Salmon River Steel

The Salmon River in Pulaski, NY evokes a range of responses and emotions from anglers far and wide. It has a reputation. Not only as a singularly world class fishery for salmon and steelhead, but also as a river that can get pretty busy at certain times of the year. Our little “fishing group”of myself, Chuck, Matt and Jason, ventured out there for a few days of fishing earlier this week to try to get in to some steelhead. Here is our story …

Everyone has seen the images and heard stories of its fabled salmon run in September and October. Anglers of all creeds and abilities, nearly shoulder-to-shoulder, casting in the hopes of hooking and landing a behemoth of a salmon (Kings mostly, but there’s a good run of Coho as well) on its annual spawning run upriver. For many, it’s the fish of a lifetime, beginning a love affair with this big brawling river. For other anglers (and I count myself as one of them), it sounds like too many people and an extraordinary amount of chances to have a negative interaction out there. Not for me, in other words.

As the temperate weather of September and October fades, bleak November and wintery December bring in the real prize of the fall to the river: steelhead. Big Lake Ontario steelhead that are making their way upriver to gorge on the displaced eggs left by the spawning salmon. In actuality, some summer-run steelhead usually are present in the river already (Skamania strain), while the larger Washington strain steelhead journey in to the river system in late October through the winter.

Getting one of these fish on your fly is a highlight of a lifetime of fishing. Their power is undeniable and amazing, as they test your 8-weight rod and heavier tackle, and once they’re in hand their silver beauty is breathtaking. But … there’s a catch. The steelhead fishing on the Salmon usually gets pretty good in mid-November as more and more fish make their way in to the river, but as we all know, the weather starting in mid-November through the winter can be unpredictable at best.

For one thing, it’s winter in northern New York, perhaps a bit milder than here in northern New England, but still challenging. Then there’s the snow – there can be a lot of it at times, never mind the “Lake Effect” phenomenon, where certain localized areas get prodigious amounts, while other nearby areas will be hardly touched. Getting a foot or two of snow over a three or four day stretch is not uncommon, so you have to go prepared for the elements when fishing for steelhead. To make matters worse, there can be a good amount of wind off the lake too.

Fleece leggings under waders, perhaps even neoprene waders, multiple pairs of wool socks, hand warmers, maybe electric socks, gloves, winter hat, multiple top layers and a solid rain jacket are all recommended. When you get cold, and you probably will at some point (the water’s 40 degrees too), get out, take a short walk to warm yourself up, and then get back at it. There’s not much daylight at this time of year for us fishermen.

After a few trips over there I’ve learned the hard way that nymphing, with egg patterns primarily, is by far the most effective way to catch a steelhead in the late fall. Swinging a streamer slow and low can also work, but not all water is good for swinging, and nymphing allows us to cover different types of water. The regulations for fishing the Salmon are also quite different from what we’re used to here, so getting familiar with the rulebook is a requirement. Legal placement and the amount of split shot can be tricky and confusing, but in general the setup of your line is easy.

One fly (the egg) only, a breakpoint on your leader (a barrel swivel works best), and split shot not totaling above one eighth of an ounce (if you’re fishing in one of the Fly Fishing Only zones). Your weight cannot be closer than 12″ to your fly or farther than 48″ away, all in an effort to prevent anglers from either intentionally or accidentally snagging fish, is required. Add on a big strike indicator (to hold up the additional weight that you’ve added), and you’re good to go.

There’s one more factor that plays a major role on whether you’ll have a successful time on the Salmon, and that is the river flow itself. Not enough water (which I’ve never seen while out there) and there might not be many fish drawn in to the system and they could be skittish. Too much water and the wading becomes much more difficult, and impossible in quite a few areas, especially going down river. For sure, fish are coming in to the river in numbers during periods of high water, but successfully fishing for steelhead might be dangerous if not impossible.

A week before our arrival, the flow had been 750 CFS, which seems to be a good flow for fishing the Salmon, but just two days before we got there the flow jumped to 2200 CFS. Due in part to melting snow from a major storm from a couple of weeks ago that was affecting the watershed, the river was higher than I’ve ever fished it. Not impossible though, and we hooked a good number of fish in a day and a half, with all of us landing at least one steelhead.

The bad news happened at midnight of that first day, when the river flow was bumped up to 3000 CFS, making things extremely difficult. After a morning of exploring another nearby creek for steelhead (it looked good, with lots of great water, but we didn’t touch anything there), we came back to the Salmon that afternoon to check it out. As you can imagine, the walking speed runs and soft edges that we had fished the day before were almost entirely gone, and so was our luck – no fish touched that day.

We’ll go back. The fascination of steelhead and the river that they migrate in to is a mystery that needs further exploration, so I’m game for checking it out. Unfortunately, its distance away from us might make it a once or twice a year event, but you can bet I’ll be over there again, and studying up in the meantime.