[Randy Jones]

Salmon River Pulaski NY Drift Boat Guide Fishing Report for today is. On the Salmon River in Pulaski NY look for more fresh Salmon to enter and run this come'n week. Many anglers are finding the fishing slooow, presently - but not all!
Thursday we saw a slight increase of small pods of fresh fish entering the lower end, Ye-Haa! Tick - tick.
Friday, Repeat of Thursday in the lower end. Small Pods moving thru.
As usual -
1. Right spot
2. Right presentation
3. Right rigging, you played with some fish. Maybe even hitting a "Grand Slam". Otherwise it was tuff! This statement hold's true for the entire river.
By putting the above together consistently, will help put you into the 10% that catch 90% of the fish, even if the fishing is on the slow side
I've personally been happy with the fishing at present. 4-8 Salmon everytime out fishing with friends over this last month. We found them all in the prime holding habitat.
(If we put 1 - 3 together, we found some fish to play with. If not, we didn't - yukyuk)

If I was fishing the river this weekend or next week. I would fish the largest, deepest, major holes from the top of the river to the bottom and try to stay in the fast water, you'll be glad you did!

Or, I might fish the lower river and hope for a good run of fresh Salmon entering it. Sometimes its like a box of chocolates down there, never know.

Or, go for a walk, you'll be glad you did! Try some of there Transitional holding water's mid-day, especially with all this sun.

Humor - If yer sit'n on yer favorite rock, waiting for Salmon to come rooster tailing up the rapids into your spot, it might be a looong wait. All you'll catch is probably a SORE BUTT! - yukyuk (But, yer never know....

In the Salmon River Pulaski NY we have mostly Coho Salmon, King Salmon and a few Steelhead, Brown Trout, Atlantic Salmon and lot's of those TROPHY Chub's!

Lower River - Over the last week, we have seen small pods of fresh King and Coho Salmon entering the lower Salmon River daily.

Lake O. - Larger #'s of Salmon staging closer to the mouth of the Salmon River in the Lake.

Estuary - Drift boats in the Estuary are doing good on Salmon, especially at night. A few more Salmon being spotted in the Estuary as it is loading up.

Entire River, top to bottom - All the Salmon that entered the river over the last 1-1/2 mo's. are spread out, top to bottom of the river and are in the major pools. Minor pools have a few in them, top to bottom of the river. Couple on that special rock. We have a sprinkling of Salmon that are Transitioning up the river also. Lil bit of everything. Look for things to improve on a weekly basis, sometimes daily.

The BEST complementary fishing tip I could give you presently:
It helps if your fishing to fish - yukyuk. I'd fish where WE KNOW, we have the largest concentrations. (Jus my opionion and yours may differ

I Wonder?
I wonder if the Hatchery folks are anxious about getting all there egg's for their quota?
I wonder if the powers that be, might be considering a higher water flow to help to bring in more fish to help with their egg quotas?
I wonder if the powers that be, might be considering a higher water flow to help to bring in more fish for you?
Hmmmmmm...................It wouldn't surprise me in the least, if they did raise the water levels in the near future to achieve all of the above.
You heard it here, first! yukyuk

Water is forecast @ 350 cfs, dont see much of a change coming up, but yer never know
Weather - Clear sailing with lows in the 50's and high's in the lower 70's.

Week in Review:
Sun. - Slooowest day, down low on the river this Sept. from my credible fishing report guide friend. Didn't even see one fish rooster tailing up the rapids. His clients didn't touch a fish. His gets the fish running by him in the morning, that came in last night.
Hopefully they are doing better below him with fresh fish that entered the mouth of the river this morning? He his grabbing his drift boat now to try someplace else.
We have some low light and are getting some rain now, so hopefully that will help!

Mon. - Water came up 40 cfs due to run-off @ Pineville with a lil more water below it, after yesterdays rain. Might get some more moving? Low light until Tues. morning, which always helps!
The report from the lower river, from a credible guide source said the fishing was a lil better than the last few down there. His 1 client landed a BIG Coho, BIG King Salmon and lost a bright fresh steelhead.
5 other anglers who were being guided next to him, hit 3-4 fish at first light and that was it for them. He also said he could see a bent rod once in awhile up and down the river. Not bad and an improvement! I'd guess the small increase in the water flow from run-off helped!

