Hooked on Salmon © 2000 RED

Hooked on Salmon

I love this time of year. Summer’s lush, green growth transforms into autumn’s multi-colored grand finale. A cool breeze carries red and yellow leaves that drift lazily down to the riverbank, awakening an instinct deep within me. I will add another season’s memories to my treasure chest. Autumn in Washington, for me, means river fishing for salmon!

In the Northwest, the word salmon can refer to any of five species native to local rivers. Over a period of two to three years, salmon are born in fresh water streams, and then, make a miraculous journey to the sea and back to their birthplace to spawn and to die shortly thereafter. The exception is the chinook, which can remain at sea for up to nine years. This is the anadromous life cycle. Entering the river, salmon undergo metamorphose. The male, or buck, and female, or hen become darker in color; in addition, the male develops a grotesquely hooked jaw, also referred to as a kype. Furthermore, each species has its own specific characteristics. The sockeye, for instance, turn bright red when spawning, while the bland tasting chum, or dog, develop a purple and green striped spawning attire. The pink, also known as humpy, for the most part in the Northwest, only spawn on odd numbered years. Coho, or silver, offer flavorful eating, and generally attain a larger size than sockeye or pink. Chinook, also called king, are the largest salmon. An awe-inspiring fish, a king caught in Alaska’s Kenai River in 1985, set the world record weight for an angler-caught salmon: ninety-seven pounds, four ounces. A king, an extremely powerful fighter, singularly can provide several meals for a family. For consumption purposes, I only keep the fresh salmon that still have their bright silver saltwater coloring, also referred to by anglers as “dime-bright.”

Over the years, I have learned to select wisely the various rivers and dates around which I plan fishing trips. Several strategies are useful in pinpointing productive water. For the beginner, probably the best method is to simply review the state fishing regulations pamphlet, Fishing In Washington, because the open seasons are all based on active salmon runs in the various respective rivers. Daily newspapers provide spotty hearsay that I avoid. Many periodical publications point an angler in one direction or another, but I find their information dated due to the lead-time of the printing process. My favorite method is keeping a log of previous years’ exploits and reviewing them for preferred dates and locations. Another good source that has recently evolved are Internet fishing report bulletin boards such as The Salmon and Steelhead Fishing Forum that allow fishermen to share conditions and hot spots.

The weather now enters the process as a wildcard. Due to a heavy rainstorm a river can “go out of shape,” which means the water level begins to rise dramatically causing the river to become muddy in a matter of hours. When the river first begins to rise and discolor there is a short period of time when the fishing will get hot due to the increased particulate matter coming down the river which gets the fish stirred up and aggressive. However, when the river starts to look like your favorite latte with trees coming down it, your hopes of catching fish are shattered at that point. As the river is receding and clearing, that can be the best fishing, because fresh fish from the bay will be on the move upstream to take advantage of the high, yet clearing and easily navigable water. These fresh fish are usually the most aggressive. Low and very clear water can be the most frustrating river condition, as you can usually see holding fish, but they will be skittish and refuse to bite. A review of the weather for the previous few days can give an angler an idea of what river conditions to expect, although rivers can change their flow rates dramatically in just a day or so, depending on what type of terrain and ground cover are in the upper reaches of the respective watersheds. Unfortunately, physically traveling to a river is the only way to know its condition absolutely on a given day, but as a close alternative, you can use the USGS real-time Washington State river flow Internet site that posts data from a network of river flow sensors at: USGS River Levels if you know what the acceptable flow rate for the particular river you want to fish is.

For drift fishing, obtaining acceptable tackle is very important, yet one should not consider it an overly difficult task. A complete, quality ensemble purchased at the local discount store should cost no more than $198. A breakdown of the major components includes reel $79, rod $100, and line $19. Equipment that is much more expensive is available, but I feel it is more for status than practical use, yet I must confess spending more for a G. Loomis rod (mine is a $189 GL2) will provide you with bite sensitivity and quality second to none. I prefer a nine-foot, fast tipped, medium-light action rod, meaning the tip is very sensitive while the main portion of the rod is more rigid and able to handle the forces encountered landing a large fish. High quality and ease of use, especially when fighting a fish, makes my reel choice a Shimano Stradic spinning model four-thousand with front-drag. Although some anglers will argue for a level-wind bait-casting reel, I suggest the novice avoid such a reel. An inherent tendency of this reel is allowing the spool to spin out of control causing a hopelessly tangled mess known as a backlash, rat’s nest, or whatever. Fishing time is too precious to allow for such mishaps. If you feel confident with a bait-casting reel, then by all means go that route, as the bait-casting reel does have superior line handling and casting capabilities over the spinning reel. In addition, the bait-casting reel drag design is stronger and smoother than the spinning reel design, and when you are dealing with large salmon that can be the difference between a fish on the bank or a broken line.

