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OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
I'm baaaaaaack. And holy crap this group has gone plumb crazy without me! ;-)
Paul G, Dave P and I spent the better part of a week fishing the Salmon River in upstate New York, and through dead lucky timing ended up on the river during the better part of the salmon run. We fished our asses off, from the Douglaston Salmon Run just above the Lake Ontario estuary to the highest legal fishing point on the river, about a half-mile below the controlling reservoir dam. But no matter which section of the river you plan on fishing, if you want to get away from the crowds, ya gots to walk a bunch, and I estimate we walked and waded roughly twenty miles over the trip, most of it dragging typical flyfishing gear plus the almost mandatory corkers that seem to get heavier with each passing hour. In spite of the best damned deluxe bacon cheeseburgers, home made fries, and lots of beer, I still managed to return home two pounds lighter than when I left (which my wife says is A Good Thing ;-) We caught all kinds of salmonids, from a 5 inch steelie (that Paul managed not to back cast up on the rocks behind him - the little critter was smaller than some of the striper flies we use!) through a monster king that dragged my butt a quarter mile down a rock strewn chunk of river bed. In the middle were lots of kings, a few rainbows and browns, and some really nice steelhead - including one I caught that was almost 30" long and put a nice hurt on my rod holding arm. Gotta tie lots of flies for these salmon runs: I had to pop loose or outright break off at least a half-dozen fish for every one fair-hooked, and then the odds of actually landing a fair-hooked fish aren't great - especially with the high flow that was running most of the week (quite unlike last year's drought-impacted season, which left the river looking like a moonscape, and trapped the run just above the estuary for a couple of weeks). Fortunately, I had tied four dozen of my all-time favorite pattern in two colors, plus another 12 dozen various other patterns that I've had success with in the past. I used up almost four dozen flies - half of them my favorite pattern - including ones I gave to Paul and Dave. Here's the big king of the trip - this dude was just under 46" long, and he's showing off his mouth of "teeth" and a freaky big kipe. My pink Bead-head Estaz Egg was buried in the corner of his jaw at the end of an 8 pound tippet. I really didn't think I had a prayer of landing him considering all the backing he took downstream in the fast current and the fact that the river substrate is broken rock mixed with bowling balls and a bitch to negotiate with any speed. But I eventually caught up to him at a huge pool roughly 400 yards from where I hooked him, where we settled down to a bull-dogging match that seemed to last forever. I tailed him, Paul got the hook out, then I got under him and hefted him up for the picture http://home.comcast.net/~day_trippr/...big_salmon.jpg and then turned him loose, to keep those big genes in the pool... [Shameless Plugs] As in the last four years, we stayed at the Salmon Heaven Lodge http://www.salmonheaven.com/ where the accommodations are excellent - cozy, warm, with plenty of coffee and breakfast munchables, a big screen tube for the playoff games, fellow guests to shoot the crap with - and the price is right. Highly recommended, whether for the fall salmon run, the late fall brown run, or steelheading from early winter through the spring. And the best damned deluxe bacon cheeseburgers and home-made fries can be had at the world famous Altmar Hotel, and the locals that drop in there for lunch are incredibly friendly folk... /daytripper |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
daytripper wrote:
yards from where I hooked him, where we settled down to a bull-dogging match that seemed to last forever. I tailed him, Paul got the hook out, then I got under him and hefted him up for the picture http://home.comcast.net/~day_trippr/...big_salmon.jpg and then turned him loose, to keep those big genes in the pool... /daytripper Nice Fish. Nice report. Thanks. Tim Lysyk |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
On Oct 16, 12:14*am, daytripper wrote:
I'm baaaaaaack. And holy crap this group has gone plumb crazy without me! ;-) Paul G, Dave P and I spent the better part of a week fishing the Salmon River in upstate New York, and through dead lucky timing ended up on the river during the better part of the salmon run. We fished our asses off, from the Douglaston Salmon Run just above the Lake Ontario estuary to the highest legal fishing point on the river, about a half-mile below the controlling reservoir dam. But no matter which section of the river you plan on fishing, if you want to get away from the crowds, ya gots to walk a bunch, and I estimate we walked and waded roughly twenty miles over the trip, most of it dragging typical flyfishing gear plus the almost mandatory corkers that seem to get heavier with each passing hour. In spite of