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Chris_NH

Must have flies for Salmon River trip in late Sept.?

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Hi all,

 

Have an upcoming trip with my son to the Salmon River in NY and looking for some pattern suggestions that you'd consider a must have for late Sept. Trip is a bit more than a month away and I'm looking to stockpile a good assortment. Will be fishing the river proper, from Altmar to the estuary. Looking for preferred patterns, color, sizes, etc.

 

I'm a trout guy and consider a big fly to be a size 14, so these big fish have me a bit out of my element... so any other tips that you think might be helpful, like presentation, location, hooks, dos and donts, etc. would be welcome.

 

Thanks. :)

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TMC 105 size 4 is a great hook to start with for many salmon river patterns and hasn't let me down in 17 years. As far as simple flies to tie for kings, cohos, and steelhead you will be good to go if you load up on these patterns.

 

Estaz eggs in chartreuse, orange, and pink

Comets in the same colors (2x strong streamer hook)

sucker spawn in the same colors

black and brown stoneflies

wooly buggers are always good to have as well (egg sucking leech is an old standby) 2x strong streamer hook

 

There are many, many more patterns but if you stick with a few basic patterns like the ones listed above you can focus more on reading water and learning the area you are fishing.

 

Presentation is same as high stick nymphing or using indicators.

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Along with Franks recomendations, Mcfly Foam eggs in various colors, and streamer wise my top fly has been Senyo craft fur intruders in classic colors (black and chRtreuse, white and chartreuse, black and purple).

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Thanks fellas. I'll get to tying. Will do some regular and some beadhead versions.

 

In the meantime, any suggestions on best fly lines/leader setup to run?

 

I'm thinking I'll bring a couple of 8 weights and not sure if I'll rig up an indicator or not... If indicator fishing then I'm thinking maybe a regular WF with maybe a 4' 15lb test floro butt with 3' of 0x or 1x floro to a beadhead fly and adjust indicator as needed? Anywhere close to optimal for standard flows?

 

Or if no indicator then maybe a sink tip with all floro, 4' 15lb test butt, 3' of 0x and a couple feet of 1x or 2x?

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I'm no expert, but in my experience, they fish the Salmon river 1 - drifting eggs and nymphs with a regular floating line and lead shot to grt the flies down, on a 9 to 13 foot leader down to maybe 3x. Streamers can be fished with the same setup, or a 3ips to 6 ips sink tip. ( I've used tgese setups successfully for chinook and steelhead). 8wts for steelhead and coho, 9 or 10 for the chinook ( real freight trains).

 

I might say spey casting ( single hand, switch, or double hand) is your friend on the salmon river due to the huge amounts of traffic there. On public sectors, expect someone fishing 30 to 40 feet above and below you. Overhead casting can be a challenge.

 

Hope this helps!

Simon

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Weight forward or double taper line is all you need. No need for any specialty high dollar lines. King Salmon can put a whoopin' on fly line when they make a run through rocky areas, over ledges, etc....

 

Maximum distance between fly and weight is 4'-0". When I used to go in late september I would have my weight 1ft - 2ft away from the fly for better presentation and control, plus less accidentally snagged salmon. Better drift equals better chance of hooking steelhead and browns that may be around.

 

No need for a tapered leader with a sink tip. Just a straight piece of 10lb-15lb tippet for swinging streamers. Don't bother trying to nymph with sinktips, it's a waste of time. Also, don't buy a sink tip line, just get 10ft polyleaders in various sink rates to attach to the end of your fly line.

 

Mono leaders can be very simple and don't have to be engineered like trout leaders for turnover. A 3 to 4 piece leader is all you'll need. You might not even need that depending what you like. Many people use a straight piece 20lb or 15lb mainline about 6ft long attached to a spro swivel then a 3-4ft piece of 8lb or 10lb tippet.

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Thanks for all the info fellas. :)

 

Sounds like a regular WF-8F with 6' of 15# test fluorocarbon to small swivel to 3' of 2x fluorocarbon seems like it'll cover all the bases.

 

Have tied up quite a few dozen flies. Comets, egg patterns both weighted and unweighted, laser flies, egg sucking leaches, bunny leaches, egg sucking stoneflies, and even a few salmon streamer patterns that I had the hooks and materials for, like the skunk, popsicle, freight train, black and gray, skykomish sunrise, etc. Photos attached.

