We left W. Newbury at 4 in the morning and arrived in Altmar six hours later. As we drove down to the upper section of the river neither Al or I could believe how many fisherman were stacked elbow to elbow in the big pool just below the Altmar Bridge. Unbelievable! Good news had obviously traveled near and far, I saw license plates from as far south as Maryland and west too Tennessee. We drove downstream to Pulaski to get our licenses and some gear. We were again amazed at the numbers of anglers in town. All the area campgrounds were crammed with RV’s, campers and tents. As we got into the Pulaski we stopped at one of the many tackle shops and purchased our non-resident season fishing licenses.
It was time to get over to the lodge, get our gear together and get on the river for what we expected would be an exciting afternoon.
Al and I decided it would be best to fish an area of the river away from the huge crowds at the upper river pools. We decided on an area mid- river and well away from the main road. It was now Sunday afternoon and it begun to shower and temps were in the upper 40’s as we headed down a path along the river. After the ½ mile trek we arrived at the pool to find just a few other anglers. We set up just below and above the favored water that was already occupied. I didn’t wait long; on my second cast with the black toad I hooked up with a real nice 20+ pound male Chinook. The fish quickly had me into my backing some 90 feet down river and heading for some shallow rapids. When “these” salmon take off down river as this one had, you have little chance of controlling it and as such the fly pulled out. What a rush! As the afternoon played out, Al and I hooked up about 15 or so salmon each. Al finally managed to keep a 25 pound male Chinook in the pool and eventually landed it (bottom right photo). We kept this fish for smoking….note; the males are of better flesh quality than the egg laden females. Dark was approaching so we quit for the day and made our way back along the trail to our car. Great afternoon of fishing! We decided that we would return to this pool in the morning.
Monday morning broke clear and a bit cool with temps just at freezing. As planned, Al and I headed back to the area we had fished successfully Sunday. Al decided to spend some time fishing a pool right at the trail head, while I trekked down the path to the downstream pool. As I approached the pool I could see that three other anglers had already set up on the favored water. I set up below the other anglers and made several casts with a black woolly bugger. One of the anglers fishing above me shouted “fish on” and proceeded to battle a 20 + pound Chinook. The fish quickly left the pool and headed straight downstream and broke off. A few casts later I hooked up and landed an egg laden female that I quickly released. The other anglers also hooked up and landed a salmon that was hooked in the dorsal fin. The fish was released.
Side comment:
Many anglers that fish the Salmon River believe that these great fish will not strike a bait or fly and employ an angling technique called “lifting”. Lifting is simply a method of snagging and is widely practiced by over 70% (my estimate) of the anglers on the Salmon River. The gear they use is heavy spinning outfits or fly outfits, spooled with 30# test monofilament line, a single #1 hook baited with a pink or chartreuse soft plastic egg. The line is weighed with numerous split shot that allows the hook to get right down below the swimming salmon. Most of the anglers stake out water that allows for easy visual sighting. They then make short tosses that yield a short line swing that brings the line and hook in direct contact with the salmon. As soon as they feel the fish move against the line, they quickly “lift” the rod tip with enough force to set the hook. The really good “lifters” become proficient at getting the hook placed very near the salmons jaw so as to make the hook up appear to be completely legit. Unfortunately, this type of “fishing” draws a large crowd of practitioners who are not discouraged from this form snagging by law enforcement (again my observation). They seem to believe that it is sporting and as well, “OK”to hook and battle these great salmon with this technique. A good number of these folks tell me that this is the only way these fish can be caught! Or they tell me that” hey, these fish are going to die anyways” so it’s ok to fish them this way. These fishermen sure do keep the cleaning stations, local tackle stores, motels, and restaurants real busy for 8 weeks. I guess it’s OK if it helps the local economy and puts fresh salmon on the table…….or is it? Well enough of my opinion…..back to the great real fishing!
After an hour or so Al made his way downstream and joined me at the pool. By this time I had established a relationship with the three other anglers and we shared the favored water. Al told me that he had landed one small, 5 pound steelhead and a 20 inch Atlantic salmon. I told him that the fishing in the pool was good and that the salmon were still pushing their way up river and we should expect a great day and that we did! Al and I landed several really good salmon before the day ended. We kept two additional male salmon for smoking and table filets. Our plan for Tuesday was the same….we would start the day at this location before deciding on any other locations. We had noticed that the very large crowd had shrunk to just a large crowd.
The weather forecast for Tuesday called for stormy conditions; wind driven rain with temps in the forties…..not great! And that’s what we got. As planned, Al and I made our way back to our location and as was the case the previous day, we arrived to find two other anglers set up. They had observed our success from the previous day and wanted to fish the pool. It turned out the two anglers were brothers and were here on the Salmon for the very first time. We easily struck up a conversation and they asked me to describe the angling technique and fly selections. They had heard about the “lifting” technique but wanted to fish legit. I happily responded and described and demonstrated our “dead drifting” technique. They caught on quickly and had several quality hook ups. The number of fish passing this area was way down compared to the previous two days and Al and decided to break for lunch and get out of the wind and rain and headed back to the Double Eagle lodge. That afternoon I decided to head way up stream to the Altmar bridge area to fish a run of water 50 yards downstream of the bridge. Al decided to sit out the afternoon, snoozing in the car. I proceeded to the location across the river from the crowd on the opposite bank. On my very first cast I hooked a huge male salmon that proceeded to crash, jump and scream up and down the large bridge pool. The salmon put on quite a show and quickly spooled me! There was no chance of landing this fish so I locked out the drag and broke him off. Wow! As the afternoon passed, I hooked a dozen or so more salmon, landing a beautiful 18 pound female. Al finally awoke from his snooze and we decided to call it a trip. We headed back to the lodge, packed up, and made the 6 hour drive back, arriving home at midnight. Great two and half days of fishing!
I plan to head back out to W. New York in two weeks, this time at Oak Orchard Creek for some brown and steelhead trout angling!