the best damned deluxe bacon cheeseburgers, home made fries, and lots of beer, I still managed to return home two pounds lighter than when I left (which my wife says is A Good Thing ;-) We caught all kinds of salmonids, from a 5 inch steelie (that Paul managed not to back cast up on the rocks behind him - the little critter was smaller than some of the striper flies we use!) through a monster king that dragged my butt a quarter mile down a rock strewn chunk of river bed. In the middle were lots of kings, a few rainbows and browns, and some really nice steelhead - including one I caught that was almost 30" long and put a nice hurt on my rod holding arm. Gotta tie lots of flies for these salmon runs: I had to pop loose or outright break off at least a half-dozen fish for every one fair-hooked, and then the odds of actually landing a fair-hooked fish aren't great - especially with the high flow that was running most of the week (quite unlike last year's drought-impacted season, which left the river looking like a moonscape, and trapped the run just above the estuary for a couple of weeks). Fortunately, I had tied four dozen of my all-time favorite pattern in two colors, plus another 12 dozen various other patterns that I've had success with in the past. I used up almost four dozen flies - half of them my favorite pattern - including ones I gave to Paul and Dave. Here's the big king of the trip - this dude was just under 46" long, and he's showing off his mouth of "teeth" and a freaky big kipe. My pink Bead-head Estaz Egg was buried in the corner of his jaw at the end of an 8 pound tippet. I really didn't think I had a prayer of landing him considering all the backing he took downstream in the fast current and the fact that the river substrate is broken rock mixed with bowling balls and a bitch to negotiate with any speed. But I eventually caught up to him at a huge pool roughly 400 yards from where I hooked him, where we settled down to a bull-dogging match that seemed to last forever. I tailed him, Paul got the hook out, then I got under him and hefted him up for the picture http://home.comcast.net/~day_trippr/...big_salmon.jpg and then turned him loose, to keep those big genes in the pool... [Shameless Plugs] As in the last four years, we stayed at the Salmon Heaven Lodgehttp://www..salmonheaven.com/*where the accommodations are excellent - cozy, warm, with plenty of coffee and breakfast munchables, a big screen tube for the playoff games, fellow guests to shoot the crap with - and the price is right. Highly recommended, whether for the fall salmon run, the late fall brown run, or steelheading from early winter through the spring. And the best damned deluxe bacon cheeseburgers and home-made fries can be had at the world famous Altmar Hotel, and the locals that drop in there for lunch are incredibly friendly folk... /daytripper Chasing *that* fish over the usual Salmon River bottom?? Wow. Is Melinda's shop still open? |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
On Oct 16, 12:14*pm, daytripper wrote:
I'm baaaaaaack. And holy crap this group has gone plumb crazy without me! ;-) Paul G, Dave P and I spent the better part of a week fishing the Salmon River in upstate New York, and through dead lucky timing ended up on the river during the better part of the salmon run. We fished our asses off, from the Douglaston Salmon Run just above the Lake Ontario estuary to the highest legal fishing point on the river, about a half-mile below the controlling reservoir dam. But no matter which section of the river you plan on fishing, if you want to get away from the crowds, ya gots to walk a bunch, and I estimate we walked and waded roughly twenty miles over the trip, most of it dragging typical flyfishing gear plus the almost mandatory corkers that seem to get heavier with each passing hour. In spite of the best damned deluxe bacon cheeseburgers, home made fries, and lots of beer, I still managed to return home two pounds lighter than when I left (which my wife says is A Good Thing ;-) We caught all kinds of salmonids, from a 5 inch steelie (that Paul managed not to back cast up on the rocks behind him - the little critter was smaller than some of the striper flies we use!) through a monster king that dragged my butt a quarter mile down a rock strewn chunk of river bed. In the middle were lots of kings, a few rainbows and browns, and some really nice steelhead - including one I caught that was almost 30" long and put a nice hurt on my rod holding arm. Gotta tie lots of flies for these salmon runs: I had to pop loose or outright break off at least a half-dozen fish for every one fair-hooked, and then the odds of actually landing a fair-hooked fish aren't great - especially with the high flow that was running most of the week (quite unlike last year's drought-impacted season, which left the river looking like a moonscape, and trapped the run just above the estuary for a couple of weeks). Fortunately, I had tied four dozen of my all-time favorite pattern in two colors, plus another 12 dozen various other patterns that I've had success with in the past. I