TR: Salmon R., other stuff

Okay, first of all, I took a dive (on dry land, fortunately) that
would make Frank proud. Trucking back to the road at a good pace
along the streamside path, my Korker caught a lump of grass, and I
pitched forward. Tried to get my leg under me again, but with the
added weight of wading boots & Korkers, I just didn’t clear the lump;
and I was going down as if someone had grabbed both my ankles. And I
mean going down fast. Often, these little experiences happen in slow
motion, but I was 6’’ from the ground before I knew what was
happening. I had the presence of mind to toss the rod clear just
before my chest slammed into the rock. Damn, I haven’t hit the ground
that hard since I was much younger. I didn’t even get my arms down to
break my fall; it was chest, meet earth. Oof. Had to sit up & take
stock of myself after that one; but except for some right side chest
pain on deep breaths, I seem to have suffered no lasting ill effects.
Needless to say, I’m told it was a quite amusing spectacle for the non-
participants.

Next, it was friggin cold on Sunday morning. Yeah, I knew this in
advance and dressed accordingly, but even with all of the warm gear,
the chill was beginning to seep through by the time Mr. Sun crept over
the horizon. The mist off the river, as always, was beautiful in the
morning light. By 9 or 10, we were starting to peel off the layers.

Also, Storytellers in Pulaski was closed. WTF? First the C&M goes
belly up, now this? We were reduced to dinner at the Altmar Hotel
which, no aspersions intended, is a fine place to eat lunch.

Lastly, kudos to the NYDEC for the rule changes and enforcement for
the ffo stretch. No more lead chuckers using fly rods to circumvent
the intent of ”ffo”. A couple guys got busted while we were there.
The ffo stretch was noticeable less crowded and more pleasant. It was
a pleasure watching other guys actually fly fish for a change.

Joe F.

On Tue, 21 Oct 2008 06:43:42 -0700 (PDT), rb608
wrote:
[...]

Lastly, kudos to the NYDEC for the rule changes and enforcement for
the ffo stretch. No more lead chuckers using fly rods to circumvent
the intent of ”ffo”. A couple guys got busted while we were there.
The ffo stretch was noticeable less crowded and more pleasant. It was
a pleasure watching other guys actually fly fish for a change.

Joe F.

I agree with all that - and glad that the fish cops are still on patrol to
enforce the new regs. We saw almost none of the carnage of past years - with
the notable exception of the scene at the trestle (which was still just as
ugly as always).

Speaking of enforcement officers, apparently I *almost* got in trouble at the
very top of the upper FFO section one afternoon. I was standing about 20 feet
below the wire denoting the end of the legal fishing zone when I saw a salmon
roll less than five feet above the wire.

Unbeknownst to me, Paul had just spotted a fish cop with a video camera
trained on me - probably just waiting for me to cast upstream of that wire. I
had just rolled out about a 30 foot cast to the middle of the river when I saw
the salmon above the wire, so I pulled the line up and in one motion aimed
towards that salmon above me - and promptly draped about five feet of leader
over the wire. Whoops!

Once I got the leader off the wire I gave up on that salmon. Paul said the
fish cop put his camera down with a look of disgust ;-)

/daytripper (bad casts happen)

On Tue, 21 Oct 2008 06:43:42 -0700 (PDT), rb608
wrote:

Okay, first of all, I took a dive (on dry land, fortunately) that
would make Frank proud. Trucking back to the road at a good pace
along the streamside path, my Korker caught a lump of grass, and I
pitched forward. Tried to get my leg under me again, but with the
added weight of wading boots & Korkers, I just didn’t clear the lump;
and I was going down as if someone had grabbed both my ankles. And I
mean going down fast. Often, these little experiences happen in slow
motion, but I was 6’’ from the ground before I knew what was
happening. I had the presence of mind to toss the rod clear just
before my chest slammed into the rock. Damn, I haven’t hit the ground
that hard since I was much younger. I didn’t even get my arms down to
break my fall; it was chest, meet earth. Oof. Had to sit up & take
stock of myself after that one; but except for some right side chest
pain on deep breaths, I seem to have suffered no lasting ill effects.
Needless to say, I’m told it was a quite amusing spectacle for the non-
participants.
[...]

