Early salmon run....point me there?!

[BRULEDRIFTER]

Is there a certain time of day that produces better, or is it a dump shoot?

[Katman]

NICE. Rain all week. That should bring the levels up a bit. The run should be in full effect soon!

[MuskyBug85]

is any thing going on on the WI brule yet?

[Katman]

There were reports of some pink and cohos in some of the rivers already. Let the season begin!

[matthothand]

Biff, last time I was there I noticed a portion of the bank gave way and is piled with trees. I wonder if the fish can make it to where you saw those browns? I'm torn between bowhunting and salmon fishing right now. I've already done pretty well with the salmon and hate to think of all the deer walking by my stand if I were to hit the water. Might have to squeeze in another trip if the fish are still coming.

[biff]

Looks like the brule didnt go up at all from the rain judging by the gage; its at 103 which is about as low as it gets. Looks like the rain probably didnt do much. Stopped by a lower N.shore stream this morning for about an hour and got one smaller king around 4lb and lost another. Water was still looking low. We need more rain or things will probably be similiar to last week. I'll probably head down the shore sometime this week to check it out. We still need rain bad.

[Quickstrike]

WI Brule has some Browns, still spread out throughout the river, along with a few steelies and cohos in the lower stretches. Not much yet, but we're getting close.

[Katman]

Have you guys used these salmon for sushi? How is the meat quality? I'm on my way out Sat again with my fly pole!

[Quickstrike]

Fresh water fish can contain parasites that can be very dangerous if consumed. I would not try using any fresh water fish for sushi. To be completly honest the meat quality on the pinks is pretty poor. They start deteriorating much faster then other salmon as soon as they hit the rivers and in my opinion are very average table fare when caught fresh. If you luck into a fresh king, the meat will be much better and is the only fish I will keep this time of year out of the rivers.

[Katman]

WOW...I was thinking about those pinks. They are going kamakaze. Thanks for the info. I will see if I can pick up a king. I hope sat pays off!

[BRULEDRIFTER]

DO NOT EAT THE FISH RAW!!!, for the sake of your poor stomach. but if you want worms coming out of your a$$, go right ahead

[Katman]

hahahaha. Depends on where you catch the fish. This isn't going to be one of the places. Raw fish is actually good. Go try some tuna raw. Its doesn't even taste like fish. Or smoke some swordfish.

[Quickstrike]

saltwater fish such as tuna can be delicious raw, but freshwater fish is another story.

on a lighter note, i got into the pinks pretty good this evening. fish were very fresh and very aggressive. stripping wooly buggers and streamers over pods of them produced violent strikes for most of the evening. anyone that claims salmon don't bite once they enter the rivers should have been there tonight.

i also watched a couple nice kings enter the river as the sun set.

[Katman]

Hmmm. That is very true Quick. Maybe I'll stay away from these salmon for sushi. But also...Thanks for the great update on the run. I will test my luck with my flies. What weight are you using for these salmon Quick? I have a 6wt, wf line and about 10ft leader. What leaders worked for you and didn't snap?

[Swamp Scooter]

Hope they hold out until next weekend. Cannot get there before then. going to use the fly rod. 8wt and just as Katman am interested in leader length and weights. Floating line alright? Long or short casts? Wife will be using spinning equip. Spinners and minnow baits and maybe some top water stuff.

[Quickstrike]

for pinks i use a 4 or 5 wt depending on which i have with. i tie my own leaders and with pinks tie 12 lb to 8 lb to 6 lb and then add 4 lb tippet.

i sometimes also keep my 8 wt handy in case a king comes by, i've learned my lesson on what can happen when you hook one on a 4 wt.

[Swamp Scooter]

How about using my reel spooled with just mono like for some steelies? Pitching and bumping? Nymphs,flies,streamers or a crawler?

[Katman]

Haha...thanks quick. I will keep that in mind. But another question(sorry if I'm full of questions quick) do you target specifics or do you do the random cast and catch? I mean, when you do see a cruising king, do you change technique and use a certain type of fly or style for the king?

