Wayne-o's Guide Service

This year I finally decided to fish the Douglaston Salmon Run in Pulaski, New York for the first time. I had always wondered why people would pay to fish there when there are 13 miles of public water to fish on the Salmon River. Then in the fall of 2012 one of my clients, John, offered to pay for me to fish for the day with him and his friends. After one more on the Douglaston Salmon Run I understood what it was all about.
I stopped by the shack and bought my pass. I then drove to meet John at the Black Hole parking lot. He wanted to park there because it was a shorter walk to the Little Black hole where we planned to start fishing. We then walked down stream and found the spot where we wanted to fish. Now it was time to wait until about 7 when it was legal to fish.
We started fishing around 7 and by 8:30 my arms were sore from fighting big fresh kings. I was amazed at the difference in the fish in the DSR. They are so much stronger then when they get further up the river. They are also much more likely to take a fly as they haven’t been abused by all the snaggers. The attitude of the people on the run is much better then some of those up stream.
The big difference between fishing the DSR and farther up the river is the $45 entry fee keeps out most of the rift raft. The rules on the run and the river walkers that make sure they are followed keep a lot of the snaggers away. As will anything there will always be one or two that try to break the rules but normally the river walkers will take care of the. The other big difference is that the fish are very fresh just out of Lake Ontario and fight like no other.
The rules may change over the next few years and the price will probably go up but as of now this is how it is. There is a $45 fee to fish the run. They only allow 300 people on it per day. All trout and Atlantic Salmon must be released. King and Coho can be kept. Any foul hooked fish must be broke off as soon as it is realized that they are foul hooked. For more information check out http://www.douglastonsalmonrun.com. I recommend buying your pass online to save time in the morning and make sure you get one. If you would like a guided trip on the DSR check out http://www.wayneosguideservice.com. I would be more than happy to guide you.