shark season?

For the past 15 years I spent alot of time chasing stripers which are just a little longer drive than the SR is for me. Last November I decided to start chasing steel, and once I did, it was all over. I had one good weekend on the coast chasing stripes  in May, but since I have only so much I can spend, I'm saving my money to go west rather than east. My question is about shark season. I had some bad times of it going 25 years ago. I would like to hook and maybe land some salmon on my 9 wt. Is it worse than say the Lower fly zone?  I camped cheap at Stoney's until I couldn't get in anymore, is that a good place to stay? Do I need reservations for everything  in Sept. and Oct. or am I SOL already?  I tolerated weekends in Nov. OK, if it isn't WAY worse, I would really like to go. I  read reports here since I started going and respect all the regulars here for the great amount of knowledge they have. Any info you can share would be greatly appreciated. I'm gonna assume eggs and maybe the pink chennile worms the steel ate will also work on the sharks. Thanks.
 
Charlie
 

ORIGINAL: hot tuna

Hey Charlie and a bit late but welcome:
Salmon (shark) season has not changed at all in the last 25 aside from legal snagging and the j-plugs are gone. The rest of the crazyness is still there, crowding and other methods employed. Of course You can walk away and find your little place ..
Not trying to be bias or promote anything.. I Only fly fish for them and Only fish for Salmon in the DSR.. Steelhead through out the river.. But Salmon Only there..

Reasons :
Tons less B.S. with other fishers.. The water type for flyfishing them is PERFECT.. And it is the first wave of aggressive fish that take large flies..

oops hit the submit button:

Not saying they cant be caught elsewhere on the river.. I just dont fish for Salmon elsewhere..

Now lets say the DSR is taken out of the equation:
Upper Fly Zone would be my choice in mid- late october..
Salmon will also take /strike while on or digging redds.. But they are also beat up to ****.. So I target trout and maybe play with some salmon then..

As far as campgrounds:
Hard to Beat Selkirk Shores.. cheap/clean & quiet. No reservations needed (except maybe columbus day weekend) but they do shut down around oct 15th..

good luck and keep the questions rollin..

Peace & Tuna

Fichy- Agree wholeheartedly with Tuna
When my time on the River was limited I always fished DSR. First crack at first fish. But dont go too early in the season with limited time. If they are late you miss out.
Used to go a week or two later and do the DSR in the AM and if they were running stay all day- if not LFZ. And sometimes a spot or two in between.
DSR is up to about 45 a day now as compared to about 15 when you last went there.
You will not find the fishing different but its neat without the trebble hookers in the upper river. There also seems to be a lot more fly fishermen out now and a lot more catch and release going on too.
Good luck- hope yo hitem real good- its a GREAT fishery.
BTW - got rid of my boat-stopped strippers and blues and now just do the SR so I can see where you are coming from. Nice decision.
  Hey--they all talk bout that Sept fishing but it can be SPOTTY at best sometimes till very late in the month. I would definately call around now for those reservations too-Might not be that much dif between a room and a camp.
  I think you can now  reserve at DSR too but check with their regulars on that.

Hey charlie; labor day weekend is always a sure shot for me in dsr; some years are better than others but have never been skunked on ldw to say the least. After this anytime until and oct. 1st. Is a great bet in dsr. It would be worth it for you to book consecutive weekends during this period if possible. Just keep in mind, the earlier you go the less people there will be. I highly recomend labor day weekend as well; it will be a great experience and the water is always up that weekend :) I personally start in early/mid august. I don't recomend this. But keep in mind that the largest run of kings I ever witnessed was 3rd weekend in august 1998 and for coho was 2nd week in september 2008 ;) good luck and keep the questions coming as tuna said.