I missed replying to this part earlier: the three of us spent a day early in
our stay down in the DSR, looking for the bulk of the run (which, we
determined, was way back upstream already). In any case, on the walk down to
the Meadows Pool, Dave P. slipped on the trail and did a complete full layout
in a mud hole the likes of which I've rarely seen. This stuff was like really
thick vanilla pudding and the hole was at least half a foot deep - so when
Dave finally arose, his entire front was completely coated with the stuff,
from hat to boots. It was a hilarious spectacle to behold.

When we came to a small side flow Paul and I kept walking, but Dave stopped
there to try to shed about ten pounds of mud. The two of us were already
fishing for a half hour and he still hadn't caught up to us yet, so while Paul
kept fishing I walked back on the trail to find Dave. Eventually I found him,
mostly cleaned up, and dragged his sorry, muddy self down to the Meadows...

/daytripper (I gotta get me a fishing camera ;-)

On Oct 21, 5:12*pm, daytripper wrote:
On Tue, 21 Oct 2008 06:43:42 -0700 (PDT), rb608
wrote:
Dave P. slipped on the trail and did a complete full layout
in a mud hole the likes of which I've rarely seen.

It's all fun and games until somebody loses an eye. :-)

As a continuation of the slipping and falling theme, I'll add that I
was having a lot of trouble keeping my footing in the water on
Saturday & Sunday. I'm usually quite sure-footed, and I was beginning
to consider the passing years as the reason for my unsteadiness until
I gave some serious thought to my Korkers. They're pretty old, and
almost half the studs are gone; but I thought the many that remained
would do the job. In taking a critical, strategic look at them,
however, it was clear that the studs I relied on most were among the
missing. By Sunday afternoon, I ditched 'em & relied on the felt
soles.

The difference was amazing. No wonder I was slipping, I was walking
on bare rubber. The wading boots alone brought me back to comfort &
confidence. Shoulda done that the first day.

Joe F.

On Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:55:33 -0700 (PDT), rb608
wrote:

On Oct 21, 5:12*pm, daytripper wrote:
On Tue, 21 Oct 2008 06:43:42 -0700 (PDT), rb608
wrote:
Dave P. slipped on the trail and did a complete full layout
in a mud hole the likes of which I've rarely seen.

It's all fun and games until somebody loses an eye. :-)

As a continuation of the slipping and falling theme, I'll add that I
was having a lot of trouble keeping my footing in the water on
Saturday & Sunday. I'm usually quite sure-footed, and I was beginning
to consider the passing years as the reason for my unsteadiness until
I gave some serious thought to my Korkers. They're pretty old, and
almost half the studs are gone; but I thought the many that remained
would do the job. In taking a critical, strategic look at them,
however, it was clear that the studs I relied on most were among the
missing. By Sunday afternoon, I ditched 'em & relied on the felt
soles.

The difference was amazing. No wonder I was slipping, I was walking
on bare rubber. The wading boots alone brought me back to comfort &
confidence. Shoulda done that the first day.

Joe F.

Dave P. didn't come equipped with studs. He spent the entire time on straight
felt - and all but the last day, the dam was running at 750CFS, and by my
calculations there was nearly double that flow from the lower FFO section and
below due to runoff from the tribs (it had rained fairly heavily before our
arrival). So the wading wasn't easy (unlike the extraordinarily low flows we
all experienced last year).

While I didn't spend a lot of time observing how well going studless was
working out for him, the only time I detected severe slippage was on that
trail ;-)

I bought these a couple of years ago and couldn't be more pleased with their
performance. They stick like a kitten on curtains, are very durable, and the
straps are much more secure than the laced models.

http://korkers.com/product.php?recKey=28

The first thing I did when they arrived was to unscrew all the carbide studs
and blue LokTite'd them back in (that's my O/C side talking). I checked them
at the end of our week, the third season I've used them: still haven't lost
any studs, and only two of the studs need replacing, so I've ordered a bag of
replacement studs (10 for $6).

I originally had bought a pair of the push-through studded Korkers cleats, not
being knowledgeable about such things. After one day on the river I had lost
over a dozen studs! Korkers customer service told me to return them to the
retailer and they'd credit his account, and recommended the threaded model
above...

/daytripper

On Oct 21, 9:33*pm, daytripper wrote:

the dam was running at 750CFS, and by my
calculations there was nearly double that flow from the lower FFO section and
below due to runoff from the tribs (it had rained fairly heavily before our
arrival).

IIRC, we had 335 cfs. Very manageable.

