DSR reports fishing on fire this morning

 Read some of the reports in this and other forums. Large grains of salt are sometimes needed to make stuff palatable, Sometimes you have to judge who is making the report-a guide of shop owner or someone who makes a living on the river is always going to be Mr Sunshine and make things as rosy as possible. No stone throwing but they seem to feel ( i agree) that even one fish a day is great-it is.
  Having made a trip or two already I can say it depends on where you happen to be fishing at this time of year because even the best of reports are still SEPTEMBER reports. Poor OCTOBER fishing is great September fishing. The early bird gets the fish this now as they generally slow considerably as the day goes on.

fished it yesterday and don't know their report from then but it was decent fishing .. Around 8am fish started moving out of estuary and were steady ones ,two's or very small pods of pretty fresh fish until around noon then it shut right down on movement ..

I believe the report from the DSR for yesterday was just as you called it.  Slow, but enough fish to keep it interesting.  Not to stir the pot and I am not an expert since i only get the river a few short days a year, but the reports have always been pretty accurate IMO.  I can tell you when there were reports of good movement in the lower end and we drove down and got to the wall and glide there are always fish there moving up.  Looking back, I can remember good reports from the DSR on a given day and subsequent days you could track that "run" up the river.  The day after the "big run" on the lower end people are hooking up in town, then the ball field, then 2A, etc. etc.
Now I wouldn't go blowing my 401K on a week of 45.00/day, but I will certainly take their free reports and use that info to help me decide where to fish.  I wish everyone the best season ever!  Good luck.

5 days and a wake up......I can barely stand it.
 

Chartist,the DSR reports are generally accurate,however these fish move quickly at times and what they said one day could be the opposite the next morning.When you get to the gate to the parking lot ask what is happening,if they tell you not much go upstream.
I see you are going to be there Wed the 15th,the LFZ opens for the season that day and there will be lots of fish and fisherman,but it is free and there won't be blatent snagging and ripping as in the rest of the river.

fish through out the river,"lower fly zone", hit the upper fly zone if you want to swing a fly.

after reading todays afternoon report it "seemed" to be exactly as the fishing we experienced yesterday. Funny how it said not much down low but the first early report was the fishing was "on fire" . Yesterday we fished from the flats up to the glide and as said the fishing was decent & we had a great day, not on fire.. On fire to me means LOTS of (not small groups trickling) fish moving and all rods bent everywhere you look
So I still take online reports slightly less then face value..

BTW: not many people were paying to fish..

Fished as far down as staircase today. Read the report this morning shortly after it was published and waited till noon to hit the staircase area. Managed a couple of kings on but lost them to rocks. Landed one small coho and one jack king, both released, but did not see any run come into that area. They must be running slow or holding up in the black holes. This is normal for this time of year and don't forget that these returns are the drought fish from 2007. They may not blast thru too fast, good news for those yet to fish.

Never found their reports to be off base.Since this report was from mid to upper run on migratory fish---what would they gain by it?

I'm definately not bad mouthing DSR I happen to support the style of operation they represent. Limited guys and strong enforcement providing a decent fishing experience for all there. Fished it almost exclusivley for 20 years till I got my place up there and now have time on a number of trips each year to spread my wings on the river.
All I'm saying is reports are subjective and dont necessarily represent the experience of everyone.
 I made a report last week that could be very different from that of other guys fishing the same river in a different location, or even the same spot at a different time of day.
  If you happen to be at a spot this time of year when a pod moves through the report you make may be very different than someone in the same spot an hour before of a couple of hours later. This can really give the wrong impression to folks-especially those not familiar with the river and its normal  (average) run times.

Making stuff up?
 
Well, the DSR report did embellish the facts on Saturday when they included a statement that the estuary and river mouth was loaded with fish.
 
This info was contradicted by many reports of boat fishermen that had to venture out to 100' depths to even mark fish - since the water temps flipped in the lake.
 
They would have better served those contemplating a trip up by simply omitting any statements regarding the estuary.
 
 Wonder why they failed to do so?
 
 
 
 

Is their any fishing at the break walls?

ORIGINAL: Cohookhead

At this time of year you could be fishing in one run not seeing or catching anything and down stream about a 1/4 of a mile or less there is a micro run taking place. Fished it numerous times when I thought I was hitting a hugh run only to find out later that everybody else had a slow day. Granted I had fish running up and down stream, just that it was only happening in that area. Oh and yes there are fish still at the breakwalls. Still fish in the lake just that boats are having a hard time with the waves to get to them.