used up almost four dozen flies - half of them my favorite pattern - including ones I gave to Paul and Dave. Here's the big king of the trip - this dude was just under 46" long, and he's showing off his mouth of "teeth" and a freaky big kipe. My pink Bead-head Estaz Egg was buried in the corner of his jaw at the end of an 8 pound tippet. I really didn't think I had a prayer of landing him considering all the backing he took downstream in the fast current and the fact that the river substrate is broken rock mixed with bowling balls and a bitch to negotiate with any speed. But I eventually caught up to him at a huge pool roughly 400 yards from where I hooked him, where we settled down to a bull-dogging match that seemed to last forever. I tailed him, Paul got the hook out, then I got under him and hefted him up for the picture http://home.comcast.net/~day_trippr/...big_salmon.jpg and then turned him loose, to keep those big genes in the pool... [Shameless Plugs] As in the last four years, we stayed at the Salmon Heaven Lodgehttp://www..salmonheaven.com/*where the accommodations are excellent - cozy, warm, with plenty of coffee and breakfast munchables, a big screen tube for the playoff games, fellow guests to shoot the crap with - and the price is right. Highly recommended, whether for the fall salmon run, the late fall brown run, or steelheading from early winter through the spring. And the best damned deluxe bacon cheeseburgers and home-made fries can be had at the world famous Altmar Hotel, and the locals that drop in there for lunch are incredibly friendly folk... /daytripper Gad, what an ugly monster! Nice fish, too. --riverman |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
daytripper wrote:
I'm baaaaaaack. And holy crap this group has gone plumb crazy without me! ;-) Paul G, Dave P and I spent the better part of a week fishing the Salmon River in upstate New York, and through dead lucky timing ended up on the river during the better part of the salmon run. Nice, Dave. Makes those lil 16" 'bows look mighty small! -- TL, Tim ------------------------- http://css.sbcma.com/timj |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
On Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:31:19 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote: Chasing *that* fish over the usual Salmon River bottom?? Wow. Is Melinda's shop still open? Melinda's shop is indeed still open and apparently doing just fine. In fact, on the first day Dave P. discovered his ancient, well-creased waders were springing multiple unfixable leaks and picked up a new pair of Dan Bailey's for fairly cheap money (discontinued model) there, and I replaced a rotting pair of gaitors as well. She's also a willing and eager co-conspirator: Paul and I pulled our favorite prank and told her that Dave was keeping all the steelies he caught, upon which she gave him a haranguing while threatening him with a rod tube. Poor bastid didn't know wtf was happening. Great fun! :-) /daytripper |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
On Thu, 16 Oct 2008 06:17:46 -0400, "Tim J."
wrote: daytripper wrote: I'm baaaaaaack. And holy crap this group has gone plumb crazy without me! ;-) Paul G, Dave P and I spent the better part of a week fishing the Salmon River in upstate New York, and through dead lucky timing ended up on the river during the better part of the salmon run. Nice, Dave. Makes those lil 16" 'bows look mighty small! Heck, it makes our stripers and bluefish look small - at least the ones I manage to catch ;-) Talking with the folks at the SR Hatchery we learned that big dude is of a strain that constitutes about one quarter of the king salmon population in the Salmon River. The males from the majority strain are usually around a foot shorter at maturity. I hooked an even bigger one last season - got the leader knot inside the tiptop and nearly landed it but lost him at the net. My oldest son commented a full season of caught brookies wouldn't add up to that one fish - and he wants to go with us next fall :-) /daytripper |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
On Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:42:34 -0700 (PDT), riverman
wrote: Gad, what an ugly monster! Nice fish, too. --riverman Proof that love is blind ;-) /daytripper |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
daytripper wrote:
I'm baaaaaaack. And holy crap this group has gone plumb crazy without me! ;-) snip Yeah, we miss your steady demeanor and calming influence. You're like a virtual cigarette soothing roff's nerves. ;-) Damn, that is one ugly, friggin' fish. It looks like it's on it's last legs and about to expire right in front of the camera. Do those things live to spawn another day or is that a dead fish swimming ? -- Ken Fortenberry |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
daytripper wrote in
