View Full Version : 27 Trout , All Over 16"
A couple went close to 4 pounds. Oh, I forgot to mention that I was fishing in saltwater and they were speckled trout. Sorry, I just had to get that info on the board. I did keep it in the warm water forum.
Just got back from St. Simons Island. It was kind of spur of the moment since my vacation plans are now determined by the Cherokee County school system.
I only fished the one day but the whiting are spawning also and sight casting for tripletails with a fly starts about now. I'll be going back soon this summer because I've never caught one but we have 100#+ tarpon all over the place in the sounds.
This is my chamber of commerce plug for the Georgia coast.
It's tough to read all of this board when you skip it for a week. I'll have to catch up later for the rest. Good to be back.
THE EG
EG,
What are you doing for the school system?
Hooker
I thought you'd lost your mind. 26 big trout I could see, but that 27th, gave you away ! http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/smile.gif
Glad to see your back with us.
Owl
Hooker,
Sorry. That was just a vague reference to the fact that my oldest is now in school and I have to make plans according to when Spring break, Summer break, Xmas break, etc, are going to be. Possibly no more chasing the King Salmon up on the Salmon River in upstate New York in October or the big bull redfish on the coast in November. Hmmm, I wonder if this is a good enough reason to home school http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/smile.gif.
I threw out the flashy title to see who might nibble. Seems like I caught me an owl. I guess I'll have to toss him back. Good C&R ya know http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/smile.gif. Seriously, if you hit the tide right and find the fish, days like that are pretty common.
EG,
I didn't realize there were King Salmon on the east coast of the U.S. I thought that was an Alaska phenomena. Please elaborate.
Hooker
Hooker....
don't forget Lake Michigan has alot of king salmon in it....also known as chinock....I think that's how its spelled.
P.S. How did you make out on the "honey do list"? Me and SC had a good day on the Nantahala. I would still like to get a tube up north of here to the area...well you know where.
Talk to ya soon.....
Flyguy
Hooker,
FYI, the Salmon River in upstate NY runs into Lake Ontario which has been stocked with Pacific species of salmon. Probably the furtherest east they get.
Gary,
It just didn't occur to me that Chinooks were King salmon. I gotta get to Michigan and fish that run with you sometime.
I finished the HD list, and I'm loading the boat tonight. Saturday is going to be a hell of a day!
HNeal,
What kind of catch rate did you have in New York, and what kind of baits and rods were you using?
Hooker
Hooker...
We'll have to plan that trip....You'll love it. Are you going to fishy the Hooch this weekend or are you still in the b****mode. Let me know how it goes and good luck.
Lets do the Hooch soon.....
P.S. Do you pick up float tube hitch hiker's on your way up the Hooch?
Flyguy
Thumb up...and in need of a jet boat ride.
Sorry, I've never been to the Salmon river, my info is strictly second-hand (e-mail list member lives there) They do have a web site. sorry but I don't have the www. address, you'll just have to search for it.
Maybe one day...
THE EG, I'd like to hear more about St. Simons Island, where exactly did you go? Etc.
Might just have to go visit the family one day soon http://www.georgia-outdoors.com/ubbngto/smile.gif
Hooker,
I'm composing a description of fishing on the Salmon River for King Salmon. Its long so it might be a while. If you want some pictures or other descriptions just search on Salmon River or Pulaski (town on the river) and Salmon. There are a lot of web sites.
Alright, I finished it.
Hooker,
Let me tell you about a naive southern boy fishing the Salmon run on the Salmon River. It is either fishing heaven or hell depending on your perspective. This will be very long because I intend to cover many different aspects of a fascinating fishery.
