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.
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.
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.
I am going to start with a disclaimer. Hero Drifter floats are the only custom made floats I have used. I am not comparing them to other custom floats or even plastic floats such as Clear Drift. Â I am comparing them to mass produced balsa wood floats.
Hero Drifter floats are hands down the best floats I have ever run. I have now been running them for a couple weeks and they are awesome. Michael Weber makes some sick looking and sweet running floats. The quality is seen immediately when you take them out of the heavy duty shipping container he mails them in.
I ordered a dozen Ninja’s and a half dozen of his Rock star floats with my logo on them. Â I am going to very loosely say these compare to the Raven balsa wood floats. Â I say loosely because they only compare in size and shape. The quality of the Hero Drifter floats is so much greater that there is no real comparison past that.
The first time I fished them I couldn’t believe how much better they ran. Â I had always wondered is it worth spending a little more than double what a mass produced float costs? The answer yes absolutely. Once you fish them you will understand. They run the edges of seems and stick there. Â They make it some much easier to get the bait where you want it. If you run a quality pin reel and keep the line of the water you will be amazed at how well they hold the line you want them too. There is nothing worse then having your float move from the line your a trying for right before it gets where it needs to be. You will not have that problem with Hero Drifter floats.
My clients have been loving them and it has actually made my job easier. When the float runs true and stays where it should it is so much easier for people that are just learning to float fish. Â Last Saturday I met a couple friends after my trip and let them borrow a Ninja for the afternoon. Both of them sent me a message later that afternoon and had nothing but good things to say. They were shocked how much better they were than the mass produced floats they had been using. Â They also both plan on ordering floats in the near future.
If you are ready to step up your float fishing game ditch the Raven’s and order Hero Drifters. You won’t be disappointed. If for some strange reason you are just give me a call and ill buy them from you.
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. Â 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. Â 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. Â 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. Â Again good luck to everyone that is fishing tomorrow or this weekend.
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.
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.
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