Pulaski NY Salmon

[Nuts]

I am up right now for our annual trip. Its always a good time. I never take it to seriously. The fish are easy to catch. And are not good eating IMO. Although plenty of people get excited to eat them. There is so many people its crazy. And they take it way serious. Seams every year I run into someone who thinks they own the public river. Before I started walking farther I always ran into someone who arrived at 9am and asked everyone to move. This has been there spot for years. And they are serious. 1 year after coming in for lunch I went back out and found a nice rock to stand on. After and hour a guy comes up and tells me he is fishing there??? Said he just went in and took a nap and is ready to fish again and had been on the rock all morning. Its his spot. I have never met people like that before coming here. SO I walk back in and its a different group of people compared to the people 50yds from there truck. The kings this year are big IMO. But also pretty dead. They make some short strong runs but gas quick compared to some other years. Perhaps the low water has something to do with it. More apt to sit like a log then make a run. Arrived yesterday at dinner. Caught 4 in about and hour and then broke my St. Croix fly rod. Ugh.
Tomorrow we will be joined by a couple buddies including 1 with his new girlfriend. I am kind of excited to see her show some people up. (True Alaskan native) She was warned of the craziness and the NYC reputation and those folks, But she wanted to do it none the less. My back up fly rods will arrive with that group. We will all be fishing with antique bamboo rods. Should be a blast. Did see Coho and Steelhead yesterday but only caught kings

Who has done this?

 

[Hem]

I am up right now for our annual trip. Its always a good time. I never take it to seriously. The fish are easy to catch. And are not good eating IMO. Although plenty of people get excited to eat them. There is so many people its crazy. And they take it way serious. Seams every year I run into someone who thinks they own the public river. Before I started walking farther I always ran into someone who arrived at 9am and asked everyone to move. This has been there spot for years. And they are serious. 1 year after coming in for lunch I went back out and found a nice rock to stand on. After and hour a guy comes up and tells me he is fishing there??? Said he just went in and took a nap and is ready to fish again and had been on the rock all morning. Its his spot. I have never met people like that before coming here. SO I walk back in and its a different group of people compared to the people 50yds from there truck. The kings this year are big IMO. But also pretty dead. They make some short strong runs but gas quick compared to some other years. Perhaps the low water has something to do with it. More apt to sit like a log then make a run. Arrived yesterday at dinner. Caught 4 in about and hour and then broke my St. Croix fly rod. Ugh.
Tomorrow we will be joined by a couple buddies including 1 with his new girlfriend. I am kind of excited to see her show some people up. (True Alaskan native) She was warned of the craziness and the NYC reputation and those folks, But she wanted to do it none the less. My back up fly rods will arrive with that group. We will all be fishing with antique bamboo rods. Should be a blast. Did see Coho and Steelhead yesterday but only caught kings

Who has done this?

When i was a kid in New England , we're talking 50 years ago, I thought that ^ was the holy grail. Never did try it, I kept going West until I hit Montana.

 

[Gellar]

With a name like Pulaski you’d think they’d have sausages not salmon.

I love people!

 

[Salmonchaser]

I have seen combat fishing for salmon and steelhead out west kind of an amazing thing to see. I spent 20 years guiding out on the Alaska peninsula, it is even getting crowded out there, but you can generally find open water. I have been told by folks from NY, the combat fishing on the Russian River can’t hold a candle to what you see and we can throw grizzly’s into the equation. I certainly admire your tenacity and desire to catch kings. They are an amazing fish.

 

[Hem]

With a name like Pulaski you’d think they’d have sausages not salmon.

I love people!

Alot of Poles where I grew up. Every other kid in school had " ski" at the end of their name.

 

[Gellar]

Alot of Poles where I grew up. Every other kid in school had " ski" at the end of their name.

Hemski has a nice ring to it.

 

[Wolfshead]

Right up the road from me.
We try and stay away from there this time of year. The New Jersey, and NYC “fishons” (fishing morons) just make it impossible to tolerate. I really feel bad for the residents, and having to deal with all those idiots every year.
Just the other day someone left their catch on the side of the street (Main Street) and drove off. The “out of towners” can be so disrespectful, and have no consideration for the Town.
It’s actually pronounced Pulasky, here.

 

[Hem]

Right up the road from me.
We try and stay away from there this time of year. The New Jersey, and NYC “fishons” (fishing morons) just make it impossible to tolerate. I really feel bad for the residents, and having to deal with all those idiots every year.
Just the other day someone left their catch on the side of the street (Main Street) and drove off. The “out of towners” can be so disrespectful, and have no consideration for the Town.
It’s actually pronounced Pulasky, here.

I watched a video last night of guys all lined up fishing in town.
Dont think i could handle that.

 

[Bullshot]

Fought the Black Hole hordes a few times. The sheen quickly wears off. Maybe I'd go back for DSR.

I prefer the more quiet fishing for steelhead right around the beginning of spring. But I never went up in peak/winter to those slushy rivers, as that too sounds a little bit miserable.

 

[Nuts]

I should have labeled this things you see and don't see in Pulaski

Things I did see

• You see more guys with reels downside up then I have ever seen. Be it fly or spinning
• Lots of guys who not only don't know how to fish for salmon but don't know how to fish at all
• Guys buying 1 day license. They were staying for 4 days but thought they could just buy a 1 day license and be OK? Change the date. IDK what there plan was. When the clerk figured it out he told them they need a 7 day license. they got pissed and started calling him mafia??
• Straight up ripping through schools of Kings trying to snag. You can argue the snagging flossing thing. Not here for that.
• Lots of undersize and over limit steelhead
• Stringers of fish drug through gravel and mud
• Stringers of fish laying in the sun out of the water
• Folks fishing off of 20' cliffs with light medium rods (no chance of fighting or retrieval)
• Folks using treble hooks
• Many nationalities
• folks standing at the edge jigging in 2' of water
• Door dash to the river
• A $460 door dash order from Arby's
• Some good people who knew what they were doing and were willing to work together

Things I didn't see

• LE of any kind. The amount of tickets one could write would be insane. I think they should be there. Write the tickets. Especially for the steelhead violations. That's and easy 1

Overall a great time. We got away from the crowds. Met some great people. I am pretty good at flossing from my time in Alaska. But not as good as my inside the mouth hook ups suggested. I am convinced the Kings and steelhead were actively grabbing my egg flies. Over the course of 2 1/2 days I am sure I had 100+ hook ups with 30+ Kings landed. Anything accidently snagged was broken off immediately. We were going out of our way to not throw into schools and often let Kings go by. By Saturday night we were not throwing at Kings at all and were targeting Coho and Steelhead. We were all beat from the amount of kings we had caught Friday and Saturday morning. Next year probably DSR for me. Although it was entertaining to walk by and watch the nonsense