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Posts Tagged ‘Oswego County Fishing Reports’

Salmom Fishing Report 10/17/21

Posted in Reports, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 17, 2021| 1 Comment »

Fish fish fish. There are fish everywhere. With the massive amount of rain that has fallen the last two days this will include all the small streams.

Up until today the larger rivers held all the fish. That is unless you wanted to chase a few around with their backs out of the water. Some unethical anglers have been doing exactly that but they won’t be able to now. Every stream in the area is running at good levels to support fish and fishing.

This season has had its ups and downs but the cold rain over the last two days is exactly what we needed. The water temps should be dropping after a warmer than normal start to the season. This will get the kings snapping. It will also draw steelhead and brown trout in from the lake.

With good numbers of salmon still in the river there is plenty time to get in on the action. If you want to fish small streams now is the time. Dont miss out on fresh fish and good water.

If you are looking for steelhead I would concentrate on the lower half of the river. I do have steelhead dates open in December. December is my favorite month to fish for steelhead as the crowds finally start to thin.

Here are a few pictures from this season

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What a season..

Posted in Reports, Stories, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 26, 2020| 1 Comment »

Salmon season has come to an end and what a season it was. With a horribly dry summer we found ourselves facing very low water conditions. How’s that old saying go? When life gives you lemons make bull frogs or something like that.

I have to give a huge thank you to all my awesome customers. You are the reason I do what I do. In less than ideal conditions everyone was more than willing to change things up which equalled smiling faces and fish in the net. Some days where better than others but everyone was happy.

Another thank you to those who have already booked next year’s trips or steelhead trips. It’s a great feeling having most of your next season booked as this season is ending. That being said if you want to salmon fish with me next year I wouldn’t wait too long to start planning.

With the low water I never fished the Salmon River this fall. I stayed on the lake as much as possible and fished other locations when I couldn’t get on the lake. Next weekend that changes and I will be steelheading on the Salmon River come hell or low water. The reservoir is slowly filling and I expect 335 cfs base flow to return in the near future as long as it keeps raining. My Smithfly raft floats no problem at 185 cfs so I am not concerned either way.

Steelhead season is looking like it is going to be a good one. Some very nice steelhead have been caught already along with some impressive brown trout. I do have a couple December dates open that I would like to fill if anyone is interested give me a call.

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Salmon Season 2017

Posted in Reports, Stories, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 24, 2017| Leave a Comment »

As I look back on this years salmon season I can’t help but think about how blessed I am to have such great customers.  This year was with out a doubt my best year as far as guests go.  I sent out a few messages to past customers in August and filled most of my open dates in just a few days. It is a great feeling to have people come back year after year.  The remaining dates were filled by September by new customers some of which are now repeat customers as they have already booked future dates.  In this business you never know who you are going to get. Every guide has stories of people they couldn’t wait to get off the boat.  This year I never had a trip where I felt that way and it was great.

We spent the season casting or trolling lures and baits even when others said it was to warm to get them to snap. Day after day we proved them wrong taking plug bites on 70 plus degree days with water temps in the high 60’s.  When we got to the ramp we may not have had as many fish on ropes as others but we didn’t snag ours.  The only way the snagging mentality is going to change is if it starts with the guides.  I know for a fact I changed a few peoples outlook on salmon fishing this season and I am happy I could do that.

Overall the Salmon River was crowded most of the season but 99% off the people were friendly and moved out of the way of the boat. There are always going to be the guys who hate the drift boats but I think the number of them is getting smaller.  Most people are realizing that it’s not that big of a deal to wait or take a few steps back while the drift boat goes through. They are also realizing that many times the boat gets fish moving around and they hook up right after the boat passes.

2017 Salmon Season was my most fun season by far.  The only problem I had was that my son is now old enough to realize that dad is gone all the time.  This really hit me hard when he told my mom that dad couldn’t play with him because he works all the time.  There will be some changes next fall continuing until the boys are old enough to understand why dad is working 7 days a week for 2 months.  I will be running less trips and spending a few more days with family.   That being said I have already been booking 2018 salmon trips so if you have dates you want to fish with me I would recommend getting them booked soon.  I will be blocking off dates on my calendar on http://www.fisherguiding.com as they are booked if you want to see what is available. This should be done by the end of the week.

If you were a guest of mine for the 2017 Salmon Season thank you for making it awesome and I hope to see you again in 2018.

