Fishing steelhead from the Salmon River in Pulaski NY.

Fish Fighting Guide Techniques for Steelhead:

(This one may surprise you)

Yes, that's me with the stupid looking hat and the spinning rod.

The first thing I did upon hooking up was to immediately get even or below the fish. This tires the fish out sooner by knocking it off balance and causing it to work harder to stay upright. (An exception to this would be if there was very fast water (drop in the river), deep hole that you can not get around, snags or anything below you that might cause the fish to break you off. Then I would stay a little above the fish)

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I see 95% of the angler's on this river never really load their rod properly when fighting a fish. This is totally understandable (as with everything else :) because if you've never been told or learned much of this, then it's all new. I certainly didn't know much of this when I was new and I still don't know it all. Most angler's only pull back 1/4 to 1/2 way back. In the above photo I am about 1/2 of the way back with the rod. Before I stop pulling back, the rod is pointed directly behind me with the rod horizontal and next to my ear. The butt (very bottom) of the rod is pointed at the far bank. It's hammer time!

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By holding your rod upside down with rod tip in the water the fish will normally, slowly and quietly come in without much fuss. By keeping it's head under the water the fish feel's much more comfortable and tends not to freak out. This at times can also be used as a stalling tactic. You will notice some of the more experienced Salmon River anglers inverting their rod shortly after the hook up. This greatly increases the odds for the fish to remain in the hole-pool and not speed off down river. It also helps by hopefully controlling the fish's attitude. Keeping it from thrashing around and breaking off.

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The above is an example on how many Steelhead are lost with the rod tip up. (If snag's or strong current's are around you then this would be the correct way) Notice the splash? Miss Steelhead did not like it when I pulled her head out of the water. Many fish are lost-broken off at this point.

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If you listen to the fish it will pretty much tell you at what angle to hold your rod. If the fish is on the other side of the river I always hold my tip high. If I held it low then the full amount of the rivers current would put an awful lot of additional pressure on my line and tippet as it bow's. Many times resulting in breaking the fish off. If the fish is approx. from the middle of the river towards me then I always hold my rod tip just off the surface of the water down low or IN the water. (Providing I dont have any real fast currents or snags.)

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The funniest thing about this picture and the above photo was as I was playing the fish. Anytime I had my rod tip up I lost total control over the fish. It pretty much went anywhere it wanted to. It also took much longer to tire it out. But, as soon as I put the tip low (down and dirty) or in the water. It came straight in at me. This lower rod position combined with standing below the fish will put approx. 3 times more pressure on the fish when it is within 60 feet or so. Tiring it out sooner and gaining much more control over the fish.

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When reeling in the fish with the tip up:

There are 2 things wrong with the previous sentence.

#1. I will sometimes hold my rod upside down with tip in water when bringing in a steelhead. Fish don't breath air and with tip up it feel's as if (which you are) trying to pull it's head out of the water. This creates a havoc, wrecking ball of nerves that sometimes ends with fish off. I breathe air, so if you put my head under the water you can be assured I would not be happy. (Same with the fish) By holding your rod upside down with rod tip in the water the fish normally will slowly and quietly (within reason) come in without much fuss.

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#2 Whenever targeting large species of fish the rod becomes a flexible lever. We never reel the fish in; we PULL the fish in. The reel is only used to recover slack line. Pull-up, reel-down. Now combine #1 with #2 and by George, you've got it!

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Mail Bag:

Randy, Did you fish behind the ol'Ames today? Tight lines!!! Dave

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Hi Dave, Yes, we did fish behind the ol'Ames today, loaded!!. Randy

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Randy, I'm just curious about what you posted a couple days ago. You mentioned the location of one of your secret creeks. Is there truly a creek behind ames or are you just screwing with your fans?? Please keep up the the good job you do with your web site, it truly keeps the salmon river close at hand when I read your reports even when i'm 300 miles away. Thanks for the reports! Eric

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Hi Eric, Yes, just having fun. (no creek behind Ames). Was that you I saw walking around aimlessly behind Ames the other day with a fish'n pole in one hand and a typo map in the other? ;) Did I hear you yelling something about that DARN Jones guy! Best, Randy Jones

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Hi Randy-- just wanted to say how much we appreciate your hard work and knowledge you impart in your reports.! I live in Virginia now and read your reports all the time! Thanks, Paul

Hi Paul, Thanks so much for your words of support. I'm very happy you enjoy them! Greatly appreciated! Randy

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Today's favorite weather radar link I just found.

www.weather.com/weather/map/interactive/Pulaski+NY+13142:...

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