Dfishinfool's From The River
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By: Don Dfishinfool Mathews
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E-Mail Me at: Info@Dfishinfool.com
10-22-01 Jeff fished with John Sat. at Elk Creek. Water had dropped slightly and cleared a little more. Had fair to good success on Crystal Minnows and Kevorkians. John landed a beautifull 6# brown on the fly rod. Fishing pressure was heavy with fish still concentrated in the lower river. SUN.10-21 Started at Walnut and crowd was heavy. Landed several fresh silver fish right at daybreak then it stopped. Water is very clear and you can see the fish stacked in the holes. Caught fish on # 12 succer spawn ,Peach color seemed to work best. Next wen't to trout run and was surprised at a light crowd . Waves were about 1' on the beach so wading was O.K, Landed 2 fish here on brown trout egg's in pink sacks and missed a couple of takes. About 1:30 had lunch and headed to Elk creek. Found fish still holding in same spots as Sat. Landed one more before it started to pour. A major rainstorm was moving in and caused us to call it quits. I will not make it up to the river Mon. or Tues. but im sure the rain will only improve the conditions and bring more fish upriver. Don
10-18-01 Thursday Elk-Walnut Report Got a late start this morning. Started at 9:00 at the Elk. Parked at the access and walked upstream to the water fall hole. Water had stained a little from the rains and made seeing fish difficult, did spot a couple, No takers. Walked back downstream past the ramp and saw lots of fish being caught. Set up and started throwing a # 10 orange sucker spawn . Fish were very aggressive and eager to take the fly landed 6 and lost more than I care to talk about. Others were doing well on spawn sacks bottom bounced. Saw lots of silver fish landed. If you fish with a bobber set it deep as they are hugging the mud and refuse to come up for the take.
Had lunch and headed for Walnut Access. Found it full of people and fish. Action was slow, probably due to the clear water. Fish were too spooky here so I packed it up and headed back to the Elk this time upstream. Found very few anglers and enough fish to make it interesting. They are in their usual haunts in fair numbers. They are as far as the Legion hole and probably farther. Landed three more before I called it a day. All in all, a beautiful fall day on the river.
My weekend pick would have to be Elk creek. Don’t care to battle the lawnchair boys at Walnut again this weekend. I’ll trade a few less fish for the elbow room. Be nice and go fishin! Don
10-16-01 Fished Sat. and Sun with Chuck and Greg from California. Started Sat. morning at lower Elk creek. water level had not came up from Fri. rain. Hooked and landed three on the flyrods and longline released a few. Hot flys were clousers and egg patterns. Huge crowd was causing the water to be cloudy from the boat ramp down. We took a walk up to the falls and saw a couple holding in this section as the water was much clearer. Fish were too spooky after running the gauntlet. Had lunch and tried a few spots upstream. We found a few scattered fish that were very spooky did manage to land one more and hook up a couple of others before calling it a day. SUN. found us at the project waters at Walnut. It was extremely crowded and fish were very spooky. Catching fish required perfect presentations. Chucks fly fishing experience shined. Chuck managed to catch and release seven fair hooked fish and lost several more.The hot fly was a size #14 orange scud back. About 11:00 headed for Trout run with the noodle rods. Greeted by a huge crowd here too. Lots of fish in the nursery waters and fair to good action on the beach . Had four takes in a hour and a half on spawn sacks and broke off a huge jumper. Next headed over to lower Conneaut parked at main street and walked the section to the first tressles and only saw two fish. Water was a tea color and clear enough too see fish. Called it a day. Don
10-09-01 Steelhead action remains good even with the low water levels . I have had reports of good action at the mouths of the Pa. creeks. We need a good soaker to get the fish upstream.