Tues. - Same ol same hole, down low, duplicate of yesterday, slow for most, but not all. Few fish played with here and there. Beats a sharp stick in the eye - yukyuk!
Today's Complementary Guide Tip:
If fishing down low. Get a good spot where the fish will rest at as they run in the morning. Around 10 am. start to move and cover all the prime transitional resting locations where most (few presently) will be at middle of the day, until the next low light period. With this present weather pattern of sun, most will stop there run mid - morning and hold in these locations. Or, fish any of the larger pools on the river.

Wed. - Dead in the lower end. A credible source with one of the best spots reported in that his client didn't touch a fish in the first 4 hour's of the morning and that he didn't see any fish moving. Hopefully they had more action above or below him.

Thurs. - Best day in the lower end of the river in the last 4-5 days. 3 of my guide friends clients each played with 4-6 fish, thru out the day in the lower end. We'd call it a steady trickle, with one here, few over that's way and a couple over this'a way. Noticeable increase.
At this time of the year, this usually means a more steady flow and better #'s of fresh fish entering the river daily, running it and spreading out. Ye-Haa!

Fri. - Repeat of Thursday in lower end. Small Pods moving thru.

Sat. - I Couldn't go fishing today because of YOU! (yukyuk) Its my scheduled day off the water to work in the home office to post all this fish porn for you. (Feel'n guilty? Didn't think soooooo......

Complementary Guide Tip: (specific places)
Approx. % of fish we are visually seeing and counting in each type of Habitat, over most of the river, almost daily, off my drift boat and others.

15% Transitional Stage - Transitional Resting - Where the fish rest at temporarily while in a transitional mode (running the river) and also Prime Transitional Holding - Where the fish will hold for the entire day (usually mid-day) after they have stopped running that morning.

85% Prime Non-Transitional Holding - Where they will sit for an extended period of time (days and sometimes an entire month) before there biological clock tells them to find a mate and special rock.

?% on that special rock. Normally we will start to see a few transitioning from the deeper pool's onto that special rock.

90% of the fish are caught by 10% of the anglers.
90% of the fish go through 10% of the river.
As Lou Tabory once said, there is a lot of empty water out there.

Crystal Ball Salmon River NY Fishing Forecast:
We will continue to see more Salmon enter, run, spread out and hold in the Salmon River NY.

Nice Current Promotional Piece for Fishing the Salmon River NY:
Another fall fishing extravaganza that should be enjoyed by every Connecticut fisherman is the salmon/steelhead fishing in neighboring New York State. Pulaski, N.Y., is the hot spot of my day as I glance to my right while typing and remember the day I caught the 15-pound brown trout hanging on my office wall. Yes, big browns are also a part of the Lake Ontario fishing experience as they mix with the salmon and steelies running up the Salmon River and other streams from September until long after the snow flies. Most Connecticut tackle shops are well-versed in the equipment and methods utilized in this fishery and are happy to help prepare for a trip.

The drive to Pulaski takes about four hours, so its good to plan for a few days. I also recommend that first-timers hook up with experienced anglers or hire a guide. There are also plenty of tackle shops in that area which will happily outfit you or make arrangements for a guide or you can do it over the internet simply by googling Pulaski steelhead fishing to see a wide list of guides and services.

While some guides work the Salmon River from shore, a drift-boat trip is a great way to begin as well. These trips usually combine wading the river and fishing from the boat itself, but guides can get you to the fish as they stage along the river. Neither is Pulaski the only spot as many rivers and streams along Lake Ontario and other of the Great lakes offer similar fishing.

Right now, salmon and brown trout are the dominant species in the river. Steelhead will follow in late October and fishing continues until the deep freeze turns the river to slush. Weather plays an important part in controlling water levels, so be sure to check with a source that knows before making the long drive.