 

2016-08-23%2007.02.37.jpg?dl=0

 

 

2016-08-23%2007.02.28.jpg?dl=0

 

2016-08-23%2007.01.15.jpg?dl=0

 

 

If anyone has any other tips on gear, or how or where to fish, or anything else I'm all ears. :)

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post-30361-0-56645400-1472691576_thumb.jpgpost-30361-0-76885300-1472691535_thumb.jpgpost-30361-0-14357500-1472691515_thumb.jpgpost-30361-0-29604200-1472691494_thumb.jpgChris,

as Frank said above - eggs, comets , buggers, and stonefly nymphs will all work. One thing that I do different when fishing eggs and nymphs ( started doing it for steelhead in November 10 years ago) is I will take a 7 1/2 foot leader that is 0X and add 30" of orange amnesia mono to the butt section with a loop to loop to fly line. at the bottom end I use a micro swivel and tie my 2 feet of tippet 12 pound flouro to the fly. with correct split shot you can feel a lot of the takes and the rest you can't miss with the amnesia. you fish it tight line like regular high stick nymphing for trout. will second the sinking poly leader for streamers. as was said above it will be crowded depending on the run quality. practice roll casting as it is the most effective way to get you fly out.

 

steve

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One thing that I do different when fishing eggs and nymphs ( started doing it for steelhead in November 10 years ago) is I will take a 7 1/2 foot leader that is 0X and add 30" of orange amnesia mono to the butt section with a loop to loop to fly line. at the bottom end I use a micro swivel and tie my 2 feet of tippet 12 pound flouro to the fly. with correct split shot you can feel a lot of the takes and the rest you can't miss with the amnesia. you fish it tight line like regular high stick nymphing for trout. will second the sinking poly leader for streamers. as was said above it will be crowded depending on the run quality. practice roll casting as it is the most effective way to get you fly out.

 

steve

Interesting. So you're not using an indicator?

 

I use the orange Amnesia at the top of my nymphing setups here for trout, so I've got a spool of the 20#. Are you using the micro swivel as a sort of stopper for the split shot just above it?

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I thought i would have nothing to contribute to this thread cos' it's on the other side of the pond, but if you get there & it's big water = after a lot of rain, don't be one of those guys that wade out 2 or 3 feet & cast to the middle! There are no fish there, fish are even 1 foot from the edge! What i've alway's read & heard is salmon fly colours have to match the land, green is alway's good cos' even pines stay green all year! Blue & white is good in clear water on sunny days probably cos' of the sky? When autumn comes & leaves change to yellows, reds, browns & orange, the colours of the flies have to change too! Black at night! If you fish a pool? Alway's look at the end of the pool down stream just before the water drops off, alway's a good place to find fish!

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Update:

Had a great time on my fishing trip with my son at the Salmon River. Saw hundreds and hundreds of salmon jumping and swimming around us. Great experience.

 

I dead drifted many of these flies for thousands of drifts and had only one take, and landed only one fish over 3 full, long days of fishing. Swung a few streamers also. Countless times I'd be looking at 3 or 4 big salmon and see my fly drift between them and nothing. Was a bit frustrating. Saw dozens of salmon caught, but almost all of them were caught by guys with spinning rods with nothing more than little pieces of sponge on the hook, with considerable weight a couple of feet up the line. They used the term flossing... was interesting. Not my thing, but whatever.

 

May try again up there for steelhead in a couple of months. I'm told that they're actively feeding when they enter the river, which seems promising.

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Guest Emilio

After a few trips you finally realize that spawning salmon in the salmon river with its constant mob and fishing pressure does not eat or chase flies.  Go later and fish for steelhead like a gentleman.  All those beer holding trash spinners use the same flossing technique, bottom heavy weight anchor point and the remaining line as a radial swinging trap for moving fish.  Sponge is an excuse to have something in the hook.  Tired of the BS and silence to the elephant in the room.  If you want to fly fish salmon, knowing they will not eat, I did really really well with fast sinking line and a woolie bugger.  And yes you catch them in the mouth... But they did not chase or eat that fly I promise you.  They get flossed.  Their mouths open 4 inches while breathing at the bottom...a lot of space for your line to find a funnel point....And there it is! now you know the unspoken secret kept in the vault.

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