A little background first. The New York DEC introduced Chinook (King) Salmon to see if a fishery could be created in Lake Ontario. The state has a hatchery that is about 25 miles upstream off a tributary on the Salmon River. The Salmon River flows into Lake Ontario. It appears to be a great success for the big beasts. They originally released either eggs or fry at the hatchery. Ever since, sometime around the first of October those King's that have spent their lives in Lake Ontario return to swim upstream to spawn around that hatchery. The DEC keeps the fishery going by harvesting the spawners and releasing more eggs each year (about 3 million last I heard). The hatchery itself is pretty amazing. The water in the tributary is only about six inches to a foot deep by the time it gets to the hatchery. All they did was build fish ladders that sluice off to the left of the main creek there. They then put a gate across the creek. Most of the spawning fish swim right into the hatchery to wait until they are raised out of the water by fish elevators and drained of eggs and milt. A funny thing though, the King’s are also spawning “naturally” in the river. Once the state has enough eggs, they open the gate and let the rest of the fish do their own thing.
However, those fish that make it to the hatchery must first run the gauntlet that is created by the Salmon River fishermen. My wife's grandfather lives in the Adirondack Mountains (quite an unexpected perk of marriage). He had kept a camper on the shores of Lake Ontario for many years and watched the King Salmon fishery evolve. He introduced me to this right of passage in 1991.
THE FISHERY: The Salmon River’s size in this area reminds me of the Chatahoochie near McGinnis or Medlock Bridge. It has a lot of sandstone and shale shoals as well as deep pools. The water is clear and the salmon run is always at the height of the fall colors. The colors are spectacular because the river is lined with maple trees. We always fished in shallow shoal areas because we were sight fishing and it kept us away from the crowds. Nothing can describe standing in a river and watching 10 to 40 pound torpedoes swimming past you upstream. Some swim slowly while others smoke past you like a freight train. Some fish, if you are standing still you could reach down and touch them. Most are wary and very skittish of anglers. I’ve actually been knocked down into the water by a spooked fish that slammed into me.
Techniques: When I first arrived there were three distinct areas designated by the DEC. One area had fisherman throwing leaded treble hooks and casting and snagging blind. The area we fished was designated single hook, 1/0 or less with at least an 18 inch leader (swivel) with any weight having to be above that leader. Also, the hook had to be baited. The definition of “baited” truly took on a creative meaning here. Salmon egg, artificial salmon egg, piece of sponge, anything that could be defended as “bait” was used. The major factor was that the “bait” didn’t get in the way because we too were essentially snagging. If you hooked a fish in the mouth you could keep it. If you hooked a fish anywhere else (snagged), you had to release it (strange laws). The method came to be termed “lifting”. Before the hate mail starts, when I first started fishing there the prevailing wisdom was that the spawning salmon would not bite anything and snagging was considered the only way of hooking one of these fish. Many still believe this. I sorta do. Snagging was outlawed completely in 1995. The third area was just before the hatchery tributary in Altmar, New York. Here it was flyfishing only. My impression when watching the flyfishermen was that they would throw a heavy streamer, let it sink, them yank as hard as they could. In other words, they were snagging too. I understand from WYNFLY that this has changed also. It was interesting to watch from the bridge at Altmar as the guys downstream were using heavy boat rods and 2 ounce leaded treble hooks. You would then turn around and the guys fifty feet away on the upstream side would be flyfishing streamers.
Build it and they will come: Put together a fishery with hundreds of thousands of 10 to 40 pound fish in a small area recurring year after year and you have the makings for real entertainment. Word got out quick and just about every person who could lift a rod in the northeast showed up. Either you loved it or hated it. The fishery centers around the towns of Pulaski and Altmar. Pulaski is near the mouth of the river and Altmar is upstream near the hatchery. In between is both public and private land. Pulaski is larger and seems to have hyped itself better. Any place on the river with good accessibility would be just about elbow to elbow with fishermen. People came from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Canada and just about anywhere else you could imagine. Even a newbie from Georgia. Most were good. Some climbed out from under rocks.
