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