As I was walking along the river this morning I starting thinking it’s not about the fish. I thought for me it is about seeing the sunrise and getting exercise in a way that I enjoy.
Then I thought, well that is a bunch of crap. You are only thinking that because the fishing is slow. I have had plenty of customers tell me the same thing. They tell me it’s not about catching fish it is about being outside or hanging out with friends or family. I have come to realize they were probably lying and didn’t even know it.
I have never thought or heard that on a good day. It is only the slow days or at the start of the day when we don’t yet know how the fishing will be. If the water had no fish would we still be there? The answer is likely no or at least not in the same capacity. I doubt many people would pay me to just drive them around the lake.
At the end of the day it really is about the fish. We go fishing to catch fish. Are we mad if we don’t? Probably not but we are no where near as happy as when we do catch fish. Enjoy your time on the water. Enjoy the beautiful places fishing can take you. Soak it all in. Just stop lying because at the end of the day we all are here because of the fish.
Last year my oldest son came home from school upset that his classmates had been off for take your kid to work day. We explained to him that kids aren’t allowed into the aluminum factory that my wife and I work in. Then it dawned on me that he could come to “fish work” as he calls my guide business. He was so excited that could come to fish work with me next year.
Well next year came and I had it all set up. Customers to take that understood the plan and how our trip could be cut short as Gunnar would be with us. Then the Corona virus shutdown school and guiding. This left me with one very disappointed 6 year old. It was time to come up with a new plan.
Plan B was to “guide” my father and wife for crappie and/or rainbow trout. Gunnar was very concerned that we would get in trouble for guiding when it was shut down. I told him mom and grandpa would just pay us at home where no one would see as he made sure they both knew they were going to have to pay him.
That morning Gunnar helped me get the gear and boat ready. Then he packed snacks while I went and bought subs for us for lunch. When we arrived at the reservoir he helped to launch the boat.
Unfortunately we tried about everything we had and couldn’t get anything going on the reservoir. We decided we would head back home and try fishing in the creek that separates our property from my parents. In the truck on the way home my dad gave Gunnar $4 which made his day.
Back at my parents house Gunnar wanted to ride his bike before fishing. I headed down to the creek with his fishing rod and a container of worms. As I made my way across the lawn I saw a fish splash on the surface. It was a good size steelhead. I called to Gunnar, who had just put on his bike helmet, telling him there was a steelhead in the creek. He came running down very excited to try to catch it. I explained we needed to be very careful not to spook it. I took the bobber off and hooked a whole night crawler on. I told him I would cast it for him becuase it needed to be a precise cast. Not sure if the spin cast rod would even make the cast I made a test cast in the yard.
We then snuck down the bank into position. After multiple bad casts I landed one the drifted perfectly to the fish. I was shocked to see it grab the worm. I set the hook as I handed the rod to Gunnar. The fish turned downstream splashing in the surface. Gunnar struggled to fight the fish as he laughed at the way it took line and splashed. After a couple minutes he managed to get it to the shoreline. I ran down the bank and grabbed it for him. He was ecstatic to have caught the biggest fish of his life and be the first person in our family to catch a steelhead from the creek.
He ran up to the house to get his mom so she could take our picture. After a quick picture we returned it to the water and watched it swim away.
We then returned the bobber to the line and proceeded to catch multiple shinners and horned dace. After all they were our target species when we headed to the creek. Gunnar later told me he had a great day at “fish work” and wanted to do it again next year. Given the circumstances take your kid to work day couldn’t have gone better.
Gunnar’s first steelhead and the rod he caught it on. Gunnar even let Beckett catch a couple
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.
I have not been doing much as far as reports go this season. The reason is simple, my reports from early September through now would all be the same. It would say the river is full of fish. They are everywhere from the DSR to Altmar. I have seen some keyboard hero’s complaining that the reports are false and there are no fish. Let me just say this if you went to the salmon river and didn’t find fish you are either blind or didn’t move around. Now if you were just looking to snag fish in the shallow water areas earlier in year you probably didn’t find much. The fish were stacked in the deeper darker holes as the water and air were very warm this year.
Recent rains finally brought all the smaller streams up to a good fishable level and the fish moved in. I am not going to name any of them but if they run into Lake Ontario there are fish in them now. Hopefully we continue to get rain and keep the water levels up so they stay at a good fishing level.
Salmon River still has plenty of fish with a few late pushes coming in the last few days. We should be on decent salmon for the next couple weeks.