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Fishing in the rain

Posted in Stories, tagged , , , , , on June 5, 2016| Leave a Comment »

I spent the majority of the day inside watching it rain. I did take the time to spool up a reel with new 10 weight line and mount it on a 10 weight rod I had forgotten I bought last fall.

That might be the first sign of a problem. I was thinking about buying a 10 weight for fishing bass in heavy cover and for pike fishing. As I was shopping around trying to figure out if I could spend the money at the moment for something of decent quality I realized there was a fly rod in my garage I bought last year. I went out to take a look at it and sure enough it was a 9/10 weight. I bought it from a snagger that needed money so it had a 7/8 weight reel that was spooled up with monofilament.

I started looking for a reel on ebay hoping to maybe find one spooled with line already. Then it clicked. I have a 2 handed 5 weight rod and reel in the garage that I don’t use and the reel is too big. Again there might be signs of a problem developing here but I am just going to ignore that.

So today I swapped reels put the 10 weight line on the larger reel and spooled the other with a brand new switch line that I had forgotten about in my office. Perfect 2 fly rods all ready to go and both new to me in one way or another.

It was still raining when I sent my friend Jamie a text asking if he wanted to go fishing in the rain. I knew he would say yes. He is always up for fishing in the worst weather at the worst time of day.

I told him where to meet me and put the rods in the truck. I was excited to try out this 10 weight and hoped to find larger bass in a pond I just started fishing last week. My first trip to the pond I only had small poppers and a 5 weight. Today I had bigger flies and a heavier rod.

It was still raining as we strung up the rods. I gave Jamie the 5 weight with a smaller foam bug that I knew would catch something. As I tied on a fly that was given to me by a fellow guide and friend I pointed out how, well let’s just say not pretty it was. We had a little laugh but I said what my friend always says “It doesn’t have to look pretty, it just has to have the right shape and

size.

” In the case of top water bass flies the right movement is also very important.

It only took two casts to prove that statement true. I soon was releasing a Largemouth. I didn’t end up landing any big ones but I did see one that was over 2 pounds caught by a guy with a spinning rod. That gave me more hope that there may be some true lunkers in this water. After only fishing a short time I caught 3 bass and Jamie caught 2 crappie. We missed a bunch more strikes and will be back there with a boat in the near future.

image

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Fishing with Tom and Joe 11/14/15

Posted in Reports, Stories, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 14, 2015| Leave a Comment »

I had the pleasure of guiding Tom and Joe today. I decided yesterday I was tired of playing the who can get on the river earliest game. Last Saturday I pulled in to the Launch at 3:50 am and was not the first boat in the river. This morning we launched the boat at 5:30. I knew we wouldn’t get the spot I wanted but I also knew we could still get a good spot. We anchored up in a spot I like, started the heater and waited for day light.

Once it became legal fishing time we started casting Finger Lakes Tackle spinners. On Tom’s third cast the spinner stopped dead then took off upstream in the mouth of a nice 6 pound steelhead. Tom did an excellent job fighting the fish and it wasn’t long before it was in the net. They had decided they wanted to keep one to eat so this one went into the box. It was a good thing it did because the rest of the day we had a lot of trouble getting them to the hoop. We did land a nice little brown trout later in the morning though.

Spinners and egg sacks took all the hits today. Talking to people as we made our way down the river it seemed that most people were having a slow day. There were a few drift boats that had a pretty good day though. I know Tom and Joe thought it was an excellent day, as did I. We battled snow, wind, and cold all day yet still managed to hook multiple fish and land a couple. That is a good day in my mind.

Tom and Joe also enjoyed the comfortable seats and the warmth of the heater. Multiple times they complimented the Pavati especially using the doors to get in and out of the boat. I am definitely looking forward to fishing out of it this winter.

Finger Lakes Tackle Spinners doing work

Finger Lakes Tackle Spinners doing work

Happy Customers

Brown Trout and Cigars

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Some pictures from last weekend

Posted in Reports, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 10, 2015| Leave a Comment »

I am a bit late posting but Saturday I set up and ran a 2 boat trip. The fishing wasn’t hot and heavy but we had some action and managed to get one into the net. The guys were very happy as they had struck out on their trip the day before. (It wasn’t with me) The one that came to the net smashed a Finger Lakes Tackle Blades of Steel spinner. We also took hits on beads. Overall it was a great day. The weather was good and we all had a good time.

Sunday I had the chance to be guided rather than be the guide. It was great. I set up the trip for my friend Steve’s bachelor party and we had a blast. We landed 4 steelhead and lost many others. A big thanks to Mike Kerstetter and James Kirkland for taking us down the river.

