With the reservoir bumping up the release to 900 cfs, many people have been wondering what did they do to the fishery? In the grand scheme of things, not much! The fishing has picked up slightly over the past week throughout the river system as a whole. Some sections of the river are hot one day, then cold the next. Sections are being affected simply by the movement of fish. We are seeing fish continuing to trickle in to the watershed, but no significant increase in Steelhead has been noted.   The Douglaston Salmon reports throughout the recent week have been sporadic. Anglers fishing the DSR are reporting some days maybe one or two hookups but the next day they are having better success with 6,7,8 + hook ups.

As for the rest of the river system, it has been the same way. The upriver fishing pools have had a steady number  of hookups, but the major pools are holding vast numbers of fish. The Lower Fly Zone has been the most consistent producing section of water, but also the most heavily populated with anglers. Meanwhile, the Upper Fly Zone has been sporadic at best. The fish are seeming to be able to spread out amongst the river section. But the Upper Fly Zone has had little pressure from anglers. Weekends, the parking lots have few cars in them.

The Drift Boat Captains continue to report action with some Steelhead from Altmar Bridge through Pineville to the 2A Bridge. They are having success with a mix of patterns. Your Spey anglers have been reporting better success over the past few weeks with hookups with big easy flies. Some Drift Captains have reported their “go to” flies have been big buggers for their clients.

Tuesday afternoon, the parking lots were not crowded at all. A quick scan of the parking lots this afternoon, there were four cars at 2A Bridge, three at Sportsman pool, zero at the Trestle, ten at Lower Fly and zero at Upper Fly parking lots. The crowd numbers during the week is going down as the temperatures are getting colder.

This upcoming weekend at the Tailwater Lodge, Pig Farm Ink will be throwing two of their favorite events. Friday, from 8-finish, will be the Iron Fly. It’s an open door event where anyone who wants to tie some flies or just have a drink. Saturday and Sunday will be the Get Trashed event and the main focus of this event is to collect trash on the Salmon River and catch fish. Both events are free and open to anyone. There will be many prizes given out at both events. Hope to see you all there.