I need all the saving I can get at this point , lol
Good easy advice though.
So I looked through my boxes . I still have tons of salmon flies , mostly though , brightly colored comets and such geared toward the lower river.
I have a decent selection for mid- upper sections. I feel pretty confident everything will fish and excited to toss out abunch of swap flies . I will fish them hard !!
As for tying more , ah , maybe a 1/2 doz or so olive or brown buggers to supplement . If there is a hot bite on something you guys are using and not working for me then , heck yea I'm not to proud to ask for help .
Thanks guys :)
This swap worked well

j

I also heard that they will bite on black sponge is that true? But I was told when they do go after the black sponge it's usually with their back or tail sometimes with their fins.

They will hit the black sponge, but it has to be during the black sponge bloom. Only happens for two weeks in October.  You have to rip it through the water though, like a crank bait.  That's the reason so many are fouled.

Black sponge flies are the very effective imitations of a species peculiar to the Great Lake tribs, Blottus Nonintelligentsia. Like Clint informed us of, it is normally a sedentary blob-like organism living under discarded trash on the river bed, which during its peak mating season,  rapidly darts about the river trying to attach to anything it can. I'm kind of glad no one included a pattern in the swap, as they are so effective as to make them unsporting to use. I missed 2b's post, I assume he was bringing the fact we didn't have any in the swap to our attention. However,  the flies I offered up can be used as a substitute. Pretty effective when used in the proper, quick darting retrieve.

Black sponge with a drop or two of anise oil.  Works for bass, why not salmon?  LOL

I never thought of that, the ripping motion is just an effective method of scent dispersant.  Every quick  lift of the rod rings the dinner bell.  Spend enough time on the river and you finally learn the secrets of the pros.

I always thought it as interesting when the pros were surprised that the salmon had occasionally ingested some of their sponge, getting hooked in the corner of the mouth.  It seemed that more fish had collisions with the rapidly darting sponges.  Back in the day the dominant species was yellow orange, but over time genetics has apparently favored the black variety.
 
I will say that it need not be a complex tie to be effective.  One of the early falls when we were up for the kings, wooly worms were the hot ticket, with blue the big color.  It has been 25 or so, years that pattern should be coming back around one of these days. 

There are days that one color is what they want and why that is so I don't know.

Lucky, wooly worms, green machines and smurfs have always produced for me... Mostly steelies though