: I'm baaaaaaack. And holy crap this group has gone plumb crazy without me! ;-) Paul G, Dave P and I spent the better part of a week fishing the Salmon River in upstate New York, and through dead lucky timing ended up on the river during the better part of the salmon run. We fished our asses off, from the Douglaston Salmon Run just above the Lake Ontario estuary to the highest legal fishing point on the river, about a half-mile below the controlling reservoir dam. But no matter which section of the river you plan on fishing, if you want to get away from the crowds, ya gots to walk a bunch, and I estimate we walked and waded roughly twenty miles over the trip, most of it dragging typical flyfishing gear plus the almost mandatory corkers that seem to get heavier with each passing hour. In spite of the best damned deluxe bacon cheeseburgers, home made fries, and lots of beer, I still managed to return home two pounds lighter than when I left (which my wife says is A Good Thing ;-) We caught all kinds of salmonids, from a 5 inch steelie (that Paul managed not to back cast up on the rocks behind him - the little critter was smaller than some of the striper flies we use!) through a monster king that dragged my butt a quarter mile down a rock strewn chunk of river bed. In the middle were lots of kings, a few rainbows and browns, and some really nice steelhead - including one I caught that was almost 30" long and put a nice hurt on my rod holding arm. Gotta tie lots of flies for these salmon runs: I had to pop loose or outright break off at least a half-dozen fish for every one fair-hooked, and then the odds of actually landing a fair-hooked fish aren't great - especially with the high flow that was running most of the week (quite unlike last year's drought-impacted season, which left the river looking like a moonscape, and trapped the run just above the estuary for a couple of weeks). Fortunately, I had tied four dozen of my all-time favorite pattern in two colors, plus another 12 dozen various other patterns that I've had success with in the past. I used up almost four dozen flies - half of them my favorite pattern - including ones I gave to Paul and Dave. Here's the big king of the trip - this dude was just under 46" long, and he's showing off his mouth of "teeth" and a freaky big kipe. My pink Bead-head Estaz Egg was buried in the corner of his jaw at the end of an 8 pound tippet. I really didn't think I had a prayer of landing him considering all the backing he took downstream in the fast current and the fact that the river substrate is broken rock mixed with bowling balls and a bitch to negotiate with any speed. But I eventually caught up to him at a huge pool roughly 400 yards from where I hooked him, where we settled down to a bull-dogging match that seemed to last forever. I tailed him, Paul got the hook out, then I got under him and hefted him up for the picture http://home.comcast.net/~day_trippr/...big_salmon.jpg and then turned him loose, to keep those big genes in the pool... [Shameless Plugs] As in the last four years, we stayed at the Salmon Heaven Lodge http://www.salmonheaven.com/ where the accommodations are excellent - cozy, warm, with plenty of coffee and breakfast munchables, a big screen tube for the playoff games, fellow guests to shoot the crap with - and the price is right. Highly recommended, whether for the fall salmon run, the late fall brown run, or steelheading from early winter through the spring. And the best damned deluxe bacon cheeseburgers and home-made fries can be had at the world famous Altmar Hotel, and the locals that drop in there for lunch are incredibly friendly folk... /daytripper I'm going to try to get over there in November. The TU State Council meeting is at the hatchery. Usually I overnight it (Exec meeting Fri nite and General on Sat), so I get about two hours to fish Sat PM, but I'm thinking about heading up on Thurs night, if the better half seems amenable. Injuries cost me my Spring season, so I really could use a trip. -- Scott Reverse name to reply |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
On 2008-10-16, daytripper wrote:
Gotta tie lots of flies for these salmon runs: I had to pop loose or outright break off at least a half-dozen fish for every one fair-hooked, and then the odds of actually landing a fair-hooked fish aren't great - Sounds like you had big fun. :) For the still-newbs, could you clarify "fair-hooked"? Thnx. nb |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
On Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:09:02 -0500, Ken Fortenberry
wrote: daytripper wrote: I'm baaaaaaack. And holy crap this group has gone plumb crazy without me! ;-) snip Yeah, we miss your steady demeanor and calming influence. You're like a virtual cigarette soothing roff's nerves. ;-) Thanks. I knew you'd miss me most ;-) Damn, that is one ugly, friggin' fish. It looks like it's on it's last legs and about to expire right in front of the camera. Do those things live to spawn another day or is that a dead fish swimming ? That's actually a fairly fresh king on this river. When they first hit the estuary they're already colored pretty dark. Beat fish have a mottled appearance - lots of random light yellowish-tan patches that stick out like the dickens, and their fins show degrees of damage from struggling upstream. As could be seen, this one had none of those signs - it's in virtually perfect condition. And judging by how quickly he took off when released, he had plenty of gas left... /daytripper |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
On Thu, 16 Oct 2008 17:28:45 GMT, notbob wrote:
On 2008-10-16, daytripper wrote: Gotta tie lots of flies for these salmon runs: I had to pop loose or outright break off at least a half-dozen fish for every one fair-hooked, and then the odds of actually landing a fair-hooked fish aren't great - Sounds like you had big fun. :) For the still-newbs, could you clarify "fair-hooked"? Thnx. "Fair-hooked" means hooked in the mouth, as opposed to anywhere else (with "anywhere else" designated "foul-hooked"). It's usually a dead-giveaway that a salmon is foul-hooked when it is doing cartwheels across the stream, whereas a fair-hooked fish will usually try to bull its way out. Generally, people will try to long-line release or simply break-off a fish once it's obvious the fish isn't fair-hooked. That's always been my practice, as I'm releasing everything anyway, and indeed that was almost always the practice of other folks on the river from my observations. I saw very few foul-hooked fish being fought once it was evident that the hook wasn't anywhere near the mouth. Note that a fair-hook doesn't necessarily mean the fish willingly tried to eat the fly or nailed it out of "anger" - there's really no way to know that in any given case, and I don't delude myself on that issue if I don't see the actual take. It could just as easily be the result of snagging the fish in the mouth - even if there was no intent and/or one never saw the fish to begin with, which was almost always the case for us because of the high water while we were on the river. Not a lot of sight-fishing this trip... /daytripper |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
On 2008-10-16, daytripper wrote:
It's usually a dead-giveaway that a salmon is foul-hooked when it is doing cartwheels across the stream, whereas a fair-hooked fish will usually try to bull its way out. Generally, people will try to long-line release or simply break-off a fish once it's obvious the fish isn't fair-hooked. Hmmm. I would have thought a fish that is foul-hooked ....what I call gut hooked.... would be kept for eating as there's a good chance it will die, anyway. Your reply would seem to countradict that. Am I mistaken? If so, how? Thank you for your previous enlightening reply. nb |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
On Thu, 16 Oct 2008 18:55:20 GMT, notbob wrote:
On 2008-10-16, daytripper wrote: It's usually a dead-giveaway that a salmon is foul-hooked when it is doing cartwheels across the stream, whereas a fair-hooked fish will usually try to bull its way out. Generally, people will try to long-line release or simply break-off a fish once it's obvious the fish isn't fair-hooked. Hmmm. I would have thought a fish that is foul-hooked ....what I call gut hooked.... would be kept for eating as there's a good chance it will die, anyway. Your reply would seem to countradict that. Am I mistaken? If so, how? Thank you for your previous enlightening reply. nb Of course, all of the king salmon will expire at some point in the run. Their ultimate demise isn't predicated by where they are hooked, although there is surely a higher percentage of fish that will die before they have accomplished their prime directive if they are played while foul-hooked. Especially in high water, a foul-hooked fish will take much longer to land, particularly if hooked in the dorsal fin, which is a fairly frequent occurrence. It's pretty hard to control a 20 or 30 pound salmon hooked mid ship, so it's often a matter of practicality to find a way to disconnect from such a hookup, before some serious gear is lost. Heck, I foul-hooked one salmon in the dorsal fin in a particularly fast, narrow run near the top of the river, and in far less than a minute that fish had run out at least 200 yards of backing with no relief in sight. Saving $70 of line and backing was a no-brainer. While the NY DEC has been making incremental strides to eliminate snagging - intentional or otherwise - through gear restrictions (and they implemented a bunch of new rules this October 1) - it still happens, and there are some people that will take anything they manage to land, regardless of how. But they run the risk of prosecution: we saw DEC cops out with video cameras in a few locations during our stay, saw them ticket a half-dozen offenders and confiscate their gear. We fish primarily in the most restricted sections of the river, and quite far from any access point, to get away from the crowds. We usually put at least a half-mile between us and the access point, and often twice that or more. People that are going to keep their catch tend to congregate quite near the access point - they don't really want to have to drag their catch any distance. So, where we fish, we usually don't see anyone keeping their catch anyway, and rarely see people playing foul-hooked fish for long... /daytripper |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
