Friday November 4, 2011

We all went down to Douglaston in the morning with the hopes of fresh chrome but it was not to be. I forgot how depressing the low flow was when down at that section of river. That’s just my opinion though. People everywhere didn’t help. I counted 18 people in the meadows alone with another 10 above and below that run. Heck, if I want to fish in a crowd I’ll head to Altmar. So that’s what I did!! I made it back to the DSR lot at 9:30, hopped in my pollution machine and headed to the land of dark horses to do a little reconnaissance to see how the river changed from last year. Even though I didn’t hook anything that morning it was nice to be able to fish the tailout of the schoolhouse and the tailout of the wires. I saw plenty of fish hooked and the atmosphere was rather cool, with a large group being guided. Mission accomplished, time for lunch. I met up with Dad and Dave and they had left the DSR as well due to the crowds and lack of push in the flow. They had gone to 2A bridge, but didn’t hook up with anything, although they did see a few hook ups. We all decided to head to the Pineville area for our last evening of fishing. It was a good choice because it seemed the fish were fairly active and some fresher fish were moving through as well. It was a little crowded up top so I headed downstream to the next run and found some room. The guys across stream were hooking up consistently floating beads, sacs, and flies, but I couldn’t get a touch. I switched flies and sizes of flies a couple of times but no tugs for me. It was about an hour before we had to head back to the truck, so I went back up to where Dad and Dave were. Dave had lost 2 steelhead with his single handed rod and nymphs and my Dad didn’t get touched swinging. I hopped in above Dave and put on my cheater fly….tungsten conehead purple Swarn-a-Bugger with a pink bead in front of it that was not pegged. I had on a 3.9 ips polyleader and the combo worked pretty good. A bit ugly to cast and turnover with a mid belly line, but it worked.

On about my 12th cast or so I felt a nice hard thump that pulled the loop out of my fingers. The rod was throbbing as the steelhead came up to the surface and flew up into the air. After the splash landing he took off downstream a short ways, stopped and started coming upstream right to my feet. He got into the shallows and I was ready for the next run. He took off again, running and slashing at the surface as he went downstream.

After that the fight was close to shore in a deep slot. He rolled around and changed direction a few times, but he was about tuckered out so I lead him shore and I landed him in the shallows. Dad and Dave were ready with the cameras so they took a few quick shots and Mr. Steelhead was on his way back to deeper water.

It was a little past 4:30 at this time and I said, “Hmmm, end on a good note or fish a little while longer?” My Dad said, “End on a good note.” So that’s what I did. I watched Dad and Dave fish some more and saw some steelhead jump and splash, but that was it for the trip. All in all it was another great time in Pulaski, NY fishing the mighty Salmon River. We had a wonderful time at Whitakers cooking out for lunch and dinner, having some drinks in the evening, and sharing some laughs. It was also good to see old friends, make some new ones and share time on the river with all of them. Tightlines till next time!!