11/21/12 5 things I learned on the Salmon river today

1)  None of my leaders come out of the package without a knot in them.
2)  It's really tough to land a fish on your own
3)  The handle on my fly reel is a twirling weapon of death
4)  Fly line burns bad
5) A sea gull  CAN and WILL  take a thingamabobber  out of mid air
 
Here is the latest and greatest report for today.    I got up to the LFZ pretty early (for me)  and there were a few guys there , but I got a spot without an issue.  Started at about 7:30   from then until noon it was pretty good.  Did not matter what you threw, eggs, stones, sucker spawn,  even got a hit on a salmon river smolt on the swing.   I got 7 hits  in the AM and one in the motor.   3 I got to the bank, but could only get one to hand as they broke off when I was trying to tail then.   Of the 7, 3 were on the swing   at the tail to the fast water .   All the fish I hooked were runners and of the 4 others lost 3 were lost to broken knots and frayed leaders as they ran into the rapids and just destroyed the line.    Less fish were hooked in the faster water  and riffles today than the medium flows of the heads and tails of the pools.   It shut off Like a light switch and not a hit from 12:30 till 3:30 and maybe 3 total fish hooked I could even see.  I got 2 hits from from 3:30 till 4:30.   I was down to my last leader  and It  was busted of around a rock by the last fish.   With only  tippet left I called it a day as I did not want to just tie tippet on and get frustrated if it broke off.  
Just as I was leaving a guy threw a cast anf a seagull swooped in and to the bobber and got tangled in the line and dropped like a rock into the river.  Would not of believed it if I did not see it.   After a short tussle they got the bird to shore and got it untangled
Overall it was one of the best day's (morning) I have had so far.

Nice report.  In regards to #3-That's why they call them knuckle busters!
You haven't fished until a bat takes your fly in mid cast.  Happened to me on the Willowemoc many moons ago.
 
 

HT, I think this AM I could have wrapped my hook with discarded mono and styro off the ground and they would have hit it.   Right before they turned off they were SLAMMING stuff on the swing.   I tied on the Smolt after I tried a few of Gerry's flies, was really hoping to get one one one of those.   

Nice to hear clint!
 
gulls are a handfull to unwrap.
lucky and i found 1 tangled in dicarded line near the head of the black hole years ago.
after nearly having to swim to reach it it tried to peck us to death for our effort.
covering their head calms them down some but still not easy untangling them.
they're wild and don't know you're just trying to help.
I've seen them grab a cleo in mid air several times.
 
2 best like battles i have seen were a canook goose iat cathrines creek one opening day 25 feet in the air and twisting wildly .
a cormorant took a spoon taken underwater at slater creek. those suckers are strong azz swimmers.
my hardy st adian has no exposed rim for palming so i use my fingers on the line for added pressure.
while flyline burns when it changes to backing at high speed it cuts.
i changed to running line behind flyline after a few of those experiences.
 
good luck to all out this holiday.
crush them before the cold snap quites the bite sat.

Clint:
I make up my own leader system for salmon but still buy a tapered pre made for steel.. Generally a 9' 10lb leader then add tippet as needed..
based on what you wrote it seems your only just under 9'..
You may have trouble getting down due to dragging on the fly line..
Try lengthening your leader a foot maybe 2 and throw an upstream mend right when your line hits the water and strip back, high stick as it comes toward you..
 
I fished the south bank (deep side) well within the 1/8 oz rule and had little trouble..
Also if you fish the inside seam right along the rocks an indi rig helped tremendous .. Kept me outta the rocks and maintained a straight line just at the bottom without hanging up..
Swinging is Nice too !!
 
good luck and
HAPPY Thanksgiving to ALL !!

Oh God, I hooked a gull in the middle of a blitz on a beach in Maine in front of a group  from the  Audobon Society!  They went nuts,  trying to call the cops and screaming  at me. I ripped the thing into the water twice, and thankfully it pulled loose. I quickly moved up the beach. 

Charlie- would love to have been there ----Probably woulda asked somebody in the crowd what the limit on Gulls was.
  Was deer huntin and some busybody dog walker lady came up and told me she was dog walking and not  to shoot her  dog. (dripping with sarcasm I might add)  -- Told her that I was after  Deer that day but dogs are a good eat- maybee tomorrow. 
    Made my day - not hers. 
'
 Kinda figure if they are nuts enough to come up and say that stuff--why not?
    And before anyone thinks thats rude- lemme ask -do you strut right up to others in the woods and insinuate they have no idea what the heck they are doing ?? Here in Urbania folks commonly walk up to hunters and insinuate they are idiots by means of dumb statements and often nasty accusatory language.
 More often than not it is THEY who have no permission to be on the property and are thus in the wrong- but alas they feel they have the RIGHT to walk up and be rude. Being NICE doesnt work- tried it farrrr tooo long -- so -have fun and move on.

Over the years I've hooked gulls, ducks, geese, bats, hellbenders, turtles and snakes, but the worst had to be the time I caught a bullfrog. I had a terrible time trying to unhook it. It latched onto a Rapala with its (sticky) tongue and was all tangled up in the treble hooks.

RG, that walking up in the woods stuff in NY is called hunter harrassment, and you can actually have the %$&^#@% morons arrested for it.
 
L13

Yep, hunter harrassment.   Does not really happen alot around here.