Newbie on the Salmon River

ridgerunner88 · October 12, 2022

So I moved to NY is 2017 and I live about 45 minutes from the Salmon River. I have never been a huge fisherman but spending the past year in FL without the family I got pretty into surf fishing. Just a few days ago a couple of buddies and I went up to the Salmon River and tried our luck. Out of the 4 of us only one of our guys hooked up x2 but was unable to land any. It was pretty awesome seeing the salmon jump and swim around me as I stood there in the river.

I am reaching out for someone to give me the basics for a proper setup. I have a few random fishing poles at the house, an ultralight 4ft rod that I doubt will be sufficient, some surf rods I used in FL, one is 9ft and the other is 10ft medium-heavy actions and then a regular 6 or 7ft medium action rod that I think can get the job done. My smaller poles have mono main lines and my surf rods have braided.

From what I gather the setups are actually pretty simple... just 3-4ft of fluorocarbon leader some split shot and then a hook and a little plastic egg.... is the half inch measured from the inside or from the outside of the hook? Which type of hook would you recommend? Circle hooks were the way to go on the beaches but I dont know about up here on the river. Any specific bait choices?

Then it gets into technique.. we pretty much just did a drifting method.. I would walk along till I found a good run then would throw the front, middle and far sides of it a few times and then move on.

What do I do once I actually land one? Do I hit on the head with a mallet to knock it out? How/Where do you keep it cold while you continue to fish?

We fished near the town called Altmar, is that the best spot or should I drive further up towards the mouth of the river?

Final Question: What are some unwritten rules/etiquette I should know so I dont end up getting into a fight with the veterans?

Robhuntandfish · October 12, 2022

Used to fish it a ton. My favorite hooks were gamagatsu egg hooks. Hook gap used to be 1/2 inch dunno what it is now . I used a 7.5 ft rod with medium action. I liked 17lb test but these days braid with a 14-17 lb leader is the way to go. Gonna lose a lot of tackle in the rocks. After a while you get a feel for the drift and if one inhaled it.

It was fun but haven't been in a lot of years. I always got there well before light and picked out my spot ahead of time. The best times when there was 6-8 of us all together and you could dominate a whole area and have people you know and help netting.

We just used a rope or wire to put the fish on and leave them in the water tied to our belts. Then paid the few dollars to have them cleaned and bagged at a cleaning station. I gave the fish away as I didn't care for it.

You can net them or beach them or tail them to land. Be careful tailing there isn't a hook in there that someone had the fish on and lost it. Sometimes people will net for you.

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