[DinkADunk]

You can spool with mono or put a shooting line and some backing on it (your lead 10' or so will be mono). If you spool a shooting line on it then you can try shooting heads sometime. Another option to consider is the Teeny Chuck & Duck line. Basically it's a floating line with a very, very heavy 8' sink tip. You're not really casting but lobbing, hence the name "Chuck & Duck". There are a couple of nice deep pools on the Brule that this line should be perfect for getting my rig down on the bottom quick.

[!wall-i-king]

Quick.....

Where did you get into those pinks? It sounds like it may have been the river that we have gotten into them in the past on. When I was there last year I was able to witness the same thing with the violent strikes and it is definitely a blast to have those pinks go kamikaze style all over a fly. How is the bite doing now and have the rivers come up at all? Sounds like things have been pretty rough up there. Keep the stories coming, even though I can't be there I like reading them and wishing that I were.

[Quickstrike]

king, honestly i left that river along due to the huge number of snaggers and the lack of kings. over the weekend i got a bunch of fresh pinks, a nice coho, and a nice coaster. basically every river from duluth to canada has at least a few pinks in it now.

I got the itch out of my system for those little buggers and you'll most likely find me on the WI side for the rest of the season.

[Katman]

Thank you guys for helping us new guys out on the salmon. My Sunday trip to Duluth was pretty good. Started the day out on the Lester with my 3rd cast pulling a 6lb steelie! I have a picture but I didn't host it yet. Nice clean fish...probably just swam up from the lake. Took a few pictures and returned him safely to the water. There was Pinks everwhere! It took a while to figure out what flies to use but we got some of them biting. We hiked to some of our spots and boy were they packed with fish. There were lots of fish running these little streams. Our 2nd spot was pretty hot. Started off with a few pinks. Then got in a king or two. A few smaller ones. But we did see some BIG guys run through. We spent a good hour or two at this spot. North we drove! Our next spot was super fantastic. We can see fish just surfacing as we hiked along the water. We managed to pull in 2 very nice steelies, a few more pinks, and 2 very nice kings. This is where it sucked. I was busy snapping pictures all the way up here....now that we have nice fishes to take pictures of...my battery died But the rest of the day was pretty cool. Got some nice fishes and just enjoyed the fresh air. We only kept 2 kings the whole day fishing. I will post up the only fish picture I got....my first steelie. Great Sunday! Thanks for all your help and support guys. It wouldn't have been a great Sunday without all your help.

[Quickstrike]

good to hear you guys got some fish, i think i may have saw you on the baptism. a guy there said that he had got a steelie in the lester earlier.

[Katman]

Hmmm. Where on the baptism? we were running up and down that place. Very nice river. I did see a few guys. If you saw 2 asian dudes with a spin cast in one hand and a fly rod in the other...that was us! I had a question though.....I wanted to fish the Beaver River...but noticed that there was a sign towards the left side of the trail that said it was Privatly owned land but keep this area clean when you leave. The trail on the right doesn't have any signs. We were going to fish but didn't want to get in trouble if we weren't allowed to. I tried calling Dnr but I had no service. So we left Beaver alone. Any thoughts? Looked like my kind of place. But I did meet a few locals...and they were very nice. Gave us a bit of info on flies, bait, and spots. I hope to better my ratios in the near future......I'm working on finding some great spots like you Quick Once you find the right fly and the right spot...it seems like the only thing you can do wrong is not fish! I learned that watching the river for activity of fish and learning the insects can really help on finding the key fly. My time up North learning the area and fish has been worth every minute. I hope to get one last trip somewhere before the season closes!

[Quickstrike]

yeah, i saw you guys. i hopped down across the river from you and banged a few fresh pinks and a coho but only stayed for about a half an hour.

As for the beaver, i can't help you out much as that is one of the few rivers that i haven't fished on the shore.