One question I am asked more than any other is what type of fishing gear is required to fly fish for salmon in New York. There isn’t one answer to this question. Gear is determined by the style of fly fishing that’s being done and water conditions. Below I will cover the basics of what brought me success on my first several trips to the Salmon River and what you can use to drift fly patterns to entice territorial strikes from King or Coho salmon. This gear can also be used to fly fish for Atlantic salmon, as well as lake run steelhead and brown trout, however other techniques may prove more successful.
Read moreFly Fishing The Salmon River In New York: Part 1 - When To Go
I first fly fished the Salmon River in Pulaski, New York in October 2015. It remains one of my most memorable solo fishing trips. I’ll never forget the excitement I felt driving north at three in the morning wondering if I’d be successful. I caught my first King salmon on that trip and the reality is I had no idea what I was doing. I used a 9’-6wt fly rod that was good enough to swing a woolly bugger, and when I hooked that first fish, I chased it up and down the Douglaston Salmon Run for the better part of 15 minutes.
Read moreSandy Creek And The Altmar King
On Friday evening I convinced Janelle to come to New York with me to find out what was happening with the mid-September salmon run. By 5:00AM Saturday we were halfway to Pulaski and I was debating driving past the Salmon River and heading further north to see if we might discover King salmon in Sandy Creek. The reports out of the lower Salmon River had been consistent for a couple of weeks. Each day pods of King and Coho salmon were seen moving into the Douglaston Salmon Run (“DSR”) from the estuary. With fishing guides buzzing about the DSR, I figured Janelle and would experience less fishing pressure on Sandy Creek. At 7:00AM we found ourselves scouting the parking lots in Ellisburg and Mannsville. There were cars in the lots, but all I saw were New York license plates and this is typically a good indication that only the locals are on the fish.
Read moreSalmon River Chinooks In High Gear
On Wednesday it was still bothering me that my time fly fishing the Upper Fly Zone on the Salmon River the prior weekend had been unproductive. I was thinking of calling it quits on the 2016 salmon season and starting to focus my energy on autumn steelhead or brown trout. Then Thursday evening it hit me I hadn’t looked at the Douglaston Salmon Run (“DSR”) report all week. I surfed over to their website and within seconds of reading their Thursday, October 6th report, I knew what I’d be doing on Friday morning. The line in the report that got me was the note from a guide who fished the Lower Clay Hole that morning who said he conservatively estimated 1,000 fish moved past him. Throughout the month of September, all the charter boat captains were saying that there were huge numbers of marked salmon sitting just offshore. I knew the potential for an epic run was there, but after the last three years, you just couldn’t definitively say it was going to happen. Well folks, it happened.
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