A recent technological addition to the art of fishing is a new class of line made of finely woven fibers, the same fibers used to make bulletproof vests. This line offers virtually no stretch that vastly improves the feel of what is happening to the bait, and allows for a solid hook set after detecting a bite. My recommendation is the FireLine brand, specifically, the high visibility yellow, four-pound diameter, ten-pound test for salmon ranging up to fifteen pounds and six-pound diameter, fifteen-pound test for anything above. The added feature of a very small diameter yet high strength is difficult to surpass. I do not consider using monofilament any longer, except as leader, but if one prefers to do so, I recommend Berkley’s Vanish fluorocarbon line.

My terminal gear consists of a simple sliding pencil lead weight (get a set of pencil lead pliers so you can punch a snap hole in one end of the lead), snap, swivel, ten-pound or twelve-pound test fluorocarbon leader (twenty-four inch length for colored water and up to forty-eight inch length for clear water), and an egg loop tied, pair of size four hooks. Use a snap and swivel only slightly above your line strength…meaning use small ones! An enticing bait or lure is critical to a day’s successful fishing. It is my experience that the most effective method on a given day for producing bites is using bait made from cured salmon roe, also called egg clusters or just eggs. This bait is readily available at most tackle shops. However, the best eggs, and some say the luckiest, always come from a hen caught by the anglers themselves. There is a specific procedure to follow in preparing the eggs; purchasing a product, such as Pro-Cure, and carefully following the directions will easily provide one with quality bait. I usually supplement the eggs with a one-quarter-inch diameter, bright red colored float, called a corky, in between two number four Gamakatsu brand red hooks (keep your hooks “sticky-sharp”…carry a diamond sharpening stone and learn how to use it). This adds attraction and floats the bait up slightly, which reduces snagging on the river bottom. In addition, a small one inch tuft of brightly colored yarn, I usually use chartreuse wound into the snell wrap on the upper hook, can catch in the teeth of the fish; occasionally this prevents the salmon from disgorging the bait before the angler can set the hook.

