WEEEEELL,   today was an all day affair with very little results.  We went not knowing where we were going.   Went to the LFZ and was a bit too crowded for us (yes on a freaking wednesday).   Could of shoe horned in, but there were other options.    Went  up north,  fished for a while.   Water was up and looked good, but there was NOOOOOO fish up there, talked to a few guys and zip,zero, nada, ziltch.   Hopped in the care tried another.   Water looked even better so we took a small walk.  Caught a small skipper and that was it.
  
Off to the river to my not so secret spot.   Just as we are walking up, across the river  I see a boat parked upstream a bit and the guys are sitting in the boat and BSing. I started to cross the river a little below them  and as soon an they saw me they quickly grabbed their gear,   needless to say I reached the other side and set up in the  best part of the run  and started casting, my buddy was right behind me.  The group is behind me by maybe  45 seconds as they had a 100 yard  walk from where the boat was parked.   The guide gave me a look that could kill and said something I quite could not hear, I did not encourage with any reply other than "any luck".   They set up down stream from us  and were none too happy. They left after    15 minutes.  Fished for 2 hours seeing only  only one steel jump.   Although I find it hard to believe I hooked into a moldy old male king he gave a bit of a tussle and I wanted to get my fly back.   I was shocked to see the hook under his snout in the jaw,  I am guessing I lined it as the thing was pretty bad but you never know.   For the next hour from 4 to 5 pm I managed 2 pulls one was quick and one I hooked and the fish stormed right at me ,  jumped out of the water not 5 feet in front of me,  with all the slack in my line he popped the hook  on his next run and that was that.   
Tried everything from sacs  to stones to estaz to sucker spawn.  The fly again today was a steelhead hammer in pink  for the skipper and in blue for the 2 pulls in the river.
  All angling pressure was  in town (both ends,  Altmar a bit busier than Pooolaski ),  there also seemed to be alot of cars the compactor  when I peeked down .  From Ellis up to the ball park there were folks, but it was spread out.         
I have a pic of the salmon, but I left the camera in my car, maybe tomorrow for a laugh.    Will go out tomorrow or Friday and be done until next Wednesday as I will not deal with the crowds on the weekend.

Clint-
 
My experience with the kings when I fished for them was that they hit really well when they first came in on big attractor patterns like buggers and wooly worms and zonkers, and then once they started sapwning they were a LOT more difficlut, but once it got to be steel season, the males that were still around would start hitting again, and could be a real pain in terms of fly loss if you didn't play them back all the way. 
 
Sounds like a pretty good day even if only the skipper came to hand.  And congratulations on having the curiosity to head up north, sometimes that can pay off handsomely with less crowding.  There is a new access lot on Stony by 3, and the big creek south of there used to be good right below the bridge (I probably burned somebody's spot, but it ain't rocket science, if you drive and open your eyes). 
 
Thanks for another great report.
 
L13 

You know it Lucky, it is VERY hit or miss. Sometimes the water can look good and the fish are not there.   Just thought what the hell .   Never fished Stony, but it is on the list, went by it many times.   I didn't think by the picture anyone could tell where I was, but you did very well.

 
 
Moldy Oldie
PS I picked up trash in the middle of October on the stretch I usually walk.  On the way out yesterday I still got about 25 deposit cans     5  cans of energy drink.  Countless coffee cups, but very little other than that.   C'mon guys reading this I know you are lurking about.  There really have only been steelhead fisherman since my last pick up.  Hold yourself a little better than the salmon slobs  and cart your cans and cups out   and PSS   Crushing the cans does not count as anything, at least least leave them whole so I can collect the deposit on them

Yep- increased late season crowds of "those' kind of fishermen lead to 'those' kind of issues.

Humm , salmon huh.. Scratch my head..
Great report as always Clint .. Thanks for sharing the pics .. Love the pics !!
November male shark :)
Keep the fish stories commin. Gonna be awhile before I have some to share :(

One of my sources place a small # of ho's up north last Saturday, saw pics to boot all nice and silver.
 

Clint while he didn't have a deed Lucky owned that spot 30 years ago.
Watched a 20lb+ steelhead there once that would rush the salmon redds, ram a hen with his snout and then race downsteam to scarf the eggs he forced out.
Big enough he wasn't scared of the male salmon that tried to stop him.

Clint too bad i missed ya... something tells me north is prime RIGHT NOW!!! but hey, one fish was worth my minimal effort yesterday... i imagine there is some pretty intense pressure there at this point as well... believe it or not ive caught some fiesty sharks in november... id be completely content with your day... you managed to get your hands wet and avoid the crowds.... nice report

Clint looks like a place I tried before if its where I'm thinking I'm kind of surprised at the amount of water unless the pictures are just deseving