Salmon River 10/1 &10/2

[KenH]

Thanks for the usual straight-up answers Ed.

[Trout Stalker]

The snagging thing is all BS.  The fish really don't feed when they make the run.  If they weren't harrassed from the minute then enter the river, they might bite out of instinct or to kill the eggs of other fish, but not likely here in NY.  Everyone is snagging the fish, it's all in the "technique" used.  Exaggerated or repeated jerking of the rod will get you a ticket.

Some of the fish do spawn successfully.  More and more studies show some natural recruitment, but they also swim to the hatchery in Altmar where they collect eggs and raise the next batch of stockies.

Correct. Lifting is snaggin basically. If you were to sit there and rip the line through the water, you would catch a lot of fish. they actually had a triple hook, no holds barred snaggin zone at the upper part of the river, but that is no longer. THere are alot of Steelhead, Browns and a few atlantics that spawn at times also and they are regarded as a trophy and protected much more than the Kings and cohos. I look at it as rules are rules. Especially since I was showing my son how to do it, I was going  to show him the legal way.

The meat is actually a light pink. not like that reddish pink of store bought salmon.

[Trout Stalker]

nice salmon! im going up oct 26  for the weekend, you were fishing the town pool?

I was fishing mostly above the town pool, never in it. Much easier to catch them in the faster water and you also stay away from the bigger crowds in the fast water. Also hit the staircase below the black hole, where I caught the bigger one on Saturday.

[Biz-R-OWorld]

Yea, I used to use giant J-Plugs....actually everybody did back then, now they are banned....you cast your jplug as far across the river as you can....it floats, so you let it drift until it was lined up for a salmon you could see (polarized glasses) and then reel as fast as you can and you could usually hook up with 20+ salmon in a morning this way. Fighting a 20-40lb jumping salmon hooked through the back is tough. I had a penn saltwater reel with a thick ugly stick and 20lb test line.  I remeber the j-plugs slid up the line while the hooks stayed embedded in the salmon.  The funniest is when two people from opposite sides of the river would yell "fish-on!" and then you see their line shoot right up in the air as they had snag each others J-Plugs.

I never even used waders. I would go in the water in sneakers and shorts up to my waist lol.

[icefish495]

Nick, most of the DEC locations all hold fish. We fish the ball park.
Cross over the tracks and make a right into firemans park. Follow the road till you get to the river. Fish the pockets and holes above
the bubbles falls you will see there. If you go to your left they fish along the bank there. It gets a bit crowded, but fishable. I stay above and work the pockets.