On Oct 16, 3:44*pm, daytripper wrote:
[ explanations ] Hey, thanks for those explanations. Glad you had a fun trip and thanks for posting about it. |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
On 2008-10-16, daytripper wrote:
[...] anyway, and rarely see people playing foul-hooked fish for long... All that makes sense. Thanks for taking the time to explain. nb |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
daytripper wrote:
On Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:09:02 -0500, Ken Fortenberry wrote: daytripper wrote: I'm baaaaaaack. And holy crap this group has gone plumb crazy without me! ;-) snip Yeah, we miss your steady demeanor and calming influence. You're like a virtual cigarette soothing roff's nerves. ;-) Thanks. I knew you'd miss me most ;-) Damn, that is one ugly, friggin' fish. It looks like it's on it's last legs and about to expire right in front of the camera. Do those things live to spawn another day or is that a dead fish swimming ? That's actually a fairly fresh king on this river. When they first hit the estuary they're already colored pretty dark. Beat fish have a mottled appearance - lots of random light yellowish-tan patches that stick out like the dickens, and their fins show degrees of damage from struggling upstream. As could be seen, this one had none of those signs - it's in virtually perfect condition. And judging by how quickly he took off when released, he had plenty of gas left... I'd say it was around midway between fresh and spawned out. A fresh king has a silvery color, an active spawner is bright red, and, like you say, a spawned-out one is patchy. Nice fish. -- Cut "to the chase" for my email address. |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
Dave, That is one damn nice Goliath. My oldest son commented a full season of caught brookies wouldn't add up to that one fish - and he wants to go with us next fall :-) But that is truly the best catch of all. Kiyu |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
On Oct 16, 2:11*pm, rw wrote:
I'd say it was around midway between fresh and spawned out. A fresh king has a silvery color, an active spawner is bright red, and, like you say, a spawned-out one is patchy. Nice fish. -- Cut "to the chase" for my email address.- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Even when they are comming out of a fresh water lake? (Question, RW, not a criticism) Tripper, didn't you live on Hood Canal once upon a time? Dave |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
On Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:11:44 -0700, rw
wrote: daytripper wrote: On Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:09:02 -0500, Ken Fortenberry wrote: daytripper wrote: I'm baaaaaaack. And holy crap this group has gone plumb crazy without me! ;-) snip Yeah, we miss your steady demeanor and calming influence. You're like a virtual cigarette soothing roff's nerves. ;-) Thanks. I knew you'd miss me most ;-) Damn, that is one ugly, friggin' fish. It looks like it's on it's last legs and about to expire right in front of the camera. Do those things live to spawn another day or is that a dead fish swimming ? That's actually a fairly fresh king on this river. When they first hit the estuary they're already colored pretty dark. Beat fish have a mottled appearance - lots of random light yellowish-tan patches that stick out like the dickens, and their fins show degrees of damage from struggling upstream. As could be seen, this one had none of those signs - it's in virtually perfect condition. And judging by how quickly he took off when released, he had plenty of gas left... I'd say it was around midway between fresh and spawned out. A fresh king has a silvery color, an active spawner is bright red, and, like you say, a spawned-out one is patchy. Nice fish. When I fished for Kings running in the Hood's Canal they were often red, but I've fished the Salmon River for four runs now, and have never, ever seen a red salmon... /daytripper |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
On Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:17:03 -0700 (PDT), DaveS wrote:
On Oct 16, 2:11*pm, rw wrote: I'd say it was around midway between fresh and spawned out. A fresh king has a silvery color, an active spawner is bright red, and, like you say, a spawned-out one is patchy. Nice fish. -- Cut "to the chase" for my email address.- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Even when they are comming out of a fresh water lake? (Question, RW, not a criticism) Tripper, didn't you live on Hood Canal once upon a time? Dave Yup - in the burgeoning metropolis of Lilliwaup (population: 60, back in the early '70s ;-) As I responded to Steve, these fish are never, ever red... /daytripper |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
On Thu, 16 Oct 2008 18:34:50 -0400, daytripper
