It’s about that time again. The salmon are going to start moving to shallower water closer to the river mouths. Soon millions of fish will begin their spawning migration throughout the Great Lakes region. The mighty King, Mr. HookJaw and maybe even a few Pinks will relax my summer woes away. I’m all geared up, boxes stocked, new connections made, plenty of leaders tied up; it’s just a waiting game now. When will they start? Only the fish know that, and they aren’t talking.
I’ve been waiting for it ever since the trout streams went belly up, which means around the middle of June, this year. The skamania runs haven’t even been that good because of the flows and temps. The SR should start up right after Labor Day.
Sorry the pictures are blurry, they were from my fathers phone cam. I can scan some better pictures in next week. These were from last year.
I was trying for the buck behind her but she moved about 18 inches for the fly. After the fight I ran back upsteam about 25 yards and and buck was still there.
Two casts later I had him running down the same stretch of river.
This was a jack my cousin caught the next day in the same spot.
The river was packed that day and everyone kept on walking past this spot. The water was running around 2200 CFS so I guess no one thought fish would be in 18-24 inches of water. I was scanning and I saw the hen push up and stop. The Buck was following her as they often do. I wanted to keep the hen there as long as I could to see if a few more fish would stack up behind her. But on my first cast to the buck, she zipped over and took my fly. I landed her in about 5 minutes and went back up and luckily the buck was still there. After that some guy took the spot while I was releasing the buck. I talked with my group a bit and took a breather. The guy saw me catch them both in 3 casts and spent 20 minuts trying. He got frustrated and left. Another nice buck came out of the same stretch the next day for me, as well as the jack my cousin caught. We fished for 3 days. The first was the best. We fished with a guide on thursday and lost count. At 1300 we called it quits. It was a LOT less crowded that day. Friday I hooked a ton but only landed those 2 and Saturday I couldn’t land anything except one in the same spot. They had to pry me off the water. Everything just seemed to click for me on that trip.
Hopefully the rain starts up soon and the fishing will be as good as it was. So many guys wish for clear weather to fish the Salmon River. I have never hooked a fish with flows under 1000 CFS. It makes the wading a bit harder, but the fish are so much more at ease and seem to strike at most flies. I’ve been flyfishing there for 4 years now and still havent landed a Coho. That is my goal this year. Man do I love those silver rockets. The Kings pull hard, but the Cohos never stop running and jumping. Well Good luck everyone.
I have been hearing reports of a few kings entering the river every day. Time to get your lines wet.
The rains have started here in Wisconsin, probably in Michigan also, problem is, we have gotten so much rain I wonder if the waters will comed down to a fishable level before next years Skamania run… Nice pics, can’t wait to get out and catch a few myself. Tying every night even though I am stocked enough for the next three or four years.
Some of that rain would be nice. It WILL come, it’s just a question as to when and how much. The last two years we got pounded in october and november. Made the steelhead fishing great, but made a lot of places unfishable for salmon (not that the fish were in those places anyway).
I’ve heard that the white water release scheduled for labor day has been cancelled unless we get some rain. Some fish have begun to trickle in, but the first good release of water is going to bring in a hoard of fish. Lake ontario fishing is still going well, but the captains are seeing the fish move up to a bit warmer water, shallower water, and closer to the mouths of the rivers.
