A banner day, but it was not.  Started out at the usual spot right at after light Even though I was late oddly enough my rock at the head was open so I bit, unfortunately the fish had other ideas.     The folks right across from me had a banner morning, the folks above me  did ok and the folks way down on the tail rocks did ok. I managed 4 takes and 2 decent battles, but they were not to be.  The whole place shut down at around 10 and I left at 11. Decided to take the long hard march so I pretty much worked from Pineville up to the snag and back. All people I spoke to had the same report, did ok in the am and it shut down. There were a ton of boats to fight for spots with. They reported the same too.  Many were pulling  what looked like small spoons or flat fish. Saw one fish taken on that. I had one good head shake at the snag and that was it from 12 to 4 then I had enough. Tripped over a rock crossing at the fridge and ended up wet for the walk back and man did that speed up the pace.
Fly of the day was a flesh fly and red and white sucker spawn.

agree with TB and L. There are less (or so it seems) fish (steel) in the river and the fish that are there have been beat up and holding tight lipped. I saw a few stacked up in some riffs, but they would not touch anything. I also saw a lone king today. What I am finally seeing is eggs here and there in the shallows.  We need a gully washer to clean things up  and stir things up.

Thanks Clint.
Nice to have young legs.
 

I did alright yesterday, fished upper and upper middle. Managed 7 hook ups but only 2 stayed buttoned. Interestingly washed out beads were preferred by most fish.

nice job on the effort Clint.sad to hear about the fewer fish and most of the ones you've seen being beat up. That right there is the very fact that I usually pray for high water starting middle of October. These fish came in an abundance and got the crap kicked out of them by all the slashers. I know everybody loves the 350 to 500 flow, but that's not a natural setting for a river. A river should come up and down naturally with the influx of water from rain. This in my opinion is one of the biggest downfalls of the Salmon River. It has pretty much created a picture perfect ideal fishing condition for most of the season.yes everyone wants to hook a lot of fish. But what about the fish? And now we have a sold out weekend for hotels coming up... I never remember hearing anything of that nature for the month of November in the years from the past... What will happen when the steelhead stocks crash and the returning numbers are way lower than the past 4/5 banner years for steelhead???

And why would the steelhead stocks crash? Past estimates of natural recruitment to the fishery for steelhead have been minimal.  Whatever caused the decline last time seems to be under control, and there has been no talk of a different mix in stocking or a reduction in numbers.  If for some reason it does happen, and is not part of a lakewide fishery collapse (a very real possibility when you stock so many predators dependent on one main food source over which you have no control; if you don't believe it could happen, look up recent events in Lake Huron) after a couple of seasons of P+M, the instant gratification, high numbers types will go back to the jetties or wherever they slunk out of to come to Pulaski, and the  expectation of the remaining diehards will go back to what it probably should remain even in days of high numbers, a day with a fish is a good day.
 
And a lot of guys will switch to PA and Ohio and go stand on Chartist's shoulders.
 
L13

Pa has been way down for about the last 5 years....still plenty of fish, but nothing like before the gill lice infestation and low water years that kept them in the lake to spawn.

Numbers have been down in Pa because the "other" predator (walleye) numbers increased and they are eating the smolts that are stocked in the spring as they enter the lake.There is is no natural reproduction of Steelhead in Pa,those streams are way too warm in the summer.
I remember years past when everyone on the SR had coolers full of Steelhead when the limit was three per day,then the numbers dwindled and a one trout per day became the reg.,after that the numbers of returning fish increased to what we have recently.However,the number of Steelhead anglers is insane the last couple years and that could be bad news for number of fish present in the system.

Yep walleye have taken their share.  And the 3/10/12 a day guys surely do account for losses.  Those spawning off shore and the lice are also reducing the numbers according to the biologists I have talked to who are studying the returns and general health of the steel head as well as the rest of the lake system.
No easy answers, but the fact is the numbers are drastically down from 5-10 years ago.
Funny thing is as the numbers have dropped so has the fishing pressure.  Maybe of we are lucky the same will happen in NY as guys continue to cry on the net that the fishing sucks.
 

Lucky no answer here... Just hypothetically speaking. Glad to here the different opinions as that's what I wanted to hear. I agree completely that 1 fish in an outting is great. That's what I was taught. My first few years were phenomenal followed by the mid /late 90's crash... But even then we muscled it out and always managed some good days. As we know, the past ten years for salmon have been great with a few incredible years.. But then look at this past season... I don't care what anyone says about this season numbers wise for salmon... The numbers were way down. I don't see his it "couldn't be possible for steelhead. The past four seasons have been phenomenal for steelhead. This should be a good one but I don't see it getting much better than it has been and I can't seeing staying the same as its been... Bow, no scientific backing here, but from my close observations for 25 years now I've never noticed anything to stay the same for more than 4-6 years... Those gill maggots were pretty bad for a few years but not so bad now... Who knows??? I just don't see it staying the same. And yes bear, it would be nice to see fisherman numbers go down as it doesn't seem worth the while to fish combat style in the cold for maybe a fish or two... Just my two cents...