Hey guys, it’s well past “my turn” again on this whole reporting thing, but once again, I’m pretty sure John covered most of it all in his report here… We’ve been having a pretty darn good season overall if you knew what part(s) of the river to fish with some ups and downs deepening on conditions for sure.
At this point I’m sure you’ve seen enough Salmon photos to last you a while, so I’ve been letting the clients take a lot more of their own pictures and not worrying as much about getting them and then spending a bunch of time editing them down to acceptable jpeg levels for our website. (They have to be a certain size to upload on our site, a whole lot of cropping and re-sizing that John and I do behind the scenes for our reports here.) Anyway, forgive me if I left you out.
The good news is that there’s still a bunch of very nice pre-spawn fish in the system if you care to look for them in the right places and plenty that are spawning as well! “Salmon Season” is far from over…
I have, once again, blocked off October 14th to the 21st for my “mental health” week when I wind down from Salmon and maybe spend a few days solo or with friends in the lower river scouting for fresh Steelhead and Coho. I am not “ruling out” guiding during that time, but if you are interested in doing that you need to contact me directly so I know for certain that we are on the same page, and I might just want to go! (Some of those days are already reserved for my god daughter however…💖)
I found myself being very jealous the other day when I was upriver the first time this season because of a group trip (Gotta be a team player!) and saw some anglers hooking a few nice Steelhead, Coho and/or Trout while we were doing battle with some nice fresh kings and I’m ok with that, but my point is that it’s not too early to switch gears now if you actually want to? Looked like a lot of fun, but it does require some patience and persistence quite often this early…
Skein is still working great, but I would hope that you get it from a cleaning station, bait vendor or a friend that actually kept some fish to eat rather than me seeing gutted out hens along the banks and in the river that were killed strictly for their eggs. That is an actual problem and the only one I’ve ever really had with this method/technique.
Large beads (Soft and hard) under bobbers is another technique that’s been working well for “biters” and while it’s probably best presented on a centerpin, bait caster or spinning rod (We carry all of these!!) it can also be deadly on an indicator rig and fly rod if fished properly. Just be prepared to use heavier fly line with a good front taper and some weight to make it happen, hope you are a good roll caster! 😉 Click here for some indicator instruction, but you’re going up from this as far as line, leader, etc. It was written long ago with just Steelhead in mind.
On the fly end of things, I’ll stick with what I’ve already stated. If you’re looking for some serious takes, maybe stick with the larger, bigger, brighter patterns. Doesn’t matter if you’re properly presenting with C&D, (Also in the link above.) indicator fishing or stripping/swinging streamers, they DO respond to a bigger pattern and most of the smaller stuff is “usually”, not always, just sneaking up on them to line, floss or snag them. (This is my very own humble opinion and should be taken as such…)
Thundersticks work GREAT and have become very popular, but don’t discount the loads of various other crank baits either (Experiment a little, it’s fun!) or larger spinners that we’ve done fantastic with in the past, especially on moving fish…
No matter how you decide to pursue these fish I only ask one thing… Have fun! 😎 The world is divided enough already without us worrying about if the other guy is spin, fly or bait fishing. (Or bow or gun hunting 😉) If you see something illegal feel free to report it of course, but otherwise it’s a pretty good idea, I think, to smile and wave at one another while we’re all out there for the same goal. To get away from all the madness and have a great time in our awesome out of doors…
As always, we can’t thank you enough for your support past, present or future. You make it possible for us to live this life and we owe it all to you…Tight lines, be safe, be well, good luck and all of that! 👍
Steve
