2011 SALMON RIVER - SALMON AND STEELHEAD Thread

[wiredstone]

I believe the right answer is that they hit out of aggression.

[paul young]

soak your lead sinkers in vinegar for a few days to take the shine off.

while we're on the subject, i can't believe how much lead most people are using. it REALLY spooks the fish. my buddy and i found a nice pod of 50 or so Kings in a small run at the ball park on Sunday afternoon. they ATTACKED our wooley buggers. we could see 2 or 3 at a time come off the bottom to engulf them. we were having a blast! well, that lasted about 20 minutes. 2 goons spotted us and  attacked them with like 4 to 5 of the very largest split shot you can buy and started ripping. every time the lead hit the water the fish scattered. within 5 minutes of this they were out of there. we were tapping bottom a couple of times per drift with 1 3/0 split shot and the fish were holding there nicely. we hooked over 60 fish between us that day. you just don't need all that weight to fish effectively at these flows. the other downside of using that much weight is the amount of time you spend hung on the bottom and the expense and time lost to re-rigging after a break off.-Paul

[lakerdave]

Its funny that people think that they dont hit, I landed 9 yesterday that all hit, one actually had the hook all the way down , had to cut the line, I also dont get y people need to snagg , theres soo many fish they swimm into your hook , if you have a line in the water its hard not to get one ,  I know they dont hit after they been in the river a few days , thats y u need to getem low, I have only been fishing the river a few years and know they hit , I just get a kick when guys that fish the river 25 years try to tell me the dont hit , if you use the right gear the definetly hitt. Yesterday u could watch them chase your bait  down, but it was weird they didnt start hitting good till the afternoon , I was not snagging lifting , forcefeeding our what ever u call it, had around 50  hookups, not all legit hookups thou, due to them swimming into the line, I just dont get y people say they dont hitt,

[dmntd169]

soak your lead sinkers in vinegar for a few days to take the shine off.

while we're on the subject, i can't believe how much lead most people are using. it REALLY spooks the fish. my buddy and i found a nice pod of 50 or so Kings in a small run at the ball park on Sunday afternoon. they ATTACKED our wooley buggers. we could see 2 or 3 at a time come off the bottom to engulf them. we were having a blast! well, that lasted about 20 minutes. 2 goons spotted us and  attacked them with like 4 to 5 of the very largest split shot you can buy and started ripping. every time the lead hit the water the fish scattered. within 5 minutes of this they were out of there. we were tapping bottom a couple of times per drift with 1 3/0 split shot and the fish were holding there nicely. we hooked over 60 fish between us that day. you just don't need all that weight to fish effectively at these flows. the other downside of using that much weight is the amount of time you spend hung on the bottom and the expense and time lost to re-rigging after a break off.-Paul

But when you get lucky and land 1 of these you get kinda glad guys feel the need to use so much unnecessary gear...I'm pretty sure my buddy replaced all the tackle he lost this entire season just by sorting through this clump earlier today  




the highlight of it was a 6/0 gammy with a hunk of sponge on it on about 50# red braid 

[deervalley27]

Its funny that people think that they dont hit, I landed 9 yesterday that all hit, one actually had the hook all the way down , had to cut the line, I also dont get y people need to snagg , theres soo many fish they swimm into your hook , if you have a line in the water its hard not to get one ,  I know they dont hit after they been in the river a few days , thats y u need to getem low, I have only been fishing the river a few years and know they hit , I just get a kick when guys that fish the river 25 years try to tell me the dont hit , if you use the right gear the definetly hitt. Yesterday u could watch them chase your bait  down, but it was weird they didnt start hitting good till the afternoon , I was not snagging lifting , forcefeeding our what ever u call it, had around 50  hookups, not all legit hookups thou, due to them swimming into the line, I just dont get y people say they dont hitt,

Im scratching my head............. can anyone tell me what planet these people are from?

 

[adam2000]

enough about the " salmon hit verses they dont debate:"    do salmon hit ? sure. do salmon hit when there is a 1000 guys fishing a trench 6 ft wide filled with fish and lead, line and hooks every ft of the water column?  yeah sure they do. smoke another      they must really like bare hooks then

[Smells Like Fish NH]

enough about the " salmon hit verses they dont debate:"    do salmon hit ? sure. do salmon hit when there is a 1000 guys fishing a trench 6 ft wide filled with fish and lead, line and hooks every ft of the water column?  yeah sure they do. smoke another      they must really like bare hooks then

And sponge! They love sponge! Haha

[trapper2000]

what  amazes  me  is   how  many  salmon  i  have  cleaned  in   40  years   never  to  have   found  as  mush  as  one  egg  in  them !  not  a  single  nymph!  or  a   baitfish  !!!!   yet these  guys can  present  a  chunk  of  sponge  so natural  they  hit  it!!!!   i know  you   caused  a  hit  out  of  aggression!!!!   wonder  why  they  don't  hit  the  gobies  in  oswego or  the   fall  fish  in  salmon  river  when  there   eatting  there   eggs  ??  you  guys  are  my  hero's   40  years  of  trying    never  had  a  real  hit  yet    that  makes  me  either  the  worse   fisherman  or  the  most  honest  one  in mff  !!!!!

[KingPerch]

Its funny that people think that they dont hit, I landed 9 yesterday that all hit, one actually had the hook all the way down , had to cut the line, I also dont get y people need to snagg , theres soo many fish they swimm into your hook , if you have a line in the water its hard not to get one ,  I know they dont hit after they been in the river a few days , thats y u need to getem low, I have only been fishing the river a few years and know they hit , I just get a kick when guys that fish the river 25 years try to tell me the dont hit , if you use the right gear the definetly hitt. Yesterday u could watch them chase your bait  down, but it was weird they didnt start hitting good till the afternoon , I was not snagging lifting , forcefeeding our what ever u call it, had around 50  hookups, not all legit hookups thou, due to them swimming into the line, I just dont get y people say they dont hitt,

Who here snags anyways? You would have 200 hookups a day if the fish are running into your line and getting hooked in the mouth!! ALOT of fish in that river right now!! GADAM SALMON SNAGGERS anyway..........--KP

[KingPerch]

it is mostly because you suck you better stick to flinging you fluke off the wall

Salmon hit flukes outta aggression? --KP

[Dark Cloud]

   they must really like bare hooks then

Every year when I get into fish thick, I try a bare hook and always end up hooking one deep on the tongue. These fish suck in large amounts of water on thier journey... And before anyone goes there, I know you have to have bait of some sort on. But sometimes it falls off and I sleep well at night...  

[adam2000]

Every year when I get into fish thick, I try a bare hook and always end up hooking one deep on the tongue. These fish suck in large amounts of water on thier journey... And before anyone goes there, I know you have to have bait of some sort on. But sometimes it falls off and I sleep well at night...  

and sometimes when you know that the next cast youll have another fish on and break off you dont bother either.   i sleep good too DC

[wiredstone]

I had a dead one eat my fly once. Pulled up a rotten head with the fly deep in its mouth.

[adam2000]

went over to shanty and found this     http://www.shad-rapp.com/Ice%20Fish%20Baby.mp3

AWESOME

[Simplecarppieguy]

went over to shanty and found this     http://www.shad-rapp.com/Ice%20Fish%20Baby.mp3

AWESOME

I got a couple songs from those guys on the clova vid I made us.!