Battling salmon and steelhead is fresh water fishing that many anglers only dream about. The New York experience brings this unforgettable fishing home for many Connecticut anglers at affordable prices. Anglers who don't take advantage of trips like Rhode Island for salt water and New York for salmon and steelhead are really missing out.
(Credit - http://www.thehour.com/sports/outdoor/fishing-plus-enjoy-all-the-season-offers/article_a7ed5753-285e-5170-b531-9262c6a3f8c6.html

Today's Humor

Salmon River Baptism:
Dr. Howard Beemer did a swan dive into the deep dark, fish filled waters of the river today. Everyone clapped and gave him scores of 6's and 7's for style and grace. Howard did feel a lil slighted on the scores. He thought it was at least a solid 10.
There was so much water in Howard's waders that when he regained his composer, the water level of the river dropped by at least a foot. After he dumped all the water out of his waders, the water level went back to normal.
I snuck the below picture before Howard saw me.
After he noticed the flash of the camera from across the river, he hollered, HEY RANDY and gave me a not so flattering middle finger salute.

Todd was honored and flattered to receive the distinguished award of being the first person I know of to fall in the river 4 (that's not a typo) 4 times in a day while tight to a fish!
When interviewed at the awards ceremony afterwards he was asked, what happened?
His response was, well, I fell but didn't think of the cold water up to my chin, or the cold water hitting my private parts. All I could think of was, I've got to land this fish! So I jumped up and was rewarded with the biggest Salmon of my life!
He then added; if I had to do it all over again, I would!

Fish Tail's:
Im planning on making a BIG time investment for next years Salmon Fishing. I will be offering E-Commerce products from this site. The first item will be a custom autographed pair of Salmon River Baptism - "Adult Water Wings".
All of my clients will be expected to wear them for next year. My guests who fell in this year will be required to wear 2 on each arm next year while fishing

Theory of Skeinitivity
Interesting Skein Thought's from a World Traveling Fishing Professional:
Jeff Pierce

Jeff, why is it those Salmon come to the Skein so well, when we have all been taught over the years that Salmon do NOT eat when they enter into a river system?

Theory of Skeinitivity
I wish I knew but if I had to guess it would have to be scent and taste. I can tell you that there are guys around me using eggs sacs and they catch 1 fish for every 15 that I hook into. There are now some who have watched me these past 3 years hammering fish on skein and are now fishing skein themselves. They use store bought cures and they do pretty well. The cure my buddy from Oregon sends me however out fishes the skein that everyone else is fishing.

Here's why I think it's scent. Egg sacs put very little scent into the water. Skein is oozing/milking the whole time you're fishing it (and it's moving). If you drift a hole with washed out skein you might not get a bite in 20 drifts. Almost every time you put a fresh piece on and run the same drift, you get a take. The real neat thing is when you miss a fish once or even twice. We have found that that fish (assuming it's that same fish when the float goes down in the exact same spot) will take a chunk of skein repeatedly until they feel the hook. Yesterday I had a bit of a tangle so on two consecutive drifts I could not reel up the slack and set the hook when the float went down in the same spot. I took the time to fix the line, rebaited and ran the same drift. When the float got to the same spot, bam, the float went under and a 25lb hen King was on. Also, if you just let the float go under and do not set the hook the fish will totally swallow the bait. Sunday I was proving the point that the Salmon will eat so when my float went down I did nothing for 10 seconds. I then reeled up the slack and had a nice 20-25lb hen King. When I landed her the line went down her throat and you could not even see the hook.
We hook several Kings like this. It seems as though once they get a taste they want more.

I don't think it's aggression because we catch just as many hens as we do males and the hens are rarely aggressive when in the rivers, they leave that up to the males.
Color - I can tell you that I do best with a deep flame pink/red color but orange does work at times. But, there can be guys fishing egg sacs the same color as my skein and they are not catching fish.
The area I fish is pretty murky most of the time so they must smell it before they can see it.

Yes, the fish are "supposed to stop eating" when they hit the river but they are definitely eating the skein. We never foul hook a fish and the fish are not getting flossed as most are hooked well inside the mouth. In the past three years I have introduced several buddies to this fishing and all of them are in complete awe that the Salmon come to this skein so well. They said that they would never have believed the Salmon would eat something so well once in the river if they had not seen it themselves. How can you not be amazed when you hook up 30 or more Kings and Steelhead in 3 or 4 hours of fishing and no one else is catching anything. Yesterday my buddy and I landed a total of 17 fish in 2.5 hours and we only saw 4 other fish landed (all but 1 foul hooked) total among the 20+ other anglers. It's like this every single time we go there.

