fishing for salmon and browns near home on shore added pics of spawning salmon right at my feet 11/26

[Adkhare]

I think there is another advantage to shore fishing that you can't replicate from trolling, many times when you feel a fish tap your lure from shore you can quickly fire the lure right back at him for another shot, countless times we have teamed up on a missed strike and capitalized with backup casts. Trolling its all on the fish to keep up the chase , casting I can give him more opportunity to mess up and make me feel like I won the game.

[fishy1]

I think theirs an advantage fishing from shore when the fish are in shallow water. When you retrieve you pulling the spoon up so it don't get snagged on the bottom. We tried to troll out plainer boards in close to the shore and ended up getting snagged.

agreed don. also browns are one of my favorites to catch and eat.

[fishy1]

I think the fish are much more skittish in shallow water as well and the boats are more likely to spook them.

agree with you lou salmon are spooked but those browns are skittish of everything and sometimes hide all day and feed only at night. i truly beleive i have an advantage over boats trolling in the shallow waters even though i dont cover much water

[fishy1]

I think there is another advantage to shore fishing that you can't replicate from trolling, many times when you feel a fish tap your lure from shore you can quickly fire the lure right back at him for another shot, countless times we have teamed up on a missed strike and capitalized with backup casts. Trolling its all on the fish to keep up the chase , casting I can give him more opportunity to mess up and make me feel like I won the game.

agree with you there. countless times i have seen fish strike at my lure on shore whip it right back 10 or 15 feet from shore and bam fish on. you dont have the 2nd chance trolling. i also enjoy the feel of hit and what a fight when they hit close to shore. dont catch them all but its the thrill of the fight that counts. i have had several salmon hit close to shore bust water and land onto the shore. had it happen last year saw a good size salmon hit my lure 6 feet from me bust out or the water shook loose and the lure landed right into the side of my face ended up in the emergency room to have it taken out. thanks for you post it makes sense.

[Windknot]

Checked out two spots today. First was a mountain lake which looked promising but no bites. Ill have to go back when I have a full day and try different spots from the shore. From there I headed East to my fav Champlain trib to have at the salmon with my fly rod. Saw a kid with his dad and sister walk out with a small salmon in his net. They were all smiles, it's nice to see parents taking their kids out to enjoy fishing. All in all my river session was great. Fished from about 5:30 PM until sunset and went two for four(besides like twenty fingerlings). Brought one keeper home for supper tomorrow. All were caught on a #10 rainbow smelt.

[Sawyer]

That Salmon was thinking about having a smelt for dinner but ended up on your dinner table instead.
Nice job Windknot thanks for your report.

[fishy1]

5/6/2017 back from niagara bar rested up and went down in the bay for some shore casting. i was amazed in one week no birds nothing in the bay. i did land 1 small salmon. fished for an hour or so. the kings and cohos spoiled me rotton but will get back in the groove soon on champlain.

[jimbow]

Matt, good to see and Harry back and I'm glad you guys did well out there...BUT, you have to get out of that Ontario mode and get back in the groove ....A couple trips to the "ponds" should help.

[fishy1]

4/8/2018 my ist trip casting for salmon and browns close to home and i got a surprise 3rd cast with a rainbow krocodile fish on only to lose it on the 2nd leap close to shore. not overly big but at least 20 inch salmon. fished that spot for another hour and had another hit but no taker then moved on to another spot about 2 miles with no hits there a sudden sleet storm that lasted maybe 6 or 7 minutes. good to see the ice all gone now if the water can just warm up a little. saw 2 boats trolling the bridge area and 4 shore fisherman in that area also.

[Sawyer]

Thats great Matt not that you lost it but had one on. We hope we get the boat in the water this weekend.

[troutcrazy]

It's great to hear that you're starting to find them! The water temperature has hardly moved in the last couple weeks.

[troutcrazy]

I've been trying hard to catch a salmon for weeks, with no success. I worked late last night, so it was hard to get going this morning. I drove to the NY side, and stopped to briefly try a couple steelhead spots on the way. No luck with the steelies, but the streams were looking beautiful and clear. Glorious, but fishless.

My canoe/motor/battery/tackle/drysuit setup and launch took longer than usual because I had to reconfigure the car for work. Then I realized that my fluorocarbon leaders needed changing so I tied new ones-- more delay. Just as I launched, the south wind got nasty, and I had to head upwind. It was work to keep the bow pointed in the right direction!

Water temp was 38... higher than I've been getting elsewhere.

Inspired by the forum thread about stickbaits, I tied a pin minnow on one of my rods. My other rod had a rainbow Kroc. I hooked up on the stickbait pretty quick. Then the wind kicked my butt as I tried to deal with the fish, my other line, and controlling the canoe. The fish escaped before I could net it. So I stowed the Kroc and just fished one rod. That did the trick! I caught one about 20" (in the pic), and then another slightly smaller. I kept them both for the smoker. I caught and released a couple more, and lost a couple more too.

I dropped anchor and tried casting the Kroc, with no hits. I didn't get to try the two lures side by side as I hoped to.

The Yo-Zuri did the trick. But I have to say I felt a little bad about it. I don't think I'll use it again for catch-and-release. One of the fish I released was hooked with both trebles and it was messy. And then... remember how I said I changed my fluoro leader? Well it broke off on a fish, just the same. I was being stupid, giving it a little slack to see if it could shake off and release itself... lesson learned for $8.99.

[Gecha (Gerry)]

Good to hear the stickbaits worked for you. Is it just a coincidence or they outperform spoons this time or year ?

[fishy1]

awsome report i noticed the color of the stick bait right away to funny. i truly beleive that spot you were fishing the rainbow kroc and the fishy1 honey bee would have been also had good results. as i said in the stick bait post i do not care for those double trebles. im glad you scored and the bite is only going to get better . you found them now stay on them. see you on the water.

[jimbow]

Nice fish, glad to hear the bite is beginning.. You can't control the weather (especially wind) The fact you were dealing with that may have explained the stick bait bite (speed, presentation and depth) . I agree with Fishy, double trebles are not the best for catch and release....but if you keep and eat, that's good...just bad for under size fish.