Tackle selected, the angler can now concentrate on fishing technique. River fishing for salmon is analogous to the line at a smorgasbord: if one does not get in line—one does not eat! Arriving at daybreak will usually provide the best opportunity for a premium location, but do not become intimidated if later in the day anglers assume positions only ten feet away; they are just reaching for the meat and potatoes. There is always a steady procession of salmon moving up the river during the height of a run. In fact, I have personally witnessed a whole afternoon’s worth of little torpedo trails left by coho salmon coming up the shallow rapids in Orting’s Carbon River. To choose a likely spot to fish, the beginner can observe a seasoned angler and note his technique. The basic concept is to find a stretch of river that has a deep pool immediately below a section of rapids. For the most part, the area where salmon will congregate is at the bottom of the pool toward its downstream end, especially where the slower water, off to the side, leaves an eddy as it meets the faster current. I call it the “sweet spot,” and I cast my bait upstream of it, allowing the bait to drift back through the fish holding area. Keeping the rod tip slightly above the horizontal, I carefully feel the weight tumbling along the river bottom. Speaking of weight…use as little as possible…less than you would think you need in most cases and you will get more strikes, because your bait presentation will be more natural as it drifts down the river. Your weight should only occasionally bump the bottom…not bang-bang-bang continuously. To get your bait down into the strike zone before it drifts by in front of you, which is the point where you will get most of your strikes, you need to cast considerably upstream and then mend in your line as the current brings your offering down river. It’s critical to keep the slack out of your line, and yet not actually be pulling your bait from its natural drift. Do this by reeling in line steadily as the bait comes down river and keep a slight bow or belly in the line that will instantly pull tight if the bait stops drifting. You can even reverse this procedure by allowing line back out as the bait passes down river of you to cover a larger fish holding area in a single drift, but be careful letting line back out as it’s easy to tangle or get a backlash, especially if you get a strike at that point. That brings us to the drift fishing bite, which in the case of salmon is very hard to detect. It is important to understand that once salmon enter freshwater they no longer eat to survive. Salmon are on a one way mission to spawn, and the only reason they strike at something is to defend territory, aggressive habit, or in the case of the eggs, to destroy competitors’ offspring to ensure the survival of their own. One must imagine an egg cluster drifting down river, casually picked up by a salmon, then summarily crushed and discarded, happening so imperceptibly that the novice angler never realizes a bite has occurred. For the beginner, the initial technique is to notice when the bait stops drifting, assume it is a fish, and attempt to set the hook. As the angler gains experience and skill, the technique is refined to a slight lift of the rod for the recognizable feel of a salmon on the line, and then set the hook. Now for the fighting and landing technique…first of all, keep your drag set light, very light…the drag should just be on verge of slipping as you reel your offering back in at the end of your drift (but don’t let the drag click away during the normal reeling process as it will put unnecessary wear on your drag and twist your line if you’re using a spinning reel). You can always manually grip the rear skirt of the spinning reel spool with your thumb and forefinger to temporarily tighten up the drag, or with the bait-casting reel just bear your thumb down on the spool until you can adjust the reel’s drag setting. A drag set too tight will be a one-way ticket to a brief encounter. Once the fish is hooked, the successful technique depends on the size of the fish…smaller fish can be reeled in rather unceremoniously, while twenty-plus-pound kings and chums can require a run up or down the river with these light lines, but the light lines are probably what got you the bite in the first place. The overall strategy is to keep as much pressure on the fish as possible to keep you in control and keep the fish eventually coming to shore. A note to spinning reel fishermen…don’t continue to aimlessly reel away if your drag is constantly clicking (slipping)…you are just twisting your line up, which will ruin it. Pump the rod up and down, but don’t get any slack in the line, and reel in line during the downward stroke of the pumping action. Try to maneuver the fish into slower moving water so the fish can’t use the strong current against you. Generally you can do this by walking up stream or down, whatever works for you, while keeping the fish away from obstacles in the river…stumps, etc. There’s a catch-twenty-two situation here…you can’t pull too hard or you’ll break your line, but if you don’t keep enough pressure on the fish it will be in a resting mode and be able to mount another hard run when you finally decide to get aggressive and pull harder, possibly resulting in a broken line at that point as well. In addition, the longer the fish is fighting…the more chance for your hook to pull loose, especially if the fish is lightly hooked on the edge of the lip…so again you want to get the fish in as fast as possible. Bringing the fish to the bank quickly is also less stressful on the fish if you plan to release the fish and have it survive. A word about snagging…when you have fish thickly stacked in a hole during the height of a run, you are inevitably going to occasionally snag a salmon. The first clue that you’ve probably snagged one is a fish that heads up or down river like a Metro bus headed for the bus barn…there’s no stopping it with these light line weights in most cases; unless you can keep up with the fish and manage to finally tire it out, it will spool all of your line and leave you wandering into the nearest tackle shop to reload (always carry and extra spool with fresh line ready to go…even several spools with different line strengths is a smart idea). Snagging and keeping a salmon is illegal and once you have determined that you have snagged the fish, you should immediately terminate the fight by breaking the line to save any undue stress to the fish. Fighting a snagged fish usually takes much longer, because you can’t turn the fish’s head…furthermore, this ties up the hole for other fisherman as well, so please do the right thing once you have clearly determined a snagging has occurred. Having said all of that…you can see why it’s called sport fishing…after hooking, some are caught…some are not.

The hour is late. I need to rest before embarking on tomorrow’s carefully planned fishing trip. Over an hour-long drive away, I will need to leave at five a.m. to arrive on time for the morning bite, when the fish are usually most aggressive.

The Trip

November’s sun-drenched, early morning fall colors dancing slowly in a barely perceptible breeze are the backdrop for my day on the Satsop River, west of Olympia. My favorite spot on the river is the middle of a lazy s-curve where a deep, powerful, backward swirling pool makes a good holding spot for salmon. While fishing alongside the river for two hours since daybreak, I have already counted several twenty pound-plus fish slowly breaking the surface of the clear, yet still darkly shaded water.

Experiencing one of those moments that everyone occasionally has, I realize everything is falling into place. The excitement rushes over me, because I know the action will soon begin.

Tightening my grip on the rod and reel, I cast to the same “sweet spot” I have aimed at all morning. Concentrating now, I watch the tip of the rod keep rhythmic track as the bait moves down river; I feel the weight bounce…bounce…bounce along the cobbled river-rock bottom. Hardly noticeable, the tip of the rod moves slightly downward and abandons its rhythm. Responding, I quickly lift the rod just a little, and the heavy surging resistance confirms my suspicion of a bite. Pulling back hard on the pole I firmly set the hook into a twenty-two-pound king salmon that immediately responds with a defiant headshake. Like a lassoed bull gone berserk, the big king begins a series of violent, powerful maneuvers ending in a final headlong one-hundred-yard run down river. By keeping the line tight while running down the riverbank, I manage to catch up to the played out salmon, leaving me short of breath and with shaking hands from the rush of adrenaline. Steadily, I maneuver the big “dime-bright” buck into slower moving shallow water, and finally, I pull him onto the bank.

Some people have numerous worldly possessions; I have all my wonderful memories of days spent on the river. Who is happier or wealthier I am not sure; however when I die—my treasure will travel with me.

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