2007 Salmon Fishing

[1ADAM12]

PICTURES (http://outdoors.webshots.com/slideshow/561065068CUakug;jsessionid=abcHcJs5zfHqS9RAHQOwr)

This past Sunday we went Salmon fishing and found it to be a bit slow. I don't think the big run has actually started yet. The water levels are very low and water temps are still very warm which I am sure effect the spawn. We only saw 2 dead salmon that had already spawned and a few more that looked like they were on there last legs.

If you want to know where I was fishing please PM me. This stream is a small Trib to Lake Ontario that not many people know about and therefore there are not the crowds of people like you find in Palaski. I think I only ran into 5 other people all day and you did not have to fight people to get a good fishing spot :tup:

[klip59]

Nice fish!
Another great day to be outdoors!

[NumNum]

Priceless!!

[masshysteria]

Adam, she's a beauty!! I assume it's a legal hookset?:twisted:

Ty caught a nice one too. There's nothing like the look on a kids face when he hooks into the big one.:tup:

We went to Pulaski about 5 years ago, my first time salmon fishing. I have to tell ya, it was an eye-opening experience! People elbow to elbow on both sides of the river. Garbage floating down the river, and guys yelling at each other to get out of the way, it was a little bewildering to me. I saw 3 different guys foul-hook salmon, and keep them. I was told there would be plain clothes DEC officers all over the place, but that didn't seem to make a difference.

A friend of mine was up there last week, and he said there were very few fish in the river going toward Pulaski and the hatchery, mostly because the water flow was so low. He did say that the water level in the estuary where Rt. 3 crosses was so low, that guys were fishing in there, because the salmon were milling around trying to get upstream.

Great pics!

[1ADAM12]

All the fish we caught were put back. Honestly I don't like the taste of Salmon and we just go for the big fight :D I can honestly say the one fish you see in the pic was foul hooked in the gil plate. Close but no cigar......lol

[Mark]

Great post and pictures. I sent a PM regarding the stream.

Does anyone fair hook a salmon caught during the spawn run?

Also, the way to eat a salmon caught during the run is smoked. My father has a friend who use to do the smoking for a half the catch. It was quite a treat.

Mark

[masshysteria]

All the fish we caught were put back. Honestly I don't like the taste of Salmon and we just go for the big fight :D I can honestly say the one fish you see in the pic was foul hooked in the gil plate. Close but no cigar......lol

I know what you mean Adam about the taste, but Mark is 'spot on' about smoking them!

So if I understood the art of salmon spawn fishing, the fish are not the least bit hungry, after all, they're going to take care of business and die? So you're not trying to get them to eat the bait, you're trying to agitate them enough that they bite at it :?: I would imagine when the river is choked with salmon moving upstream, it's not too hard to foul-hook one of them in the dorsal, especially when you're armed with a 6/0 hook:rolleyes:

Ever gone carp fishing? Now there's a fight!!

[1ADAM12]

Actually I don't even think you can agitate them enough to get them to bite. You basically look for them put your hook in front of their mouths and set the hook and yes they are going to die after they spawn.

I have gone carp fishing! Mostly as a kid and what a fight. We usually used corn. What do you use for carp?

[klip59]

I prefer my Salmon on the grill. Just gut it and cut into steaks. Very easy and ohhhhhh sooooo good!
For fight, I enjoy a nice Northern!

[masshysteria]

We fish for carp in the backwaters of the Housatonic River, where the water is only 2 to 3 ft. deep. That makes it easier to sight-fish them. We've tried corn, power bait, rotten liver, and dough balls. We've had the most sucess with good old fashioned night crawlers. But there's many a day we watch them cruise by the boat and see literally dozens of them, but never get the line stretched out.:cry: My fishing partner fought a 32lber last year; what a bull he was!

Klip, most people on this forum are out in the winter months snowshoing and hiking. This angler prefers to spend as much time as possible ice fishing from sunup to sundown, two or three days a week. The choice of prey is the Northern Pike, and their cousin the Tiger Muskie. We mostly work those same backwaters of the Housatonic for them, but Pontoosuc and Onota Lakes both have many 20+ lbers in there. As a matter of fact, the world record for Tiger Muskie was caught about 7 years ago in Pontoosuc, I belive it was in the 35 lb. range. The biggest pike for me so far was a 21 lber, and that was 3 years ago. I've mentioned to you before that I hear stories about the Pike and Tigers in the Mohawk, and it's on my to-do list some day:tup: