think to myself, how long should I put up with this before I call it quits and head home? Mind you, I've only been fishing for about 20 minutes. It's not even 7:00am yet and I'm ready to hit the road!
Eventually I decide to give it more time and move downstream about 300 yards, beyond a group of fisherman who have set up in a very popular spot. I move to a section of the river where there are no other fisherman which usually translated means...bad place to fish. Just as I approach the section of river where I'm headed, the sun finally breaks from behind a huge cover of clouds that have been there all morning. Now I'm thinking, "Great! Nothing like a gorgeous sunny day to spoil the fishing."
I could not have been more wrong.
At almost the very moment the sun broke through the clouds there was an explosion in the river 50 yards downstream from where I was fishing...and it was coming my way! A pod of no less then 200-300 salmon and lord knows what else mixed in, was pushing up the river through a very shallow section of the river. Water was flying everywhere and the noise got my heart racing. Where I was standing was the exact place where the fish would be taking a very short rest before they made their next push up the river. At this point, Gary was standing about 30 feet downriver from me. The two of us went bug-eyed and performed our fishing prowess just like two seasoned veteran fisherman as the fish made their way directly in front of us. Gary got a snag on the bottom and broke off his hook, I some how managed to tangle up my line, leader, fly and split shot into a huge knot. Both of us gasped as hundreds of salmon swam by and there was nothing we could do to stop them.
Eventually, we both got our lines figured out and fortunately for us, this pod of fish was just the scouting party. There was a battalion of fish following these first few and the action was nothing like I have ever experienced before. A constant wall of fish continued to explode up the river, over and over again for hours. Around noontime, it seemed as though the last of the big schools stopped running through. A few fish stuck around our spot and we still managed to catch fish with much ease. I say "Managed" because by this point, we have caught so many fish that our muscles are killing us. Keep in mind, these fish weight anywhere from 10 to 20 pounds and they are strong!
When we finally decided to call it a day, we each estimated landing approximately 15 to 20 fish with many more having been fought and lost. We took a handful of pictures but after a while determined...why bother, we have enough.
The fish Gods must have been smiling on us. There was no reason those fish should have been there. We all joked about how we now know what it must be like to fish at the Hatchery. In fact I've debated weather or not to even tell this story because it's just the type of story we create (lie) for our friends who couldn't make a trip. We were in essence, living the lie. I would be lucky and thankful to someday have a day of salmon fishing half as good as this one. I'm sure that those of us who were there will be talking about our experience for years to come. We will forever refer to it as "The Day" and would like to apologize in advance to everyone who will be hearing "The Story" for years to come.
Coho Salmon weighing about 10 to 12 pounds King Salmon weighing about 18 pounds. Beautiful Steelhead that shouldn't be in the river this time year. Just my luck on "The Day"
posted by Jim Flynn at 1:44 PM
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