I have also seen many people complaining about lack of steelhead this year. Hello it’s barely the middle of October. Yes some years we see good numbers of them as early as September but those years are rare. This is a good thing as many would get snagged and dragged out on ropes. I have no problem with people keeping steelhead. I myself love to eat them. However, when there is a good early run you will often see people kill more than their limit and claim they are coho. If only there was better cell service on the river so they could be reported more often. Steelhead are starting to show up more and more each day in the lower river. I talked to a lake captain two days ago and he said there were good numbers of them out deep in the lake. We should be looking at a good steelhead fishing season this year.
I do have a couple of November dates left and a few more open dates in December if you want to get in on the action before the cold sets in. If you are looking for peace and quiet January and February are wide open. I will have heat and hot coffee on the boat this winter.
Last weekend I had the pleasure of guiding Cherie, her son Ben, and his friend Luke. The boys are both 11 years old. They fished with me back in the fall for salmon and the boys worked together to land the one salmon we managed to hook that night. This time they wanted to catch lots of fish even if they weren’t all that big.
I took them to one of my favorite spots to go just catch fish. I knew they wanted to take fish home for dinner so I hoped we would get into some Crappie and Rock bass which we did. I also knew that the smallies would keep them very busy.
Keeping kids busy is the most important part of taking them fishing. If kids get bored they won’t stay interested in fishing for long. Don’t take young kids to a body of water that doesn’t hold a lot of fish or holds fish that are difficult to to catch. Find some place that holds panfish that can be caught with a worm or minnow and a bobber.
I chose minnows and bobbers for our trip. I also had night crawlers and wax worms just in case. As an added bonus my minnows were a split of fat heads and rosy reds. The red/orange minnows not only caught fish but the boys thought they were really cool.
Though out the afternoon we landed 7 crappie, 4 rock bass, a big blue gill, and over 20 smallmouth bass. We kept the crappie, the 2 bigger rock bass and the blue gill which provided them a delicious dinner the next night. This is another way to get kids interested and keep them interested in fishing. If they like to eat fish take them fishing for a species they can keep and eat. Catch and release can come later in life for them. Keeping what they catch allows them to show off more than just a picture and it is rewarded for them to eat fish they caught.
If you notice the kids getting bored or restless it may be time to switch it up. Skip rocks, look for frogs, or even call it a day. I can’t stress enough you must pay attention to how they are acting and if it is time to call it a day call it a day. Don’t keep them out there when they don’t want to be there just because you aren’t ready to go home.
If you want to take your kid fishing but don’t know where to start or have the equipment give me a call. I offer discounts for take a kid fishing trips. I will provide all the gear and bait. I have the patience to help teach how to cast and to untangle lines all day if needed. I am willing to bet your kid will not be the worst fisherman that has been on my boat. I have a few good spots weather your want fish to take home for dinner or just want to catch and release a lot of fish. We will have a good time and your kid or kids will go home with stories to tell all their friends.
First off I would like to say good luck to all of those headed out for opening day tomorrow. As I write this I am sure on some streams there are people already lined up waiting for midnight to start casting.
Opening day is a holiday for many. For those that have to work they will most likely spend the day doing their job while secretly planning their attack for Saturday. I am sure there are some that will even call in sick if they haven’t already.
I am going back to work tomorrow after being out for 3 weeks due to having my gallbladder removed. I know going back to work on opening day is crazy but I have guide trips Saturday, Sunday, and Monday so I needed to be back to work before I can be guiding. Also there is the fact that my home water, the Salmon River, is open for trout fishing all year. We have been chasing giant rainbow trout, steelhead, all winter long and will continue to do so through April. In fact the bite just started to really get good while I have been out of work and unable to fish so I am really looking forward to this weekend. I do still have a couple dates open but my April is close to being fully booked.
In between working and guiding for steelhead this month I will be organizing my fly vest and tying more flies. Just waiting for May when I will hang up the steelhead gear and start chasing brookies, rainbows, and browns. I have already been following the line blue lines on my topo map and searching for new places to try. There is a beaver pond I have been meaning to hike to for two years now and this is going to be the year I finally do it. I have never been a still water fly fisherman but that is going to change this year.
I am also planning a trip to my favorite trout stream the West Branch of the Ausable river. I introduced my friend Jamie to it last year and he had a blast even though we were only able to fish one evening. This year we are planning a 4 day trip filled with trout and craft beer which happen to be two of my favorite things.
I am looking forward to seeing the Facebook and Instagram posts tomorrow as the mild winter has left most streams in prime condition for the opener. Even the Tug Hill streams that normally have snow lined banks are in great shape as all the snow has already melted and run off. Again good luck to everyone that is fishing tomorrow or this weekend.