Salmon River New York
10-4,5,6,7th Made the trip too Pulaski to fish the Samon River Again this weekend . Started Thurs at the upper fly fishing only zone I went 0 for 2 and jeff went 2 for 4 all Coho's. This day was mainly a scouting mission. We also landed several steelies. Fri morning we hit the paper hole and I went 1 for 3 and jeff got 2 for 3 mixture of kings and Coho's. Sat. things picked up. Fished the little Black Hole right in town and had a great day I landed 6 and jeff 3 ,lots of hookups and lots of people, All kings and saw some nice browns caught. Steady rain all morning long. Sun we headed to the DSR and had my personal BEST day ever fishing for Salmon. I had a unbelievable 21 hookups by 2:30 in the afternoon . I landed 11 with the biggest King going 32lbs 3 Oz. At one point while standing in the flats about 200 Salmon chaged up the river at once imagine 20 anglers all hooked up to 20# plus fish at once. Anyone who says a Salmon can't be mouth hooked is full of B.S. . Most fish I saw landed were fair hooked . Most peoples equipment simply can't bring in a foul hooked fish of this size in a rapid current. Most foul hooked fish break off. I quit at 2:30 because my fly reel handle exploded under the strain of a huge fish. When this hapened the spool sun around at warp speed as the fish took line. The protruding screw took a chunk of my thumb off . OUCH !!! I have decided that King Salmon should be listed as dangerous game . LOL. Long Live The King !! Don
10/03/01 Jeff and I were joined with Everett and Paul from toledo. Started off at trout run at daylight and hooked three and landed one in two hours. We did see about 15 or 20 fish landed. Waves started to cloud the water so we made the move to Elk creek. The Lower parking lot was full and upper only had a couple of spots. The river is VERY low and fish can't make it up past the boat ramp. Everybody is fishing the parking lot to the lake. River had almost no current. We started with the noodle rods and lost a couple . We decided to get out the fly rods and that was the ticket. About 12:00 a nice run of fish came into the river and we tore them up. Everett and paul who are new to steelheading and flyrodding took fish after fish. Both made the double digit club with well over 30 hookups. Then around 4:00 it started to slow down. If you go PLEASE carefully relase all that you do not keep . The river was littered with dead fish. It may take four or five minutes to revive a fish in the warm water. Light line and SMALL flys are the ticket. We did well with Crystal minnows and small succer spawn orange. Its off to the Salmon river in New York again this weekend for me . SO Good Luck on the Pa steel. Don
Sept 29,30 Jeff fished the Pa tribs and had fair success. Last weeks rains brought in some fresh fish but the low water had the concentrated in the lower rivers and the crowds were huge. Fish are starting to show up at the mouths of the creeks but crowds are heavy here also. We need enough rain to alow the fish to get upstream in numbers to spread the crowds out. Best baits are succer spawn and clousers on the fly rod and egg sacks or little cleos off the beach. GOOD LUCK !!! Don
Sept 27,28,29,30 Salmon River New York Report I was up in Pulaski New York fishing the annual fall Chinook and Coho Salmon run. Fishing is fair to good right now. They also need a good soaker and some cool temps to get things going. I managed to go 9 for 20 with many broken tippets from the explosive Coho's. Currently Coho's seem to be the dominate fish in the river most weigh 14-18 lbs. Best flys were small chartruse Estaz patterns and black stones size 6 . Weekend crowds were heavy and weekdays were not that bad. Fish are spread throughout the river and the DSR is getting some fresh fish each day. The main run of fish has not yet entered the river and the estuary is giving up some great fish . Good reports also came in from the flyfishing only zone. If you go and need a place to stay be warned that all hotels are booked. I towed up the camper and we stayed at STONEYS campground. They have some openings and provide everything you will need from grocerys and beer to fishing gear and they will clean and package your fish. Mike always has a inside tip on where the action is and if you get one have him smoke it for you it's out of this world. Plus its only a short walk to the river. Hopefully I'll make it up once more this fall. GOOD LUCK !!! Don
Sept 25,26 The rain has brought the steelies in but still did not raise the rivers enough to alow the fish upstream. Hope for more rain. This weekend should provide good fishing but look for a crowd. GOOD LUCK !!! Don
Notice the fly in the
mouth of this king
10-07-01
10-07-01 Jeff DSR
10/3/01 Paul and
Everett Elk Creek Pa.
Don R with a nice coho taken on egg sack
Two Coho Salmon for the smoker
Gotta love those coho's
and Alans Camera
Catch and release
9-28-01
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