Over the past month or so, the water flow on the Salmon River (from Brookfield Power's Lighthouse Hill Dam, Altmar, NY) was set at 1800 CFS. These water conditions make for difficult fly-fishing and wading. The steelhead fishing however was being reported as very good, especially for those anglers fishing from drift boats or deep drifting egg sac’s along cut banks as well as float fishing sac’s in the slack water seams. So when the water flow was turned down to 350 CFS (ideal for fly-fishing) I called my fishing buddy Tom and we headed out to Pulaski for two days of steelhead fishing. With the water flow down, we made our way to some of my favorite pools and runs. Our first afternoon of fishing turned out to be slower than I expected with Tom getting two “fish on/fish off” takes and me landing one very small steelhead. Our plan for the next day was to explore some new water with our host from the Double Eagle Lodge (315-298-3326), Stan Pietrzyk. Stan purchased the Double Eagle starting the 2005 season. He and his wife Barbara are truly fantastic people and staying at the Double Eagle is like taking your home with you. Stan took us to some of his favorite pools and runs and gave us a lesson on float fishing with spawn sacks. He uses an 11’ 6” custom noodle rod and a Shimano spinning reel spooled with 10 lb mono. Stan has become a very effective steelhead angler and hooked up and or landed 5 or 6 nice steelhead in a morning of fishing. For my part, I did not touch a fish the entire morning! Tom on the other hand, hooked and landed a very nice 11 pound steelhead on a light pink spawn fly. The fish fought hard, making several spectacular leaps and making two down river runs that had Tom well into his backing. A couple of guys fishing from a drift boat across the way from us were betting that the fish would get off. But Tom proved them wrong. Tom did everything right, masterfully playing the steelhead into the slack water along the bank and finally up to me with the net. Well done Tom!
That afternoon we headed up river to area just below the Altmar Bridge. We set up about 50 yds downstream in run of water that I knew well. As the afternoon wore on, I finally had some luck and hooked a couple of steelhead, unfortunately they both threw the fly after several jumps and runs.
Our plan for Thursday morning was to return to the Altmar bridge area. We set up in the same run as the afternoon before. For the first hour or so, I had not less than 4 takes but no hook sets. A few fish were hooked across the pool, so we were encouraged that the steelhead were moving through the run. Shortly thereafter, I hooked and landed a 5 pounder. Good looking, hard fighting fish. Before long I hooked another steelhead and battled it for a few minutes before losing it. But I had the magic that morning and hooked a landed another steelie, this one weighing in at about 9 pounds. Tom on the other hand couldn’t get a take no matter where he cast or what fly he tied on. I continued to bang fish throughout the morning landing another fish in the 9-10 pound range. For the morning, I hooked up 11 fish, landing three, with four others up and jumping and four other “fish on/ fish off” takes. By current steelhead fishing norm’s, a great morning! It was time to pack it up and head home. The ride home was rich in conversation, re-living the past two days and making plans for future trips.
Trip notes: All steelhead caught were released. The best fly pattern was the “spawn pattern” in blue and light pink, with a few takes on a black stonefly. The weather was mild and for the most part cloudy.
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