By Guide Wayne-O
The Salmon River Reservoir is still fishing very well for bass and walleye. Senkos have been the bait of choice for smallmouth, largemouth, and rock bass. It is hard to find a section of shoreline where you won’t get a bite with a senko right now. Blue flake, pumpkin, and bubblegum all producing well. With the high water we are currently experiencing it’s a great time to flip and pitch jigs into the brush piles. As the water continues to warm it will be time to move off shore with deep diving crankbaits if you want to find the bigger smallies. This is also a great time of year to drop shot along the sides of the channel. The walleye bite has been best for anglers trolling crawler harnesses along the channel edges.
If you have never fished the Salmon River in the summer you are missing out on a very good time. The smallmouth fishing has been excellent this summer. There are a few guides floating the river and they are catching fish consistently. Last week I floated Altmar to Pineville with my wife and one of our friends. This was a quick afternoon trip so we set up with a simple and effective rig. Both of them were casting number 5 and 7 floating Rapalas on 8 foot light action spinning rods. This is a great setup for the spin fisherman in the summer time.
The smaller stickbaits fish well in water from 1 foot to 6 feet deep and they will catching everything. If they get hung up in the rocks most of the time you can just let a little line out and they will float free. We caught smallmouth, rainbow and brown trout, and fallfish. That trip I did not see any Atlantics but I talked to a guy would had seen two. There are enough around that you may very well find one attached to the end of your line while fishing for everything else. If you want to try specifically for them I would through inline spinners or swing flies and cover as much water as you can. They are few and far between earning them the nickname unicorns.
Tug Hill trout streams are still fishing well as we continue to see the same weather patterns. Every time they start to get low we see a few days of rain bringing them back up and keeping them cooled off. You will still want to keep a stream thermometer in your vest if you are planning on releasing the fish you catch. Mid day temperatures especially in slower moving waters may very well cross the 70 degree mark. Please either keep your catch or stop fishing at this point. The fish you release will likely die. The East and West branches of Fish Creek are still fishing well. I have also recently had success on the North Branch of the Salmon River. Remember if you are looking for trout on Tug Hill walk walk walk. Get away from the parking lots. Look for the streams that run through state land that you can hike into or access from a road crossing. Do your homework, explore and have fun. You will be rewarded for your efforts.
