As far as the Salmon's favorite color I used to think olive estaz was the color,at least it was for me for a couple years until for whatever reason they did n't like it for a spell.Then it would be something else,pink,green,red,black,blue,etc. As I said before have a lot of different color and type of flies,you never know what it will be this year.
As far as the take on the drift I find it is more subtle than aggressive.That is why I high stick and keep my line in contact with my rod hand on the drift to feel the take,it might just be a slight twitch or hesitation.Last season I went to a 11 ft 8 wt switch rod to get a better drift and easier roll cast and I recommend that highly,of course you need a reel with a good smooth drag.
It's july 1.......2 1/2 months to fun times on the river folks!

New stick is an 8 weight 10 footer by Echo.
Got a spay if I really need a 2 hander.
Extra length but still easily 1 hand castable.
 
I miss lots of fish every year because I wait to make sure it is a lagit take, not a rock or body bump.
Worth it to me but I no I could hook more if I was a twitchy richie.
Its why I swing much more than short line nympth fish.
Its a grab or nothing no doubt on the tightline tightline swing, oh ya and ya feel it in your shoulder.
 

Most long timers can PA.
So I get what you're saying.
I just refuse to set till I'm sure that feeling of lfe is from the right mouth.
If I set the hook every time I felt life I couldn't afford the hooks I'd have to break off.
Its also why I fish large hooks.
While smaller sharper hooks penatrate with little pressure more often than not my hooks slide off fins and bounce off bodies unless I punch them home.
Again worth it to me to miss some fish.
We must fish some time!
 

retired guy

Fat, old, grouchy, bald and at last= mellow.

Have you been peeking in my shower.
OK you have to trade the word stupid for bald but other than that.

well here is where I feel I'm at :
The days of 30 + on water days salmon fishing is over, at least for me.. Then it was about putting others on experiences they wanted..
So now when I come to Pulaska it's for the fishing. I'm personally not looking to catch every fish that swims the river but with the time, $$$ and effort the focus is accomplishing my goal of catching fish..  Leaving there after knowing I did my best is all I could ask for.. Meeting good folks along the way is the bonus..
The bumps in the road on the way is expected for such an area as that..  It's not always numbers but it is fishing one of the most if not THE most popular rivers in NY..
Aug, Nah.. I'll spend the summer vacations hanging on the shores at the beach or off shore on the big lake ..
 
 

Good time to be there PA.
  Different having a place up there- ya can go even when the odds are against ya. Gotta cut grass anyhow.
 When we had to drive up for just  short stays it was bout the same time your talking bout _ much better odds.
  Tuna- Early AM or late evening on those RI beaches - when the beach bunnies are gone- can get some nice runs of Blues or Bass close in. Used to be in Misquamicut every year in mid to late August. FUN.

HT-Be prepared for real cold water up in RI.  Water temp was 64 last week.   

As long as the sun will shine and salt ponds are not too windy, we be fine.
After this muggy hot weather here , clams are going to come aboard :)

I just don't get tired of the Kings and Ho's,love that screaming drag after the head shake.I know the Steel are prettier and fight hard,but there is something about those big boys that tickle me
The trouble with below 32 degree water is that it turns to ice,that hinders the fish somewhat.However,if you can provide a flat screen TV and a bottle of Makers Mark in the HEATED ice HOUSE I may join you Rich

My favorite tactic is Popsicle flies drifting by a few kings. The best is one all by itself, float it by a few times so it sees it, then when its had enough of it, they snap at it. And when you know... You know. I do alot to make sure i dont snag, I've gone from snagger, to fly fishing over the past 20 years. All self taught, and I've come along ways since catching my first mud shark at 9.
 
But nothing beats drifting and egg sucking leech under a few kings and having a steelhead slam it on the back end of a drift.  

I can see whats happening now. You guys are pumping me up to the point where I'm thinking you know I should fish the  salmon run a couple of days a year,  sounds like fun.  Maybe it's not the mad house it was 12-13 yeears ago. But then I remember how it is in November now, and hear there where four times this many guys in this run in Sept!  Maybe I'll stick to Steelies in the snow.............HMM. How crowdwed is the LFZ in Sept? 

Nea,
 
Last September, the LFZ did not open so it was very uncrowded.  DEC was not getting the necessary hens to the hatchery due to the slaughter downstream, and wanted the zone as resting area for what fish did get upriver, so they were not played to death, so they kept it closed until the salmon were pretty well done and they were finished with egg taking.  They still had to take eggs in Trout and Orwell, and up in the Black River.  I only got to the river once in September, and then only for a couple of PM hours down in the Ball Park, and it was a zoo.  The menagerie continued into Steel season, because the saltwater crowd got blown off the NJ, LI and Connecticut beaches by Sandy, and "discovered" Pulaski.  We can only hope they are in the salt this fall, as it was always an O'dark 30 proposition if you wanted reasonably good water, no matter how far you were willing to walk.
My alternate spot, the Genesee, went up in early October just after the chrome started to show up, and was plagued with high water all though the winter and spring, and the high flows have cursed my fishing in WNY ever since (except for spring steel, which is triggered by high flow in the smaller tribs).  Now that Bass is open and I could chase them after work with a canoe, it is PM T storms, and I don't  like waving a graphite rod around in an electrical storm.
 
You can all stop doing the rain dances now, when the water table is higher than the ground level, it creates a lot of problems for everyone!
 
L13 

Glad to see somebody mention the downriver 'slaughter- it was just that too. Not so much C@R like so may of us do but hookem anyplace and keep. Not that I begrudge somebodys keeping fishes.
 That and the season long low conditions kept the upriver experience kinda average at best. Yea yea somebodys gonna say 'hey I was up and it was GREAT'-- good for you.
 Personally fish up most all of the time and have lots of time too- This was the first year in a decade or more I moved to mid river - and stayed there. Was like being in a different fishery.
  Way down towards Town was tried a time or two butttt- not my cupa tea- even with record fish numbers  down there.
 Higher water would still have produced a great year and it woulda been spread and likely with much more activity on beds than all species were able to manage this past season. What beds got used on the downside likely got trampled pretty good.
  Cant wait to see this year.
 Aint I bein a crabby  old Phart.

My first real successful fly big B.
Silver flasabou tail.
 Red chenile body.
Silver flashabou "hackle".
Size 2 or 4.
Flashabou about 3 inches long and I'd pull it over the back egde of my scissors to give it a curl and more flash.
Modeled after an Alaskabou fly I had read about.
 
 
 

Last year was a big run and it seemed even bigger because of the low water, the low water made it very easy for the lifters/snaggers to hook up.Hopefully we keep getting rain and then they can release a good flow making it more of a pleasure to fish.