I had the pleasure of fishing with Jeff and Brandon on Friday and Mark and Corey on Saturday. We had a great time both days however the fishing wasn’t that great. We fished Altmar to Pineville both days. There were a good number of fish in the top of the river we just had some trouble getting them going.
Friday we only managed to get one to the boat and the best part is we didn’t even hook the fish. We somehow managed to hook into the swivel at the end of a leader someone had broke off while fighting this fish. It was tough to get to into the net as I had to pull it in by hand at the end. We did hook a few others that came unglued.
Saturday we put two fish in the net and lost about 8 others. It probably would have been a much better day if a group of people hadn’t waded out into the river right down from us causing all the fish to scatter. We had anchored up in a good spot with a lot of fish around us and about an hour into day light the people walked right into where they should have been fishing. Many people seem to not understand that you don’t need to go chase these fish around. You can sit back and wait for them to come to you. They want to go upstream if you just let them.
Overall river report:
Fishing is still not great but it’s not bad. If you put some time in you will be rewarded. There are good numbers of salmon spread out through the entire river. The majority being in the upper sections. More steelhead and browns are being caught each day. Again they are throughout the river however more are being caught down low. Egg sacks and beads have been the best bet for the trout. Salmon have been caught on a variety of flies, egg sacks, and lures. Remember it is still single hooks only on the Salmon River for floating lures.
Phil has fished with me the past 2 years. The first year was a great trip. We had 2 kings in the boat by 6:30 in the morning and put the 3rd in the boat about 10:30. Last year was not so great. Actually it was horrible. It rained the entire time we were on the river. To make it worse we never landed a fish. We only hooked one fish that turned out to be a very large brown trout that got off just inches from the net.
This year Phil and I debated where to fish when he came up. After looking at our options I told him I felt fishing the evening into the night in the river mouth would be our best bet. Turned out I was right. We started fishing about 4:30 pm and the boat was back on the trailer with a limit of King Salmon in the fish box by 8:30. Phil was obviously a very happy customer. Phil’s fish weighed in at 24,19,and 17 pounds. All very nice Salmon. The only problem he had was that he brought a cooler for Maryland fish to NY. As we say here we measure our fish in pounds not inches.
Phil should’ve brought a bigger cooler.
Team Pavati. I love this boat and so did Phil.
Built in fish box. Team Pavati
24 pounds of King Salmon. Gotta love “the truth” scale. Pavati has it all.
That’s right Salmon Season will be here in just a couple weeks. The DSR is reporting a few very early fish spotted in the river. I have not seen any myself or heard of any being hooked yet. This is normal for mid August.
The lake guys continue to catch some very nice fish down on our end of the lake. Which is a very good sign for our upcoming river season. Captain Chris Yard of Irish Knots Sport Fishing had some very trips this past week and weekend. If you are looking for a lake charter I highly recommend Chris. However if you are looking for a trip this year it may be tough to find a date he has left open. Still well worth giving him a call. His info can be found at http://www.irishknotsfishing.com.
If you are looking for a river trip I do have some prime dates still open however they are filling up fast. If you have a date you want call now. If I am not available I have a great network of guides I work with and I will get you on the water. Most people are wondering how this season will be after the tough season we saw last year. I can’t promise anything but judging by the way the lake is fishing I think it is going to be a good year. Last year at this time the lake guys were having a lot of trouble locating fish and that is not the case this year.
Don’t forget if you are looking for lodging contact Tailwater Lodge. It is an upscale fishing lodge located right in Altmar, NY. You will not only be staying the nicest rooms in the area, you will also have access to private river frontage on one of the best holes in the river. They also have an amazing restaurant and bar serving up delicious meals and ice cold drinks. I will include some pictures in this post for those that haven’t seen it. Check out their website at http://www.tailwaterlodge.com Also if you are fishing with me you get a discounted room rate. Just let them know when you book.
Don’t forget call soon if you want a chance to fish out of my brand new Pavati drift boat. They are by far the nicest boat on the market. Check them out at http://www.pavatimarine.com
I didn’t fish today but I did take a ride around the upper half of the river after having an amazing brunch at the Tailwater Lodge. There were not many people on the river but those who were did well. There is a good amount of snow in Altmar and it didn’t look like people were traveling far from the parking lots.
Fish were being caught on both egg sacs and beads. The drift boats were also getting fish on plugs. With more snow in the forecast walking won’t get any easier. This is an excellent time of year to hire a guide with a heated drift boat.
Wayne-o's Guide Service 