Syracuse.com - Three significant, early salmon runs noted on the Salmon River this week

[HuntingNY-News]

Once the temperatures drop and we get some rain, the salmon run will pick up considerably.

Although the waters are low and the daytime temperatures have been warm, there’s no doubt: The salmon spawning run has begun.

“It started Monday,” said Fran Verdoliva, the DEC’s program director for the Salmon River, who works at the Altmar hatchery. “There was a very substantial run (of mostly chinook). I was told it continued on Tuesday. It also continued Wednesday, but not as strong.”

Verdoliva noted it was an early run, and that the salmon will continue making their way from the lake up the river through this month and into the next.

He said the majority of fish right now are in the bottom half of the river, but some have made it to the upper stretches.

Verdoliva stressed the Salmon River water level is still quite low. “We’re still at our summer base flow of 185 cubic feet per second,” he said, adding the average flow in September is usually around 330 feet per second.

“The fish are coming, regardless,” he said. “They have their own schedule and mindset.”

He said once the temperatures drop and we get some rain, the salmon run will pick up considerably.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog