Manufactured Fun

[3wt7X]

With fall season upon us, I look back on year filled with adversity. As some of you know my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer in December. She detected it early and with the treatment plan and her amazing doctors, the prognosis looks optimistic moving forward. We also moved, and our children are now in school with all of the fun activities that come with that. I love every minute of it, and with the "C" word in the mix, you quickly learn to appreciate family all the more.

This year, I felt like I needed fly fishing more than ever to balance things out a bit. As irony will have it, it was one of the worst years, I can remember for getting out. I only made two trips all summer to the North Branch and Savage, and I found my mind wondering back to the homefront on both occasions. This fall, I was looking forward to catching some migratory fish.


My good friend expressed a desire to pursue early season salmon on the Salmon River in NY. This was a trip that I have never done before, due to the horror stories about "combat fishing" and terrible angler ethics. Regardless, I took him up on it. What an interesting commentary on society today. Despite what was advertised, we found access was not terrible as long as you arrived before sun up and staked out a spot. I witnessed several different varieties of snagging. My favorite was the single hook method with a bomb sized split shot, fast reeled across the river on spinning gear. I saw a guy saturday, who looked like a cross between Bob Ross and Jimmer, throwing fat bodied diving crankbaits and nailing fish in the back on every other cast. We found a nice channel and indicator fished a staging area. I prefer an indicator rig when fishing to pods of large fish to prevent foul hooking to the greatest extent possible. It worked, although we only got to play with about 5 fish each day.

I had a great time, as weird as it sounds. I felt a gratification in not getting frustrated to the point that my ethics eroded. For some reason watching the other people and bad angling behavior did not bother me like it would have before. I saw a lot of smiles out there, and the location was beautiful. I saw a little guy land his first salmon, about a 20 lber, after the fish ripped is rod out of his hands and his dad came to the rescue. The commission came down in their drift boat, and handed out tickets like candy, which will sustain this fishery for future generations. Call it what you will, the first thought that came to my mind was "manufactured fun," but fun none the less in an otherwise testing year.

 

[Dave_W]

Great to see and hear Josh (and not just the fishing).

Thanks for the update. And I know you're not the type to lose your cool due to some crowding and knucklehead fishermen anyway.

 

[wbranch]

I have not fished the SR during the salmon run since the early 1980's but my best friend went up on Tuesday and fished 3 1/2 days only in the upper fly stretch. He bought a 12' or 13' #7 spey rod last year and wanted to teach himself how to cast. In those 3 1/2 days he estimated he "hooked" about 60 salmon and only fair hooked, and landed, two. There were so many salmon in the pool he was fishing that he said as the fly was swinging he could feel fish bumping into the line or fly and most hooked themselves. I would go up for steelhead only.

 

[3wt7X]

Dave,

It's great to be back, I hope to get a few more posts in before the end of the year. Preferably with some Erie steelhead involved.

Matt,

I totally understand the logic in not making early season salmon trips. Those are brutal conditions for fish that are focused on spawning and not eating. Just looking down the river at the small stretch we were fishing, I was amazed at the gauntlet those fish have to run. That being said, we were able find relatively open water with some leg work. The sheer power of those fish, when they are that early in the run is impressive. I've never fought anything like it in freshwater. Comparable to the speed and acrobatics of a steelhead, with a lot more weight and determination behind it. I will do it again, even if it is just for a pull or two over the course of a few day trip.