wrote: On Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:11:44 -0700, rw wrote: daytripper wrote: On Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:09:02 -0500, Ken Fortenberry wrote: daytripper wrote: I'm baaaaaaack. And holy crap this group has gone plumb crazy without me! ;-) snip Yeah, we miss your steady demeanor and calming influence. You're like a virtual cigarette soothing roff's nerves. ;-) Thanks. I knew you'd miss me most ;-) Damn, that is one ugly, friggin' fish. It looks like it's on it's last legs and about to expire right in front of the camera. Do those things live to spawn another day or is that a dead fish swimming ? That's actually a fairly fresh king on this river. When they first hit the estuary they're already colored pretty dark. Beat fish have a mottled appearance - lots of random light yellowish-tan patches that stick out like the dickens, and their fins show degrees of damage from struggling upstream. As could be seen, this one had none of those signs - it's in virtually perfect condition. And judging by how quickly he took off when released, he had plenty of gas left... I'd say it was around midway between fresh and spawned out. A fresh king has a silvery color, an active spawner is bright red, and, like you say, a spawned-out one is patchy. Nice fish. When I fished for Kings running in the Hood's Canal they were often red, but I've fished the Salmon River for four runs now, and have never, ever seen a red salmon... /daytripper fwiw The only fish I've seen during the run that could be called "silver" were the occasional chromer steelhead like this one from last season http://home.comcast.net/~day_trippr/...teelie_hen.jpg and some early-run Chinook salmon - which I've caught on rare occasions, but which we saw nary a one this trip. I didn't see any Kings landed that were any lighter than that big dude, most were as dark or darker, or that beat-up mix of colors. Also, we spent about a half-hour during lunchtime our first day standing on a highway bridge that spans the estuary and observed pods of large salmon entering the river mouth, and as best as I could tell they were all the same dark tone as the one in the picture. So, while I could be wrong, I'm pretty sure the Kings start their run already quite colored... /daytripper |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
DaveS wrote:
On Oct 16, 2:11 pm, rw wrote: I'd say it was around midway between fresh and spawned out. A fresh king has a silvery color, an active spawner is bright red, and, like you say, a spawned-out one is patchy. Nice fish. -- Cut "to the chase" for my email address.- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Even when they are comming out of a fresh water lake? (Question, RW, not a criticism) Tripper, didn't you live on Hood Canal once upon a time? Dave I've only fished for kings (sea-run) in Alaska. Can't vouch for freshwater lakes. Are they not silver colored coming out of the lakes? BTW, do these fish spawn successfully, or are they all hatchery fish? -- Cut "to the chase" for my email address. |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
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OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
On Thu, 16 Oct 2008 16:00:19 -0700, rw
wrote: I've only fished for kings (sea-run) in Alaska. Can't vouch for freshwater lakes. Are they not silver colored coming out of the lakes? BTW, do these fish spawn successfully, or are they all hatchery fish? Most of the fish in the river are indeed hatchery products, but according to the NY DEC, there is some degree of natural spawning as well. They reserve the uppermost half mile of the river below the controlling reservoir dam for this purpose (no fishing allowed - and the DEC cops keep an eye on anyone venturing above the demarcation lines) and there are tributaries that are loaded with spawners this time of year. There are also some thin backwater sections of the river that veer off the main stem and return that are reserved for spawners, though some of those we noticed the No Fishing markings were missing this year... /daytripper |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
On Oct 16, 11:33*am, daytripper wrote:
On Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:31:19 -0700 (PDT), " wrote: Chasing *that* fish over the usual Salmon River bottom?? *Wow. *Is Melinda's shop still open? Melinda's shop is indeed still open and apparently doing just fine. In fact, on the first day Dave P. discovered his ancient, well-creased waders were springing multiple unfixable leaks and picked up a new pair of Dan Bailey's for fairly cheap money (discontinued model) there, and I replaced a rotting pair of gaitors as well. She's also a willing and eager co-conspirator: Paul and I pulled our favorite prank and told her that Dave was keeping all the steelies he caught, upon which she gave him a haranguing while threatening him with a rod tube. Poor bastid didn't know wtf was happening. Great fun! :-) /daytripper I'm jealous, wish I coulda made it up there this year... |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
On Oct 16, 1:58*pm, daytripper wrote:
On Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:09:02 -0500, Ken Fortenberry wrote: daytripper wrote: I'm baaaaaaack. And holy crap this group has gone plumb crazy without me! ;-) snip Yeah, we miss your steady demeanor and calming influence. You're like a virtual cigarette soothing roff's nerves. ;-) Thanks. I knew you'd miss me most ;-) Damn, that is one ugly, friggin' fish. It looks like it's on it's last legs and about to expire right in front of the camera. Do those things live to spawn another day or is that a dead fish swimming ? That's actually a fairly fresh king on this river. When they first hit the estuary they're already colored pretty dark. Beat fish have a mottled appearance - lots of random light yellowish-tan patches that stick out like the dickens, and their fins show degrees of damage from struggling upstream. As could be seen, this one had none of those signs - it's in virtually perfect condition. And judging by how quickly he took off when released, he had plenty of gas left... /daytripper Supposedly the strain(s) that were picked for the Great Lakes tend to wait longer to begin their spawning migration than most others. If this is true, my guess is that this was done because GL feeders tend to be small and very short, at least when compared to the Northwest rivers. |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
On Oct 16, 2:55*pm, notbob wrote:
On 2008-10-16, daytripper wrote: It's usually a dead-giveaway that a salmon is foul-hooked when it is doing cartwheels across the stream, whereas a fair-hooked fish will usually try to bull its way out. Generally, people will try to long-line release or simply break-off a fish once it's obvious the fish isn't fair-hooked. Hmmm. *I would have thought a fish that is foul-hooked ....what I call gut hooked.... would be kept for eating as there's a good chance it will die, anyway. *Your reply would seem to countradict that. *Am I mistaken? *If so, how? *Thank you for your previous enlightening reply. nb People who keep salmon almost always smoke them. Personally, I don't think that the salmon meat at this stage is all that good, it often has a mealy texture and doesn't really taste like what you would expect. Smoking it helps overcome that. |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
On Oct 16, 5:11*pm, rw wrote:
daytripper wrote: On Thu, 16 Oct 2008 11:09:02 -0500, Ken Fortenberry wrote: daytripper wrote: I'm baaaaaaack. And holy crap this group has gone plumb crazy without me! ;-) snip Yeah, we miss your steady demeanor and calming influence. You're like a virtual cigarette soothing roff's nerves. ;-) Thanks. I knew you'd miss me most ;-) Damn, that is one ugly, friggin' fish. It looks like it's on it's last legs and about to expire right in front of the camera. Do those things live to spawn another day or is that a dead fish swimming ? That's actually a fairly fresh king on this river. When they first hit the estuary they're already colored pretty dark. Beat fish have a mottled appearance - lots of random light yellowish-tan patches that stick out like the dickens, and their fins show degrees of damage from struggling upstream. As could be seen, this one had none of those signs - it's in virtually perfect condition. And judging by how quickly he took off when released, he had plenty of gas left... I'd say it was around midway between fresh and spawned out. A fresh king has a silvery color, an active spawner is bright red, and, like you say, a spawned-out one is patchy. Nice fish. -- Cut "to the chase" for my email address. It looks like that red color disappeared once these fish were stocked in the Great Lakes: I have never seen a red one. These turn bronze, become increasingly dark, some to the point of almost being black, and then become mottled as Dave said. |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
On Oct 16, 12:14*am, daytripper wrote:
Paul G, Dave P and I spent the better part of a week fishing the Salmon River in upstate New York, and through dead lucky timing ended up on the river during the better part of the salmon run. Looks as though I'll miss you by a week this year. I'll let you know how we fare by comparison. I'll raise a glass to you at the Altmar Hotel. It's Malinda's again for us. Tastefully seedy, but comfortable. Joe F. |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
On Oct 17, 2:17*pm, rb608 wrote:
On Oct 16, 12:14*am, daytripper wrote: Paul G, Dave P and I spent the better part of a week fishing the Salmon River in upstate New York, and through dead lucky timing ended up on the river during the better part of the salmon run. Looks as though I'll miss you by a week this year. *I'll let you know how we fare by comparison. *I'll raise a glass to you at the Altmar Hotel. *It's Malinda's again for us. *Tastefully seedy, but comfortable. Joe F. ..... and a good place to party.... |
OMG - It's On Topic! We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
On Oct 18, 3:08*am, "
wrote: .... and a good place to party.... Alas, we were too few and too tired to incur the wrath of the innkeeper this year. :-) TR in progress. Joe F. |
On Topic:! OMG - We Went, We Fished, We Caught Monsters!
On Oct 21, 5:46*am, rb608 wrote:
Sorting Dave |
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