CTFishTalk.com: Pulaski NY -Steelhead Fishing-11/12/10 - Connecticut Out of State Reports ( CT Out of State Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

RobO · Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 285 Location: South Windsor

So I went up to the Salmon River up in Pulaski NY in hopes that I would catch a big Steelhead or brown trout. I went up with a buddy of mine from work. We stayed at a cabin (a two story shed in a back yard).

We started out on Friday morning with a guide on a drift boat. It cost $350 for 8 hours. We launched at 6am and were done by 2pm. At 6am the temperature was a cold 21 degrees and by 12pm it was 53 degrees. Let me tell you it is all about layering your clothes.

The guide had us float fishing a bead with 12 foot noodle rods. This proved to be quite a challenge at first for me since I am used to 5 foot ultra light poles. The technique is to basically keep all of your line out of the water (hence the long pole) while drifting your float and weighted down bead (salmon egg).

When a trout hits the bead you better be ready to set the hook because the trout will only take the bead in its mouth for a split second. I learned this the hard way as I was focusing too much on my technique and not enough on the float. I missed 3 strikes.

My buddy landed a 12 lb steelhead. It was a great fight and took a good 5 plus minutes to bring to the boat. Man, can those fish fight!

For 99% of the day I was not getting any hits while my buddy was getting hits left and right and hooking up with the monsters but losing them.

The last spot we hit at the end of our day, I caught a small brown trout 1 to 2 lbs and a small rainbow on the last cast, as the guide said: this is the last cast guys; time to pack it in”.

Overall, I am glad we took the drift boat as it allowed us to see much of the river we would have never seen on foot. The river is 12 miles long and we drifted about 7 miles.
It also allowed me to learn how to float a bead. I must say, I don’t enjoy float fishing that much and will attempt to bottom bounce (I like fishing that way) the next time we go up.

Our legs were tired and sore from standing in the boat fishing while trying to balance yourself as the boat moved.

The next day we tried a couple of different spots on foot. Same weather scenario as the day before. It was cold in the morning and warm in the afternoon. We both had 1 or 2 good strikes but were unable to land anything. Very slow day. We spoke with a bunch of guys who also were struggling those two days. Everyone seemed to agree that on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday the fishing was hot. Just my luck, the fishing died down on Thursday Friday and Saturday. (Asianfisher seemed to do very well on Saturday, too bad we didn’t hook up).

So to summarize a long story short:
Fishing was tough Mad

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Mornings were as cold as a witch’s tit Sad

,
The weather warmed up beautifully by afternoon,
Guide service is expensive Rolling Eyes

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And call and book a hotel room many months ahead if you plan on going up.

PS. I am determined so I hope to go back in April. Very Happy

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I'd rather be fishing, than sitting here in front of this computer,,,

asianfisher · Joined: 12 Jan 2009 Posts: 920

Man reading all you guys reports makes mine suck ass... RobO you dont need to wait to go back up there... You get some time and im free.. We could go up there... Let me know. As i will let you know if i get a chance to go back up before it gets way to cold...

DirtyDawg10 · Joined: 27 May 2009 Posts: 2238 Location: Granby, CT

Nice report RobO! At least you got some fish and learned something new about river fishing. What you liked and didn't like as well.

RobO · Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 285 Location: South Windsor

two replies..

Why do I even bother..
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I'd rather be fishing, than sitting here in front of this computer,,,

fishtrout24 · Joined: 12 Jan 2011 Posts: 131 Location: new milford ct

let me know i go up all the tim from pulaski ny to oak orchard river by niagra
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fish on