Is there access at the breakwalls?

It's not exactly rocket science if someone wants to chase the salmon upstream.
 
If you are fishing the DSR exclusively, your success rate depends on how many fish make the run from the estuary...
 
If you are relying on the DSR reports with no intention of fishing there, then the following factors come into play:
 
Coho salmon will run the entire length of river up to the hatchery in 2-3 days tops.
 
Kings (and a good portion of the Steelhead and Browns that trail them) will take anywhere from 5 to 7 days to make the run.
From DSR:
Day 1 - Staircase to upper Ball Park,
Day 2 - 81 hole to Sportsmans
Day 3 - Sportsmans to 2A
Day 4 - 2A to Trestle
Day 5  -Trestle to Ellis, Wires Schoolhouse area
Day 6 - upstream to Hatchery or fly zones.
 
I am talking generalities and there are always exceptions to the rule (depending on water flows,temps,weather) - execpt for Cohos - they rocket upstream no matter what.
 
If you are unfamiliar with the river, get a map - the major parking/access areas are simple to locate.
 
p.s. - don't forget to fish all points in between the ones i mentioned .. :)
 

ORIGINAL: draketrutta

It's not exactly rocket science if someone wants to chase the salmon upstream.

If you are fishing the DSR exclusively, your success rate depends on how many fish make the run from the estuary...

If you are relying on the DSR reports with no intention of fishing there, then the following factors come into play:

Coho salmon will run the entire length of river up to the hatchery in 2-3 days tops.

Kings (and a good portion of the Steelhead and Browns that trail them) will take anywhere from 5 to 7 days to make the run.
From DSR:
Day 1 - Staircase to upper Ball Park,
Day 2 - 81 hole to Sportsmans
Day 3 - Sportsmans to 2A
Day 4 - 2A to Trestle
Day 5  -Trestle to Ellis, Wires Schoolhouse area
Day 6 - upstream to Hatchery or fly zones.

I am talking generalities and there are always exceptions to the rule (depending on water flows,temps,weather) - execpt for Cohos - they rocket upstream no matter what.

If you are unfamiliar with the river, get a map - the major parking/access areas are simple to locate.

p.s. - don't forget to fish all points in between the ones i mentioned .. :)

It's not exactly rocket science if someone wants to chase the salmon upstream.

If you are fishing the DSR exclusively, your success rate depends on how many fish make the run from the estuary...

it's not rocket science, but there is a lot more to it than chasing salmon upstream. after being on this forun for a while now, i think i can conclude that too many people rely on reports. people should concentrate on fishing and quality of water they are fishing rather than where the big run is. when i fished this past saturday, my father and i probably hooked 25-30 fish between the 2 of us. i'd say maybe 25-30 anglers in sight. not everyone was hooking up. but a few were trying to squeeze in to our spot. i decided to let an older couple up for the first time take my spot. i knew if we just walked out many monkeys wiuld've invaded it. this couple deserved my spot. they didn't once impede or even ask to share the spot. you would be shocked at the extent that people will go to when you are hooking fish and they are not. there's a lot more to fishing than the fish being there. to all anglers grasping for sound advice... be sure to be fishing quality water. just because someone is hooking up does not mean that if you get close to them you will too. look to see where a nice lie would be upstream or downstream from that person. than approach it with confidence and fish it with persistance starting with a short cast and than increasing distance (rocks permitting). yes it's not rocket science but it's not easy either...

DB - I agree with you for the most part, but contrary to the basics involving with trout fishing, the name of the game during the Salmon Run is to position yourself in a place where the pods of Kings are most likely to be found - especially useful in the earlier parts of the season before the fish are spread throughout the river.
 
Some folks stand on their favorite rock in the DSR, others hopscotch to various points upriver based on their knowledge of the average distance the fish will travel each day.
 
These are generalities and there are exceptions to every rule.
 
Once October rolls around and the river is full of fish and shoulder to shoulder fishermen, all bets are off.
 
I posted the list of major holes and approx daily travel distances as a basic guide for any newcomers to the SR.
 
p.s. - I juxtaposed 2A and Sportsman in my list posted above.