The annual fall salmon run on the Salmon River is slow right now, but things are looking up for “half-way decent” season, according observers on the river and out on Lake Ontario.
Traditionally, the salmon fishing scene on the Salmon River picks up in the last few weeks of September and really gets going around Columbus Day weekend. Last year’s run was among the worst in recent years.
“It’s been very, very slow so far on the river – but things are looking a lot better than last year. Things are setting up in the lake like they used to,” said Dale Wheeler of Pineville Sporting Supply in Pineville.
He said he heard of eight Chinooks being caught Thursday on the river of the Ball Park pool, just upstream from the village of Pulaski. He said anglers were using wooly bugger streamers (black and olive colored) and real and artificial salmon eggs.
The reason for his optimism? One only has to look out into the lake.
Robin Sheltra, of Strike Zone Charters, was out on Lake Ontario this week guiding clients. By the end of the month, he plans to switch to guiding with a drift boat on the Salmon River.
“There’s loads of fish staging outside the river on the lake in 70 to 100 feet of water,” he said. “Oh my God, there are some of the largest I’ve seen out there in the last few years.”
He said noted he took out clients on the lake during the recently completed Fall LOC Derby. He said his anglers recently boated three Chinooks over 31 pounds in weight on the lake near the river. He said there appears to be a lot of fish in the 20-pound range.
Capt. Tom Burke, of Cold Steel Sportsfishing out of Oswego, gave a similar report to Sheltra as far as what he’s seeing out on the lake.
“This fall is not going to be the biggest year we’ve ever had on the Salmon River, but it should be a halfway decent year from what we’re seeing on the lake,” he said.”We’re seeing a lot more more fish on the fish finder . Whether they want to bite is another thing,” he said.
Burke noted large numbers of fish staging in the lake is a good sign for the run on the river.
“They appear to be staging in the right areas. Last year, they didn’t stage so well and came in sporadically into river, making them harder to target,” he said.
Burke said he hasn’t come across any “loose fish” — meaning that they’re ready to run up the river and start laying eggs. “It’s not an early season, and there doesn’t appear to be a lot of early fish,” he added.
The guides said key factors in when the salmon start to run up the river to spawn include the temperature of the river water (it has to be cooler), and the steadily shrinking amount of daylight. The river could also use some rain – a lot of it – to get things going.
The bottom line, though, is that when the fish are ready to go, they’ll go, the guides said. There’s no way to accurately predict exactly when that will happen.
Thursday’s report from the privately owned Douglaston Run fishing area near the river’s mouth read:
“At first light today we had reports of anglers fishing the lower end of the run spotting up to 12 salmon. Another report of an angler landing 1 and seeing 3 others. The river is up to 531 cfs at Pineville because of a thunder and lightning storm earlier today.”
Source: Newyorkupstate