This is a short report as I am tired but I will say fishing has been a lot like it used to be. You have to work for them but they are there and if you put in a bit of effort you will be rewarded. Spinners and beads have been the hot baits the last couple weeks. Fly guys that know what they are doing are getting them too.

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The Salmon Run is finally here

Posted in Reports, tagged , , , , , , , , , on October 6, 2014| Leave a Comment »

If you have been fishing the Salmon River or just reading reports you know it has been a strange and tough year. After a couple years of earlier than normal runs we have been spoiled. There have been fish in the river all September just not in the large numbers of years past. Many anglers have had trouble figuring out what needed to be done to catch fish in these conditions. Even guides fishing almost every day have been finding the fishing tough. The trick has been to keep moving and cover lots of water. Standing in one spot all day was not going to get it done.

The cold weather and rain we have received over the last few days has help. The fishing has improved daily. The mid and upper Salmon River have been fishing well. Plugs being pulled from drift boats and cast by shore anglers have been producing fish. Also estaz eggs and woolly buggers have been a good bet.

The rain should start bringing the water levels of the small streams up. As of right now most of them still do not have enough water to fish well or even bring the fish into them. There is more rain in the forecast and it is raining as I write this. I will have a better small water report after my guide trip Thursday.

The Black River has fish but not a lot of them. They are doing work on the power generation dams in Dexter so there is no flow coming from them. The water flow is only coming from the over flow dams. This is changing where the fish would normally hold a little bit. There is also not a lot of water running right now.

The Oswego River has picked up over the last few days with good numbers of salmon being caught.

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Ice fishing report 12/19/2013

Posted in Reports, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 19, 2013| Leave a Comment »

There was safe ice today on Sackets Harbor inside the marina. The pike bite was good. I am thinking it might be fishable tomorrow but after that it will be no good until it gets cold again.

The pike and panfish bite on Lake View has been ok but again tomorrow will be the last day I would venture out on it until it gets cold again.

Rollaway Bay on Black Lake had a very good Crappie bite and had 6 inches of ice. It might stay good through the weekend but I would make a phone call or two before making the drive.

As you can see this warm weather is going to put a damper on our early ice. Hopefully Christmas week will lock everything back up for us and we will be back out there.

Take advantage of warm weather and hit the rivers for Steelhead or Brown Trout. That is what I will be doing tomorrow morning. The trout bite has been hot in Oswego and on the Salmon River.

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Oswego County River and Stream Report 11/7/13

Posted in Reports, tagged , , , , , , , on November 8, 2013| Leave a Comment »

The fishing is good all over the county right now. The Oswego and Salmon Rivers have been fishing very well. The Steelhead fishing on both has been excellent and there have been a good number of Brown Trout caught too.

Smaller streams have been dropping but with recent rain and more rain and snow in the forecast that may change. The small streams will have some left over Salmon along with fresh Steelhead and Brown Trout. The Salmon are mostly beat up and close to death but you may find one or two still in good shape.

If you are thinking about getting out after some Steelhead the time to do it is NOW. As I said the fishing is hot. If you are new to Steelhead fishing hire a drift boat guide. Not only will you learn the techniques but you will get a very enjoyable trip down the river.

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Small Stream Salmon Fishing Report 10/18/13

Posted in Reports, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 18, 2013| 1 Comment »

Finally we got the rain we have been waiting for. The small streams have water and are fishing very well. The Sandy’s have plenty of water and lots of fish. Grindstone is also fishing well with good numbers of fish in it. My friend Shawn sent me a video of the Little Salmon River yesterday and it was LOADED with fish.

If you have been waiting to fish the smaller waters of Oswego and Jefferson County the time is NOW!!! There is more rain in the forecast so the fishing should stay good. If the water does drop remember to drop down in leader and weight size. Also stay back and fish the deeper pools.

If you have been waiting for  steelhead the Salmon River is the place to be. There have been more and more caught each day. The lower half of the river will be your best bet. If you want to get away from the crowd spend the $50 and fish the Douglaston Salmon Run. It seems like a lot of money to fish for the day but believe me it’s worth it. If you break it down by the hour it’s less than $6 an hour to fish a beautiful stretch of the river.

This can be a great time to swing streamers on a sink tip if you are fly fishing. If you are spin or pin fishing Salmon Skein or egg sacs are your best bet. Good luck and C U on the water.

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