Northwest Fishing Reports

I am startin to feel "cursed".

Bank-Fishin fer salmon in a lo-vis, medium sized, Heavily Pressured river.

1st year I hooked-up with decent #s of fish; pinks and kings.

2nd year, got SKUNKED!

This year I'm 0 fer 2 -- hooked a nice fish and made rookie mistakes; drag wuz too tight, while adjusting drag fish jumped 1 to 2 feet outta the water 3 times in about 5 seconds and on the third jump rolled over on the line and, voila- long distance release.

First year tried drift fishing without much luck. After two to three weeks of watching flossers catch fish I grudgingly gave flossing a try. After another two fish-less weeks, went back to bottom bouncing w/corkie & yarn and a nickle-sized chunk of roe. One day I reeled in to find no bait, smolts I think, and continued fishin w/ only the corkie & yarn. Remembered that 20 yr.s ago I fished the same way but w/relatively short leader and pegging the corkie 1.5-2 inches above the hook.

Well, (yeah, I know -- deep subj.) I started hooking up!

Unfortunately the run ended shortly after.

Second year I decided to try and learn how to float fish...had maybe a handful of hookups all season. Didn't land even one fish!!

Wuz fishin across the river from a feller who hooked into ten or eleven fish and contemplated makin the hike to his side and offering him $$ to help me catch a few myself. A few days later I ended up fishin next to him and we were using the EXACT same setup!! The only difference he had eggs he cured himself while I wuz using some doctored store bought eggs.

Well, (deep subject), this is third year. And I've only hooked two fish landing none.

Talked to a fellow last wk who was averaging a fish a day and he told me the only way he could catch em was tiny, tiny rocket red corkie on a 10 foot leader.

I'm not going down the flossing road again -- so before I give up entirely am curious as to what advice might be available in fishing forums...

Appreciate you taking the time to read and, hopefully reply to this overly long post...

Take care & stay safe
Roger

Spoons, spinners, twitching jigs can work well in a low vis river...I usually run bigger size or brighter colors depending what the fish want. As for eggs store bought are OK but not as good as curing yourself. That said if store bought is all you can get run some scent on them. I like the procure water soluble in sandshrimp, herring, and butt juice (butt juice is usually my go to). That'll help store bought eggs fish better. Also look closely at the eggs when you buy them, if you see a lot black lines (blood still in the skein) they won't fish well. Once you get some eggs to cure yourself the pautske egg cure are good and a solid starting point as you learn to cure.

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