CTFishTalk.com: Salmon River 10/13 -10/16 - Connecticut Out of State Reports ( CT Out of State Reports ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

Cd662 · Joined: 03 Mar 2012 Posts: 91

I hit the Salmon River this week with a bit of trepidation. I've heard of all the slow reports from the internet and from word of mouth, but you never know what you're going to get up there. In general, fishing was consistently slow. The only day that I saw fish consistently moving in appreciable numbers was my last day there, on Thursday. There was a lot of rain the night before and I was one of the only people on a section of river for sunrise while the rain was still coming down. Surprisingly, I never saw a big fish movement. I was getting pretty discouraged but by mid day, there were enough fish for people to play with.

On Columbus Day, I hiked down Orwell Brook (through the corn field) and I didn't see anything. I should have stuck around until night fall but I was pretty tired from the drive. There weren't a lot of fish there, I didn't personally see any. A few guys had one or two on stringers and mentioned that there were a few in the morning, and that was it. Some guys in a group I was with said Ellis Cove had some fish before nightfall.

Most of the rest of the trip my group fished Ellis Cove. One day I fished the North Trestle Pool and hiked into Orwell and managed to find a straggler fish resting under a tree. Aside from that, there was only a smattering of fish. As per usual, there were a few fish around towards night fall, but it was really strange. I've never seen people just sitting around on trees and talking, or not fishing at all. The hookup ratio was insanely miniscule at times. You'd look up and down the river and there wouldn't be a single bent rod. On Tuesday and Wednesday, there were some Steelhead moving through the area. A guy I know caught a few Steelhead at the Staircase, and some other guys in my group hooked Steelies at Ellis Cove on fly rods. I didn't see any, but I was mostly targeting salmon.

I'm not an expert on this but the run could be late. A lot of things were late this year. The fish looked a lot fresher than they did last year. I imagine some of the fish are ready since they were exhibiting spawning behavior, but the females didn't seem as ripe as ones I caught in the past.

Unfortunately, I didn't catch any Cohos, but a guy in my group got a nice fresh one. He doesn't keep any fish so he let it go. I managed 7 Kings altogether, and landed another one that I released since it was foul hooked. The biggest one was 19 pounds, the second largest was 19. I had to particularly good fights, and I run 10 pound test so it's enough to get your heart pounding. I have to give a lot of credit to the Pink Ande line. There were a few times I was trying to break off foul hooked fish and the line wouldn't snap. I hooked a male in the back, it was around 15 pounds. I have the rod vertical, the drag cinched down, holding the top of the reel while pulling straight back. The line didn't break, I ended up pulling the fish towards me. It took about 5 tries to get t he line to break. I didn't replace it after that, and there were always little knicks and abrasions in the line from rocks and going through bushes. I imagine it could have been an issue with a trophy fish but for the average salmon that were there, it was fine.

salvatore514 · Joined: 31 Oct 2014 Posts: 4

i run 12 lb to a 10lb leader, couldnt imagine going any lower than that especially when the salmon are running good

Cd662 · Joined: 03 Mar 2012 Posts: 91

I know most of the Steelhead crowd runs a little lighter. There's just so many variables involved in the feasibility of landing a salmon on lighter line. Smaller Kings, Cohos, Steelhead, and Browns probably aren't an issue on 8 pound test. 6 pound would probably require some patience and room, I know sometimes you have to go to 6 for Steelies. I couldn't imagine landing a 30 pound King on 8 pound test though, unless there wasn't anyone around you.

I went back for a day trip and it was pretty slow about two weeks ago, I got two Kings. I saw a lot of dead Steelhead, unfortunately. I think they were overplayed and never resuscitated during release. Saw one Coho in a small creek and a few Kings, it was pretty dead. I'm really tempted to go back but I don't know what the fishing is like right now.

RLoutdoors · Joined: 12 Aug 2013 Posts: 74 Location: Stamford, CT

I just came back from a Fri-Sun trip this Halloween weekend. The word... slow.

I primarily fished the lower/upper fly zone both Saturday and Sunday. The wind was a big factor. There were tons of leaves in the river. Saturday I managed to hook up on 5 fish, but did not land anything. One being a beautiful Coho that took about 10 leaps right in front of me then decided to spit the hook. Sunday morning proved to be the best fishing, landing 2 steelhead out of about 6 more hook ups. Most fish were on a black fly and egg sucking pattern.

Sunday afternoon we were looking to fill the cooler with some king fillets. We chased a few in the back creeks by the trestle pool. Spotted three BIG kings in some small water, but couldnt get on them without spooking.

Gonna wait until after thanksgiving before I go back for some more steelies.