Thanks all.  . I thought Stoney's might get a little loud. We stayed there camping in the snow. My wife and I were the only ones that weren't in a trailer. It's nice to get to sleep at a good hour. Odd thing about first light, it comes really early.  I can afford the DSR some of the time, but will fish upstream, too. I tend to get to the water while it's still dark and split if the crowds get too nasty(read obnoxious and stupid- I can deal with polite crowds)  later in the morning.  I'm currently fishing a single hand 11' 7 wt. that does a great job. I have some excellent 9 wts. but they are 9'.  When it was running 385 I dropped to 6lb. fluoro(and small flies) , but the rest of the time I used 3x that tests out at 9.2.  What do you guys think for the salmon? Should I step up to around 12 lb. ? 1x?  The tips on my 9's will be dicey protecting  lighter tippets, but they  have the  butt power to stop long runs.
 
Charlie
 

Defintiely 12# in lower river. I go from 10-15 tippet for salmon depending on water levels. What drake said about staircase is right 50% of the time;) the other 50% of the time from my observations; many fish will run as little as a half mile up dsr and then turn around back to the estuary the same day. I've actually witnessed this with large runs of kings and cohoes. This behavior from the salmon makes a lot of people question dsr reports ;) it happens a lot though trust me. I've seen this happen up to 3 days in a row myself... i actually love it though :) with that being said, ask around here if anyone fished it and see what they say. Feel free to pm me whenever as well. This forum can get a little brutal in salmon season with the whole "honest reports" deal especially when dsr/ barclay are involved. Lmao...

Btw; im not much of a political man but I met barclay once along the river and I conversed with him all the way back to my truck and for a fair amount of time in his parking lot. Imo, on a personal level he's a nice guy. It was kinda neat to hear his side of the story to say the least. I'll leave it at that...

all good information.. Honestly I like (d) it better as the DSR of now.. Only the price to play has gone up considerably.. The water type is perfect for back cast "fly fishing " .. I’ll even say is a great spey area also although I do not.. The target areas for me are small pockets of broken water 4>6' deep. Moving fish and sight fishing.. That area also allows you 2 miles to cover lots of water and always have a place to fish to your self.. Speculator times have been had there during salmon my seasons.. Spent many a 3 days during labor day weekend.. I have been skunked but also some Great ones.. Its a good pretty good gamble to take that buy that Sunday some freshies will push in.. after that the waiting game begins as those filter through the river..
Yes I did relinquish my season pass last year and do not guide them any longer.. really simple fishing ,great fun but spending more fishing days chasing trout’s is equal in its own rite..

Any way .. absolutely there are free fishing areas for salmon.. If you can be patient enough to walk and seek out areas then that’s how I personally like to fish.. Have been to the parking areas mainly observing.. See lots of anglers catch plenty of fish.. I move often and am not a spot fisherman.. That would be key to me.. So far I'm happy with reducing my salmon fishing (after 1,000's) and continue fishing where I like.

My Leader set up is BASIC for salmon.. No tapered leader.. No swivel.. and between 6 > 9' long. No need for anything else .. But no problem using a tapered leader on them I'd go with a #10 tippet in low 335 to start and up to #12 if needed or higher water of no more the 9'. I could never control anything longer with a big fly .
I just make my own and add tippet as needed.
Simply Nail Knot 2' 30# Amnesia..Tie Perfection knot.. Loop to loop 4' 20# to amnesia. Blood or surgeons 2> 4' tippet of #12 to size #4 bead chain eye Streamer .. If you want to go lighter just trim 0r add to the tippet another section..
That whole deal for ever of salmon fishing just cost about $10.00.. Salmon are not shy, If they want it.. They are going to take it.. I Watch it all the time.. Of course many will simply not budge.. Move on.. It's not easy but your reward of figuring it out will pay off later..
As said I'm fishing broken shallow med depth water watching the fish take my fly (when possible) .. Not heavy white or deep pools.. Continuously moving to find fish if they are not moving.. To me that’s an awesome day..

ORIGINAL: dimebrite
It was kinda neat to hear his side of the story to say the least. I'll leave it at that...