Hooking A Fish: Standing in a stream and waiting when you know huge fish might be near is pretty nerve racking. Actually seeing one just about makes you pee. The usual scenario is the fish swims by as you fumble with all those thumbs you just grew. If you do flip your “bait” to a fish it usually still swims by because it’s pretty hard to hook a fish with a single hook in the mouth (trying to be legal here). A comment: The New York Game and Fish department must fund half its budget with the tickets written on this river during this brief time of the year. If you do hook a fish it’s like latching onto a submarine. A submarine that jumps three feet out of the water, splashes you and then inevitably turns and heads down river. This is when it gets fun. You’re not stopping him. Everybody wears cleats (Corkers). Five seconds ago you were watching every step to keep from slipping and trying to stay out of deep pockets because it is usually about 30 or 40 degrees out and the water is close to the same. As soon as that fish takes off down river you are bouncing and skipping and literally running after him. The only hope is that the water is not deeper than your chest waders. However, swimming is a recourse if needed. It just doesn’t matter because you are completely focused on that splashing water about 50 to 100 yards down the river. The second year I brought a medium spinning rig with 12-pound test. I caught a few but mostly what I did was irritate a lot of other fisherman as I chased fish a quarter mile down the river. Once (if) the fish is landed we either released them to continue their way through the gauntlet upstream or we kept them to eat. We also made egg sacks for the Steelhead that were sure to follow the spawn. But that’s another story.
A few things to mention. Because of the fact that people were snagging steelhead as well as big browns (I think the New York state record for all three fish came out of or near the Salmon River) and also because people started to argue that the Kings could be enticed to take a bait, snagging was outlawed. The state game and fish will write a ticket if you are even seen repeatedly jerking a pole hard. I believe a lot people still do it though. The other big controversy is that one fellow owns a large section of both sides of the river and has been trying to keep fisherman off that part of the river (he seems to always be sneered at as “that former state senator”. Recently, he had about 10 drift boat guides arrested for trespassing. The guides lost. They appealed all the way to the state supreme court and lost again. I haven’t been back since 1995. My wife's grandfather passed away. But hey, he was 88 years old. WYNFLY tells me the fishing is still great but maybe even a little better since the snagging laws ran off a lot of people. I’ll probably be going this fall. Anybody interested?
Bill “THE EG” Egeland
Wow!
Thanks for the info Bill! That was great!
Hooker
I'll stick to GA, but I read every word ! It was a very interesting tale and I could dance to it . I give it an "8".
Owl
EG...
Ditto on just about every thing you mentioned as far as Michigan goes too. I think they still have one area you can buy a snagging stamp and actully still snag the salmon...Also the so called native indians still have full right to snag any time of the year.
I have caught several Kings on a fly and in the mouth, but it is very early in the spawn run as they are on there way up stream to were they are programed to return. As you stated though they do not bite at anything when in the full spawn mode and if you happen to hook one in the mouth it is more than likly that you bait or fly drifted into there out of pure luck.
The one thing I don't understand is just about all these fish die after they are done doing the reproductive thing and keeping a few would not hurt that bad. I guess that people would keep the females that had not spawned out. This could in fact cause a problem with reprodution and we sure don't need that.
I see the same thing going on with the snagging too. Most people that fish the river, streams, and feeder creeks use a flyrod with a memory free running line and a fly. Yes...we still snag about 90% + fish, but we do not use the jerking and yanking method...the fish run into the line and more or less hook themself's. What's fun about hooking into one of these fish is that if you happen to hook one in the back part of the body you are in for quit a ride.
I will say this though...I am about 95% C&R with fish and fishing for steelhead and salmon will keep this % right where its at for the most part. These fish will burn up a reel in a heart beat and if you fish for them you better have something that is built with quality and stay away from the cheap stuff because these fish will tear it up. I would have to say my hook up to catch ratio is about 1.5 to 10, but if you are like me you are only after the fight and they sure give you that and then some. It's not unusuale to fight an average salmon or steelie for 15 min and upwards of 30 on some of the above average fish.
If you aint tried it you have got to "Just Do It"
Flyguy
fishing for a zinger
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