I think people should remember typical years we(eastern lake O)din't have consistent salmon fishing until mid Aug-
OK the last 4-5 yrs we've had better then average salmon finshing in July- but for YEARS before that salmon didn't show up in good numbers until the 10-15th of Aug-
I've been finding kings since late June- But certainly not as well as last year-
expect things to change shortly-
the river is currently runnin over 1400@ p-ville and w/ all the rain they've gotten on Tug Hill the last few days the trend should continue- this should help draw more and more fish this way for the rest of this month.

How do you guys deal with all the people??? I cant, I might , but I cant no I wont. I cant take it and have not done salmon in 6 years. Whats the trick, more beer?

Last time I fish for salmon was at ellis cove , there were over 100 people and probably 100 at the muskrat. I almost went into grand thef auto mode. That was on a wednesday. But I did find a hole nearby that I had all to my self for about an hour. 7 people moved in but not close . There were alot of salmon in the hole luckly.

GS according to DEC catch rate data they are taking about 45% few kings than the last 5 year average. That does not bode well for the run.

ORIGINAL: metalslayer

The run will be fine--it's the eastern browns that worry me 

 
slayer:
do you feel this due to charters targeting them instead of the elusive salmon ?
They have been pretty easy pickins

Has anyone checked the salmon river the last couple of days. The water has been running at 1100. Never no might be a few stragglers making there way up the river.

Water level was running high and muddy. hatchery had nothing in it. gate was up also. see a lot of 4-5 '' and an occasional 12-14 trout in creek. all fishing was slow at best.
 
On the lake, kings are for the most part still deep. lots of rain, t-storms, funnel clouds. got some browns but nothing to write home about. kings,some guys got a few, most skunked. flies and spoons were the lures.
 
As far as predicting when they'll run... play the lottery, it's easier. few years ago kings ran in 75 degree water up river, then, floated upside-down back out to see. last year mid sept. there was no water to speak of and the estuary was loaded with some kings, lots of hoes and some steal. water was very warm, but they were there. The fish go up when they want to ........ Temp or no temp-water or no water. very frustrating......

One thing seems to be certain- they should make it out of the estuary & lower river in a little better shape than last years bunch did. Maybe they can even get enough eggs so the DEC won't need to get snaggers to help get the eggs.
Still trying to figure that out. WTF????????????????

They (hatchery) needed eggs. Desperate times-desperate measures. There would be a lot of people complaining in 3-4 years that there are less fish returning and the DEC. should have done something 3-4 years ago. The fishery on the lake is a HUGE economic machine. Lake Ontario sportfishing in NY alone is WELL OVER $200,000,000. That's a lot of dough no matter how you look at it.
 
Could the DEC. have done things differently? Of course. Hind sight is always 20/20.

Didn't they dramaticly reduce the number of kings stocked a few years aga? About a million or so less smolt stocked, not a million eggs worth but the actual successfully hatched and grown to stocking sized fish. Didn't the fishery survive. The charter captains whined but the fishery went on. People dragged their boats here and went fishing anyways. While it may have been harder to load the boat  it was still possible  tio catch salmon and the people came to do it. THE PRICE OF GAS WILL HAVE A MUCH LARGER IMPACT ON THE FISHERY THAN ANY REDUCED NUMBER OF KINGS WILL.

Hind Sight? Dude- it was an outrage before it even happened.
Not enough eggs would have been better than promoting the snagging mentality under the veil of duty.
Just sayin'.

Wader, your right about the gas... A lot less people are going out on charters this year. Cost of everything going up-people cut back. There was a drop off of people fishing when the stocking numbers were cut back. The DEC. was suppose to stock more kings this year, 9I think it was 10% more). I have to look it up and see if they did...
 
Salmo- it was an outrage. Outrageously low water, one of the lowest in history, and the DEC did not have a plan for it. I have yet to hear if they have an "alternate" paln for the future.

OTH,
Its looks from that info that in  1995 almost 2 million less stocked resulted in a higher catch rate than in the years with larger stockings. Cherry picking my data but it looks as if that is what it said.

I really have'nt seen a decline in fish returning to the salmon river. I think just as many fish are returning but not in the huge runs like they use to. I remember back in the 80s before the hatchery they had a weir in pulaski and the fish they got out of there were very healthy and fresh. And back then the fish I think were bigger then what you got today. Also the natral reproduction of the fish now is good. Some of the creeks that people dont fish much,if you go up there in the summer you will see juvenile salmon in every hole. In some of these spots there no bridges for miles so the state didnt dump them in. I would like to see them go after the atlantic salmon liked they did kings and keep it tight liped until they established. The Oswego river in opion has seen less fish returning. I think that river getting worse every year. I think the water quality that flows down there and the temp is making a diffrence. South Sandy creek the last 3yrs have seen bigger runs of salmon and steelhead to.

Of coarse they don't have a plan for next time. Less fish would be ok. That years fish would be bigger in theory.