Reports from the river salmon river numbers are low. They interviewed a few fish and they all said they are scared to run the river because of some troll from Ohio whipping around 1/0 Estaz hooks on a 1000.00 rod

Are you sure your fishing the right river Wayne ? All the snagger reports say it's soooo much better then last year with LOTS of fish to be caught . Pushes daily , geesh !!
Guess I will have missed it all when I get there

Must be missing it all. Not seeing to many being cleaned or any one hooked up. It's bad when DSR is advertising for fishing poles during the big run you are hearing about. They will come.

I have tried dries, but I'm usually getting up there when the water is colder.  I know 2B has caught chrome on dries when the water is this warm.  He also caught a coho on a dry once, but that's another story and a half!  On Irondequoit Creek, I did once have a huge Fall buck come up and slam a globug dragging on the surface below me while I was lighting a cigarette. Missed him clean, one of the reasons I quit smoking (until the cigars creeped into my habit list :(_ ooo  )   I've also had some luck with unweighted wets right in the film (greased line) early in the run and on warm days. (What I call a wet is maybe what everyone else calls a streamer, flies like they use on the west coast, to me streamers are tied on 4x to 6x long hooks, and I'm not wild about them for Steelhead.)
 
I'm just suggesting that if you find a "secret spot" full of kings and want to isolate the chrome, up top may be what keeps the sharks at bay while the greased lightening is being tempted.  If it is slow, what is to lose?

That's a very good idea and use of technique, Lucky. Thanks.  I've got cohos very near the surface, and Kings right off the top. Getting a steel to pop up above their salmonid lessers would be cooler than anything i can think of....
Kind of discouraging, Wayne. Only consolation is my last day of vacation  on the river is still 2 weeks out and things may improve by then. Keep pluggin'. 

Have to say from my observation it is better than last year across the board... Although that's not saying much. Mouse patterns??? My brother and were throwing a mouse pattern in 2007 in mud may when the water had just dropped from 1800 cfs to 500 believe. Steel were in mass abundance up there in the lfz. He had one charge and swerve a few feet from it. I watched from the rt. 52 bridge. I had 3 steelhead aggressively hit in two days with no weight as the no weight rule was just a year or two old after may 14th... of them broke water but they were on little Bucktails tied on the tiniest jig head you can imagine. Water had dropped down to 500 while we were targetting the 2 days. The amount of fresh fish we saw running up during 1800 the first day was shocking... Haven't seen conditions like that since.

Floated top end today, was able to pull plugs in every hole as the fishing pressure up top was light. Saw three salmon the whole day. three boats in schoolhouse and two in the wire hole, come around the bend in the trestle and holy cow!! had to be 3 hundred people elbow to elbow. One guy said they crushed them in there yesterday well I didn't see any, or bump into any pods that would have suggested fish were there and moving up. Never got a sniff or saw a swirl near the lures witch would be common if there were fish around. Lots of people asking were the fish are and I kept telling them the lake.

Fan thanks for the honest report. I had suspected a pod was back there. They may be church hole and up by now though.

Schoolhouse can also hold a lot of fish without seeing them as well as upper Ellis pool on road side of island. The circus has seemed to arrive in town. My son is content catching bullhead in the backyard

Dime thanks for the help the past few days. Till next time just a few days away. Tying some more the the trip.