N.Y. salmon fishing laws

[Biggie]

You can net a foul hooked fish as long as it is released. Now if you net a foul hooked fish and it goes on a stringer, then the netter and the fisherman can be find..... have seen it happen more than once over the years. I have hired two well known guides on the Salmon River and both taught methods that result in flossing of salmon. One guide was more deliberate than the other.

 

[Spotman]

Was just there this past weekend. I’m pretty much convinced that the only way to fish successfully is to find the runs where the fish are either holding or moving through and drift through with plenty of weight to keep your fly down. The fly itself makes little difference. Flies with maximum hook exposure relative to the body are optimal. The vast, vast majority of salmon are not eating so in a sense they can only be caught by happenstance and while one can attempt a mouth hook, it’s inevitable that many fish will be foul hooked. I’m sure the state knows that and you can tell when people are foul hooking through intentional lining. Sporting or not, that’s the salmon game.

I much prefer steelhead season because they are eating, there is a lot less foul hooking and fewer anglers. Nothing like fresh, angry chrome peeling off your line on a chilly November day.

 

[Prospector]

This is quite the dilemma for salmon, steelhead and browns. There are times when you see the fish and other times you can’t. Either way you need to fish near the bottom since that’s where they are holding. Obviously a fly presented at eye level to the nose of the fish is going to provide maximum catch rates. The fish can grab a morsel without wasting any energy. Proper fly placement may also result in the fly naturally going into the mouth or even the line going into the mouth creating the flossing effect. So fishing properly at the correct depth results in my mind hookups that would be considered legal.

I’ve also seen many times on Kings that my line rides over the fish and the fly gets hooked in the dorsal fin area. If sight fishing I can usually shake it loose without a problem but if the water is deeper I often interpret a hang up on the dorsal fin as a strike and I set the hook quickly. I usually have to break off those ones. There is really no way to avoid snagging fish by mistake. The only way is if you choose not to fish at all.

As someone else mentioned I hate to lose flies so I prefer to get them back in a snag situation but I do break off kings since a snagged King wastes a lot of fishing time. I don’t keep fish anyway.

 

[timmyt2]

I have to ask, none of this sounds like my kind of fishing at all, but what is flossing?

 

[Tigereye]

Flossing is getting your line to drift into a salmons open mouth. As the line (weight) continues to drift downstream it will pull the line below the weight across the fish' s mouth until the hook embeds in the fish's jaw. When the fisherman keeps his line at a low angle to the water, and "swings" his fly across the current it's quite obvious to see one employing this technique.

In especially deep water, the line enters the water almost perpendicular, the weight sinks to near bottom and the fly below the line just twirls around in the current as it drifts downstream. The line between the weight and fly will occasionally drift into an open mouth and as it continues to drift down stream, will pull the hook into the side of fishs jaw.


If one is fishing a good holding lie, there could be a dozen or more fish there at a given time. That's a lot of open mouths, and catching a fish is almost a given. In fact, if you get the right drift, it's as close to guaranteed as you can get.

There is an art to it and some folks are especially adept at it. It is what it is and my guess is that 85% of the fish caught on the SR are caught this way, whether intended or not. If the hook is set on the fish's far side jaw, chances are very good he was flossed. Again intentionally or not.

 

[flyflicker]

Great explanation TigerEye. When the water is clear you can see the salmon huffing and puffing in the current; I.e the open mouths.

The “fishing” is not for everyone, I get that. But boy oh boy is it fun to hook something that big in that size stream out East.

The crowds can be a pain, but if you have a good size group of fishermen or fall into one, it is a heck of a good time just socializing and flogging the water.

The real fishing starts after the salmon run (Steelies). I encourage everyone to try it at least once.

 

[moon1284]

90%+ of all salmon and steelhead caught in the salmon river or really any lake Ontario or erie trib with very few exceptions are snagged or lined. If you want to make sure it actually ate your fly fish a swung fly. The problem on the salmon river is that there is very little room to do that. And also that the fish get absolutely hammered from the time they hit the dsr until the time they make it past the upstream limits.

I've done it a bunch, it's kind of a rite of passage. I don't really consider it real fishing though. When I fish for salmon or steelhead now, it's always with a swung fly, with as little weight as possible and a floating line if I can help it. Quantity is way down but at least I know I'm catching fish that are eating. Also, I rarely catch any more black steelhead or half dead salmon.

 

[moon1284]

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[flyflicker]

Moon, I agree with the 90% flossed or snagged salmon. But what are your thoughts on brown trout and steelies?

In my experience, generally fair caught.

Also, do not want to discourage anyone for giving the salmon runs a shot at least once. It is fun after all. Cheers.

 

[moon1284]

I think 90%+ of all lake run fish in erie and Ontario tribs are snagged or lined. With the exception of less than 5 tribs (2 for sure).

I'm not saying it's intentional, but the bread and butter method is to drift a fly near the bottom through a pod of fish (with or without a bobber). The vast majority of those fish are lined. To me, if you're drifting attempting to drift a fly directly into a fishes face, you're lining. I do agree that once in a while a fish will hammer an egg sack or skein or egg pattern or nymph, but it's the exception not the rule.

You need the right conditions, and it's hard to see unless you're standing at am elevation looking into clearish water - but once in a while salmon and steelhead will move a long ways to chase or hit a swung or stripped streamer. They aren't going to move 5 or 10 feet to eat an egg pattern or a nymph.

 

[CRB]

My experience the fish behind the large pods of lake runners are the more aggressive fish and they will chase a slam your offering. Usually these fish are males.

 

[Prospector]

CRB,

If you were referring to Steelhead, to your comment about the trailing pod of feeding fish being males, I’d add that those males are usually in the 22”-23” range.