I bought these a couple of years ago and couldn't be more pleased with their
performance. They stick like a kitten on curtains, are very durable, and the
straps are much more secure than the laced models.

Thanks for the rec. I'm wondering if I could retrofit mine to
accept the screw-in stud replacements. OTOH, maybe I'll just spring
for a new pair, tho I'm pretty good at the laced model.

BTW and FWIW, we're looking at 10/23 thru 10/26 next year. Wanted the
week after Col. Day, but Malinda was booked.

Joe F

On Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:44:15 -0700 (PDT), rb608
wrote:

On Oct 21, 9:33*pm, daytripper wrote:

the dam was running at 750CFS, and by my
calculations there was nearly double that flow from the lower FFO section and
below due to runoff from the tribs (it had rained fairly heavily before our
arrival).

IIRC, we had 335 cfs. Very manageable.

I bought these a couple of years ago and couldn't be more pleased with their
performance. They stick like a kitten on curtains, are very durable, and the
straps are much more secure than the laced models.

Thanks for the rec. I'm wondering if I could retrofit mine to
accept the screw-in stud replacements. OTOH, maybe I'll just spring
for a new pair, tho I'm pretty good at the laced model.

BTW and FWIW, we're looking at 10/23 thru 10/26 next year. Wanted the
week after Col. Day, but Malinda was booked.

Joe F

I don't think there's any practical way to retrofit the soles, the receivers
for the studs are molded into the material, and in any case you'd have to find
something to act as the receiver.

I'll pass on those dates to Paul - our trip coordinator ;-) It sounds a little
later than might be optimal - would you consider staying at the Salmon Heaven
lodge if you could get in a couple of weeks earlier? It was roughly $45/nite
there. It might be just a tiny bit more upscale than Melinda's - but you'd get
used to it quickly ;-)

/daytripper

On Oct 21, 9:55*pm, daytripper wrote:
I'll pass on those dates to Paul - our trip coordinator ;-) It sounds a little
later than might be optimal - would you consider staying at the Salmon Heaven
lodge if you could get in a couple of weeks earlier?

I agree that it's past optimal, date-wise; but we have a long history
and friendship at Malinda's that I'd hate to give up. Also, the
steelhead fishing picks up a bit as the salmon fishing winds down, so
that's not a totally bad thing. Still, I'd expect her to tire of the
whole thing eventually. She works pretty long hours between the lodge
& the shop.

I've given an alternate location some thought & considered the SHL for
when Malinda throws in the towel. How many rooms do they have there?
I'd hate to book rooms & block you out for the dates. We do have a
standing policy of never going up on Columbus Day weekend because of
the crowds, & usually shoot for the week after rather than the week
before.

Joe F.

On Tue, 21 Oct 2008 20:26:04 -0700 (PDT), rb608
wrote:

On Oct 21, 9:55*pm, daytripper wrote:
I'll pass on those dates to Paul - our trip coordinator ;-) It sounds a little
later than might be optimal - would you consider staying at the Salmon Heaven
lodge if you could get in a couple of weeks earlier?

I agree that it's past optimal, date-wise; but we have a long history
and friendship at Malinda's that I'd hate to give up. Also, the
steelhead fishing picks up a bit as the salmon fishing winds down, so
that's not a totally bad thing. Still, I'd expect her to tire of the
whole thing eventually. She works pretty long hours between the lodge
& the shop.

I've given an alternate location some thought & considered the SHL for
when Malinda throws in the towel. How many rooms do they have there?
I'd hate to book rooms & block you out for the dates. We do have a
standing policy of never going up on Columbus Day weekend because of
the crowds, & usually shoot for the week after rather than the week
before.

Joe F.

I'm fairly sure Salmon Heaven has 6 guest rooms, ranging from the largest that
sleeps 6 to the smallest that sleeps two. All have their own bath room with
shower.

I've never been up there during Columbus Day weekend, but given how many peeps
are there on the other weekends in October, I don't doubt it'd be the wrong
weekend to be fishing the Salmon ;-) I think you might see more fish the
weekend before vs the weekend after, but with weather/rainfall playing a big
factor who knows for sure.

If it ever comes to the point that Melinda throws in the towel, don't worry
about displacing us out of Salmon Heaven. The owners once scrambled up a
camper for us to stay in for a weekend when a group over-stayed in our
scheduled room :-)

/daytripper