POS Politician making CASH CHING on fish stocked with the license dollars derived from the UNWASHED MASSES.

I'll Leave it at that.

   Never met the owner at DSR but could easily understand his position having heard stories early on. They did a great job down there. For those of us who fished it before and after the changes in acomadating folks and ingress and egress were appreciated.
     Guess in reality 45 today isnt much different in inflated dollars than 15 was many years ago when ya get right down to it. Darn  it hateful to age.
    Had said last season -and meant it-  will fish the DSR a few times this upcoming season. Tuna and Dime are correct with the areas water conditions being perfect. Also look forward to a bit more civil fishing experience without some of the antics upriver.
    Probably be the one 'hooked' again. Know exactly what rock I'm gonna go directly to, if it hasnt word down to a sand grain by now. .

Slammo - besides Jason the Mgr, the rest of the gang make min ching..
Barclay takes agricultural use tax credits on his S P R E A D .

Cash Business,,,

upkeep? gravel, dirt, weed whackin?

alllllrighty, what ever youz sayz

Dime-
   Your right bout Charlie but his questions and positions are answered and now we once again wander off like happy minstrels in a Monty Python movie.
     Last time I was DSR forgot the break in line rule and was fly fishing- One of the workers helped me FIND swivels lying around a couple of popular spots on the ground. Now THATS nice.  He had come up and told me bout the rule and then helped me get it right.
  Found a couple and got fishing again.

ORIGINAL: retired guy

Dime-
  Your right bout Charlie but his questions and positions are answered and now we once again wander off like happy minstrels in a Monty Python movie.
    Last time I was DSR forgot the break in line rule and was fly fishing- One of the workers helped me FIND swivels lying around a couple of popular spots on the ground. Now THATS nice.  He had come up and told me bout the rule and then helped me get it right.
Found a couple and got fishing again.

Nee!

In all the times that I fished SR, I have never fished the DSR. I will this season. Son is heading to college. I am moving back to North Central PA. yep. I think that will do the trick. New step in life, new waters.

No apology necessary drake.

Maybe i'll see ya down there cb; actually, it sounds like I may see a bunch folks down therethis year.

I don't mind that  the questions I asked were answered VERY well and the topic headed south (or west). I'll take everything with a grain of salt and see for myself. I've been using small Spro swivels to create a break in my leaders, even though I tie my own.  I'm use to long tippets (3-4) feet from 4 decades of fussy  trout and sightfishing carp and stripers. .Long tippets are good for shock absorption on big fish anyway, and help to get the fly down.  I decided to go with swivels, as I did do some chuck and duck  with shot on a swivel tag when it was near zero in the morning. I might have been exceptionally good at flossing, but I had a ton of success, including an Atlantic, using caddis pupae. I did get the occasional snag, but, like I said, I only used it  sparingly. Alot of my flies get wrapped with wire or have tungsten beads to get down, so I use little to no weight. I had one excellent  afternoon when the steel were really active and they smashed a  bunny crayfish, twitched on the swing,  with 3/16 dumbells on it. Sounds like I may be trying it out on the salmon. I know I shortened my learning curve a mile when I joined and asked these questions. I'm not going away, though. I'll contribute anything I can and happily buy any of you a beer if I'm so lucky as to meet you on the river. 
 
Charlie

I pretty much only use Comets for Salmons. Orange seems to do best for me.

I'm not saying the place is nirvana, but it is more relaxing than watching idiots go 1, 2, 3 rip all day long. A fish won't take when it's dodging cannonballs and bare hooks all day long.

Maybe we could set up a little gathering for say third weekend in Sept.. We could chip in and buy my pal draketrutta a day pass.

I use no swivels. I tie my own leaders in all of my fishing. I prob. go about 9 feet there. I usually fish long skinny leaders around home so that's way short for me. Tuna knows his stuff, and the other guys too. It's all what you're comfortable with.