Joined: 17 Jul 2011 Posts: 245 Location: East Hartford, CT
Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2014 9:22 pm Post subject: Salmon?
Anyone have any experience fishing for broodstock atlantics in the shetucket? Been thinkin about goin this season for em, but don't know where to start. Locations? Baits? Fly or spinning. Any info would help get me started so im not walkin onto the battle field with a blindfold on _________________ ...of all the liars among mankind, the fisherman is the most trustworthy.
Nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught.
I just posted same topic somewhere and was hoping it would hit this thread. Although I don't have any catching experience I have been doing a lot of research in last few months in hopes to land my first Atlantic Salmon. The shetucket has been recently stocked in the fall and in December with salmon up to 20 lbs. At this point in their life cycle they have spawned and are holding over their beds to protect the hatch. They do not actively feed at this point but will slam anything that threatens their beds. They are named salmo salir (the leaper). They will hit your lure ferociously and Sprint on long runs to and away from you for which you better be ready to pick up the slack fast or have enough 20-30lb braid if you don't want to lose the 30lb salmon of a life time. When they leap which they will, tension is a must because they will try to spit that hook. For spinning, try a 7' - 8' rod with fast action and plenty of backbone, a reel loaded with 20-30lb braid and a fast retrieve will ensure you have brought your best weapon possible. As far as the eye can see people have favored spoons, gold, silver, foil, skirted, etc avoid nickel have been sure producers, as for size, well the bigger the better in hops to aggravate a monster. Don't forget a solid leader of floro or mono tied with a modified albright of at least 20lb test but I would opt for 30-40 lb to have all ends barred. For the fly outfit, again bring your A game. Here a size 3 to 4 reel with a floating line and a sinking tippet with again a solid leader up to 40 lbs, some may say overkill, but I'm not in it for sport, I'm in it to win it. As for a rod again pick a 8-10 wt with a fast action. Fly wise consider again they are not feeding at this point, the likely hood that they are going to be sipping nymphs or caddis off the top of the water it's nil. You would fare well to pick a large streamer up to 6 - 8" to mimic the fish in the river. I've heard that solid white or black will produce best but I can guess a trout or pike or eel pattern would piss the best of the protecting parents off. Remember regulations change by the month, in the shetucket you can only fish for salmon between the occum and slocum dam in what they call the brood stock region. You may only keep one fish and must fish with a single free swinging hook attached to your lure and no additional weight can be added to your line. I would be out there right now but I have lost my license for a DUI, and can't find friends willing to drive from Newport. Remember everyone be safe, check the regulations, and do not drink and drive. Please post back if the rivers are completely frozen over in said areas or not. Good luck -Nick, Newport
I fish for wild, sea run atlantic salmon (Canada and Russia), landlocked salmon and broodstock salmon. I use pretty similar tactics and flies for all of them. I wrote a detailed primer for CT brood stock salmon fly fishing (in rivers) for my blog, mainly geared towards those who are new to it or want to polish up their game a bit. I fish CT salmon in the autumn only, for the most part. I try to post reports after most trips to the river. Read through the old reports…lots of tips not in the the primers. Flies and tactics change with the season and with changing conditions. Large flies are actually the exception more than the rule. I catch more salmon on various wet flies from size 2 to size 10 than anything else (#6 Mickey Finn being the best, year in and year out). They'll even take dry flies under the right conditions, believe it or not. Feel free to check it out and ask questions if you have them.
June 2012 on the Kola River in northwestern Russia, 250 miles north of the arctic circle (near the borders of Norway and Finland). My Russian friends captured the second half of this scrap…I was fishing the pool alone…they came running up with the camera after the first couple of big runs…tough fish!
Joined: 28 Jan 2012 Posts: 3823 Location: Bridgeport
Posted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 8:38 pm Post subject:
It looks like those wild salmon sure do fight for their size!
I've seen similar videos of people fighting monster seeforellens.
My personal best 3.8 pound rainbow trout and a 3 pound brown were caught on Opening Day 2010 and both were peeling 6 pound line out and being acrobatic. I was on a canoe with somebody else and we were being pulled.
Yeah, those Kola fish are brutes. Far less acrobatic than most Canadian salmon I've caught, but far stronger. I was using 25# test Maxima for tippet and had the drag set to nearly maximum tension (I don't usually keep it there, but you almost have to when fishing the tails of these pools for fear they'll decide to leave and run into the rapids...game over). It was hard for me to pull line out of the reel, but the salmon had absolutely no problems peeling it off for me.
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