Fly Fishing For Salmon

[doublebit]

I am going to be in Idaho in late May and wanted to try fly fishing for Salmon along the Salmon River near Riggins. I am use to fishing rainbows on the rivers of Montana and Wyoming. I would like some advice to technique.
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[hooknhunter]

I'm not going to say it can't be done, but you will have your work cut out for you. The little river will be moving so fast that you will have an extremely difficult time getting a fly in the strike zone.

I think you best bet would be on the main Salmon river. Then you need to find a slower moving portion of the river where you can work in with the other fishermen without getting beat up. There is a reason they call it "combat fishing". Then you'll need to be very lucky on top of all that.

I have seen a few folks be successful on the South Fork but I seriously doubt fish will be that far up river in May. It usually doesn't get good until around the middle to the end of June.

I not trying to be a downer, just realistic. It will be very very very difficult.

My suggestion would be to give up on the idea and bring either a spinning rod or a bait caster and work in with the other elbow to elbow guys.
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[doublebit]

Same advice if I move on towards White Bird?
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[phutch30]

I think you would have much better luck in the little salmon or SF of the Clearwater. If you go upstream of the Rapid River on the little Salmon theres way less people, less salmon also, but there are fish and plenty of water favorable to fly fishing gear. I think your gunna be wasting your time in the main river. Most of the fish are in 20 feet of heavy water on the bottom.

With fly gear I'd find a spot that you have to your self, prob have to be shallow type stuff that the drifters/bobber guys arnt intrested in. Id fish it from legal to a couple hrs past and again in the late afternoon with a flesh type fly in bright colors with some weight to keep it near bottom.

Avoid the popular fishing areas as the regulars wont put up with you fly fishing. Sorry but its REAL turfy there. Either fish by the rules or you will be strongly encouraged to move on. Not a lot of patience for people experimenting.

This is heavy water and strong fish so bring a stout outfit.
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[hooknhunter]

[quote doublebit]Same advice if I move on towards White Bird?[/quote]

Hutch gave as good of advice as you could probably get. The river just gets bigger as you move down and 99% of the fish will be in deep water hugging the bottom. I agree on the more fishable water for flies the farther up the little river you go, to a point, much less fishing pressure too. The thing is, there aren't many fish up there, so no matter how you slice it, it's a long shot on those rivers. If you are into practicing your cast and float, you'll get plenty of practice. If you want to catch fish, do what everyone else does.

Save the fly gear for the South Fork, which is a little later than you said you'd be coming. Fish are definitely catchable on fly gear at the SF, but still, you'll work plenty hard for them.
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[chrome_junky]

One thing I would mention is that this time of year the river is flat out unsafe to wade in. There is a reason it's called the river of no return.
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[hooknhunter]

I hadn't even thought of that. Now that you mention it, it seems like someone dies up there every 2 or 3 years or so.
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[phutch30]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][/size][/font]
[font "Calibri"][size 3] I[/size][/font][font "Calibri"][size 3] also think you would have FAR better success with non flygear. [/size][/font]

[font "Calibri"][size 3]However Ive caught loads of salmon on the little river with nothing but achunk of yarn. So I think you could do it. Your biggest problem will be finding a place where you can actually fly fish. Like others mentioned, the little river IS NOT a wading favorable river.Its 100' to maybe 150' wide and during salmon season is generally running in the 3500+ cfs range. I sure wouldn’t wade it. [/size][/font]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 3][/size][/font][size 3][font "Calibri"]I think there are a few places below Rapid River confluencethat you could fish from shore with short casts where you wont have 10 guys also fishing. Its going to be water the salmon are moving thru fast rather thanmore popular holding water. But with persistence I think you could hook one.Landing it will be a different ballgame.[/font][/size]
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[font "Calibri"][size 3]You could also try the area at mouth of the Little salmon.You can wade out there a bit and have more room for casting. Actually thinking on it, this would be a goodspot. Its relatively shallow and lots of fish move through it. Get there early before others and claim a spotand you may be set[/size][/font]
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[size 3][font "Calibri"]Above RR confluence is smaller water and way less people. I wouldn’t go more than maybe 2 miles above RR. The hatchery dumps over 100,000 smolts in the upper little salmon so there are some adults that move up there. [/font][/size]
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[Got_Bait]

I can second (third, fourth, whatever) just about everything that has been said here.

