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Post by bostimmy on Oct 20, 2008 21:19:04 GMT -5
I have to start off with giving credit to the leaders of the SUNY ESF Trout Bums for putting together a great weekend on the salmon river and creating a few fellow anadromous addicts. Out of the 7 anglers, 3 were completely new to the sport and the other guys were generous enough to limit their time fishing to help the new guys, which freed me up to mess around with the spey a little. 2 of the new guys landed salmon, a coho and a king. Watching the new guys fish was honestly as much fun as fishing. Hopefully Dan will post a full report w/ pics later.
Now down to business....
How can you tell if you are swinging deep enough?Should I hit bottom once in a while? This past weekend I was fishing a 6ips polyleader with an unweighted fly on the salmon(450cfs) and didnt feel bottom once. Mostly I was fishing curent seams 4-6 ft deep, where steelhead were caught on pins after I left.Are the same flies I use at home as effective for Ontario fish?
and one more: For a deeper, slower swing the cast should be just a little downstream, while a shallower, faster swing should be cast further downstream, correct?
I also discovered that a botched double spey and a few choice words can be a very effective method for dealing with lowholers. ;D
Thanks for helping me out guys, I really appreciate it. I am dying to feel some weight on this rod.
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Post by Chris Wilson on Oct 21, 2008 5:59:41 GMT -5
As a general rule the farther downstream you cast the slower the swing. For GL fishing you'll want to modify that a little bit because if you're swinging a tip you'll want to allow the tip to get down with less tension before the swing. You'll want to cast more across stream and then mend up after the tip has achieved some depth, pinch the line off and let it swing in. You can speed up that same presentation by changing your mend. A huge upstream mend will slow the swing down, a shallower mend, or even a downstream one, will cause the current to grab the belly of the line more and speed it up.
You don't have to touch bottom to be in the zone, though a lot of folks like to tick bottom just to know they are there. The Salmon can be tricky because it flows fast and gets a lot of pressure to boot, so don't be discouraged the bait guys followed you through and got fish. I like to play off the Steelies natural predator instinct in faster water and huck a larger streamer. It'll either elicit a response or not, but the responses you do get can be a blast.
-Chris
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Post by bostimmy on Oct 21, 2008 15:30:15 GMT -5
Thanks, that really clears things up. I dont think I was allowing the polyleader to sink before i put a mend in the line.
I am also gonna start tying up some copper tube flies to get that extra depth. I figure with it being fall the fish will be aggressive and will rise in the water column to hit a fly, but with winter being fast approaching im sure I will be dredging soon enough.
Are the flies I use on the Erie tribs worth using up here, or do the Lake O fish have different taste?
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Post by Chris Wilson on Oct 21, 2008 20:16:53 GMT -5
I think as a general rule they should be fine. I'm assuming you have an assortment of white streamer and Spey types, plus some black and/or olive of the same style. I know I've fished a Picasse Spey fly (check Charlies Flies section for a picture) on the Salmon and done well with it. Looks buggy/stonefly-ish enough for them and they seem to take it as well as the Atlantics in Canada do. I'd ping the shop for some additional advice but this time of year anything that looks like a minnow would be on my line.
Nick has a great article in Hatches magazine that outlines swinging flies chapter and verse. It's worth a read if you can get your hands on a copy.
-Chris
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Post by Nick Pionessa on Oct 22, 2008 6:09:17 GMT -5
great advise Chris. BOS didn't i send you a hunk of t-14 too? that will surely get down in damn near any flow that's safe to fish on the Salmon. i use weighted tubes when necessary too, which can help you make adjustments for depth. having an unweighted fly for tailouts and shallower areas and then going to a heavy fly for the buckets. most of this is also experience and the more you're out the easier it will become.
i never tie anything special for the salmon, just the typical flies i use here but maybe leaning more toward black as opposed to white for the erie tribs.
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Post by bostimmy on Oct 22, 2008 10:10:11 GMT -5
Ya, you did send some t-14 (thanks again). I thought about putting it on, but i figured with the lower flows and water depth I was fishing that I was doing something wrong and that the faster sink rate wouldnt help much. I just have to put my time in on the river and mess around with different presentations and setups. There are worse ways to spend a day.
-Nick
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