You really need to come over here on a day off (if you ever have one to spare) and see for yourself, you'll be amazed.

Today's Mail Bag: Skein Continuation -
Hi Randy, I enjoyed the info you posted about fishing with skein and floats. My friends and I have used skein for years and it does trigger salmon hits. Today I fished a backwater pool at Oswego, using the skein and bobber. I caught the same salmon three times (in the mouth each time). It was a fairly fresh male Coho, but I've used skein for trout as well. So much for the theory that salmon don't really hit....
I enjoy all your postings and yours is the first web site my friends and I look at when we cruise the net.
Thanks for all the good info.. Fred

Hi Randy,
I can add to your article about Salmon Skein fishing. In Alaska (where I guided Kings for 9 seasons) we did a lot of egg and bobber fishing. We also would even troll eggs! It is amazing what those things do to fish. We will use egg sacs early on when we do not have fresh skein, but once the run hits we only use globs of fresh skein, with a little bit of preservative in it. You must keep the eggs cool, and they must be kept clean and not allowed to sit in inches of water and fish slim for best results. Freezing is not a good idea.

If you get a quiet hole loaded with Kings you can get them in such a frenzy they will hit (yes a mean hit not you snagging them in the mouth) anything that is red colored. I have even watched 30 pounders come out of the water and take our bobber (colored red) under like it was a brook trout eating a dry fly. Egg skein on a quiet hole is amazing. If you keep the fighting fish out of the holding fish you can catch every last one of them out. One day I had guest catch a large male. He had two hooks already in his mouth from break offs only moments before. All of the hooks were on the inside of his mouth, and the size hook we use is a 1/0.

The egg skein as a King sees it is like a combination of some addictive drug and sex to us (no I'm not a drug user, but I assume from stories it does just stupid things to you). Anyway if you get the stuff in front of a King is amazing in terms of success. We even troll it by snelling a hook and having a jet plane diver several feet infront of that to take the eggs down. Then we just back troll it down a run, hole, or slot, and bang as soon as it gets in front of some big old king you got it going on!

A huge problem with it is you have to kill a lot of female fish in order to have enough skein to fish all day. IF everyone on the salmon river were to fish skein, I do not think there would be any females getting to the hatchery. It is really sad that lots of female fish have to get harvested because they are going to get used as bait. Despite it's great effect on fishing I think it might have very catastrophic effects on the King fishery on the salmon river. I have not read the rules but is it even legal on the Salmon River? Have you ever tried fishing with it?

I guess you may not want to use this on the web because many people may actually try using skein, which might be the greatest fish catcher ever, but it also takes the lives of a lot of fish that might otherwise get caught several times and go on to be used as a brood fish.
Tight Lines, Todd

Jeff, Fred and Todd, Thanks a bunch for you professional insight on this fish catching technique. Im sure a few folks will try it and have success with it. I've never used it on our Kings, but it does produce! Especially in the Estuary of the Salmon River. It is a hammer for steelhead!
(FYI - Everyone, please read the Reg. book as it relates to Salmon River NY. Egg taking, fish cleaning and egg possession amounts, also if there is anything new Ive missed. Dont want to see any of you getting a "dummy" ticket

The below Water Release and Forecast Graph's are what I look @ every morning before heading out the door to guide you. You should also check them for many reason's. MOST important, Your life... could depend on it!
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ny/nwis/uv/?site_no=04250200 - This is a "live" water level gauge at Pineville, approx. 3 miles below the dam. Water level's will be a lil higher further down river from run-off and Trout Brook's influence.
http://www.h2oline.com/default.aspx?pg=si&op=365123 - Check this for water forecast's. Please remember that this is ONLY a forecast and water levels could be different.
NORTH BRANCH SALMON RIVER AT REDFIELD NY
Here is a "live" gauge on one of the feeder streams - branches that run into the Salmon River Res. system. http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=04249200 It gives you an idea of run-off. Heard a rumor that in the future we might get another live internet gauge on the other branch?

The lights go out but the river does not sleep. There be monsters in there, and I'll try again tomorrow.

I sincerely hope that what little I've been able to share with you will help you along the path to more enjoyable, safe and knowledgeable fishing.
May the wind be at your back, blue skies ahead and all your door knobs smell of BIG fish!
Randy Jones