Trying to fly fish for Salmon in Riggins is definitely trying to put a square peg in a round hole. Nevertheless, I have seen fish landed on a fly pole on the Little Salmon. . . . more than once.

I know I have told this story before, but back when we could still camp at the Bluff Hole on the Little Salmon, I used to set my tent in the same spot every year. I lot of times I would drive all night to get there, so a 1PM nap was standard issue. Back then, you could also cross (what used to be) the swinging bridge and hike up the opposite side of the river.

Well this one particular dude who obviously fancied himself as a fly fisher (he had a snazzy hat and a vest to prove it) used to hike up there and fish across the river from my tent with his fly pole. Almost without fail, I would wake up from my nap and see him over there, and rattle off a bundle of sarcastic comments to my wife about why he was over there slamming his head against a brick wall trying to catch a fish that way when everyone else was lugging around baitcasters and dead salmon.

Welp, I don't know if it was because he was some kind of fly pole wizard, or the karma from my smack talking, or a combo of the two, but over the years I did see him hook and land a handful of salmon. It wasn't til about the second or third year that I realized it was the same dude, lol!

Now I haven't ever casted a fly pole myself, but I have seen A River Runs Through It probably 35-40 times, and I can tell you that what he was doing really wasn't what I consider fly-fishing. I spent a fair bit of time watching the guy, and to me, it appeared to be a combination of drift fishing and bobber fishing, by way of a fly pole. Now, this was the subject of much of my teasing, but by heck, it worked.

Well, if that crazy lunatic that is holed up on the other side of the swinging bridge wasn't trying to amass the largest collection of bad karma that had ever been garnered this side of the Milky Way, by trying to single-handedly shut down salmon fishing on the entire Little Salmon River, I would send you over there in a jiffy. But since he's still over there making the O'Doyle family look like a bunch of sweethearts, I would say you should take your fly pole to the South Fork of the Clearwater River.

There should definitely be fish in there by then, and I know there are a handful of members here that catch steelhead over there with fly poles pretty regular. It's a lot lower water then, but based on what I have seen, if you can put some kind of little bobber thingy on your line, and get a sinker dragging on the bottom of the river, you should have a real legitimate shot!

Good luck my friend!
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[hooknhunter]

I think I've run into the same guy a few times. He catches fish on a fly rod, but he isn't fly fishing. He is bait dunking with a fly rod.
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[doublebit]

Great advice - thank you
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[nijimasu]

I concur with what everyone has said. I don't even know what weight fly rod I'd want to try on the little salmon in those places everyone fishes. Tackle toms recommended I load my spinning rod with 50 lb line and minimum 20 lb leaders for that stretch of water because of the flow and the size of the fish. And the huge chunks of lead you have to tie on if you want to catch anything.

You guys that know the south fork Clearwater- lets just say one was flyfishing in late May up there, what pound test would your tippet be? For that matter, if you were spin fishing, what pound test would your mainline and leader be? Despite the locals knifing my tire up there during steelhead season, I kinda really like that river.
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[phutch30]

I think if someone was to tie up a fluffy yarn fly with some fine wire on a 2/0 or 3/0 hook so it weighs 1/2 - 3/4 oz or so they could fish some of the riffles and shallow runs with success. least could hookup with some fish and at least attempt to "flyfish". Make sure you put on a lot of backing though. LOL


Some of the SF salmon water is as narly as the little salmons id stick with the 50/20 or 30 setup
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[nijimasu]

Phutch-

you mean on the SF Clearwater? they hole up in that Snag Hole water? I was hoping to find them in some of the deep, slower runs,
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[phutch30]

some of it is real tame water for sure.When thy are moving thru you can find them about anywhere. But some of the holding holes have some good rapids below and are rocky. Chinook usually arent leader/line shy so why go light if you dont have to i always say. I like heavy gear for the wilds. I like to get fish in at a reasonable rate so i dont kill them while playing them.
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[nijimasu]

I see your point. I guess it should have occurred to me that they might not stay in that nice deep run once a hook got into their face. Really looking forward to getting into a few. Steelhead season was great; this sounds like it will be the same except with warmth.
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