Withdrawal

I've been back to work now for two days. Two days since being on the Salmon River. two days since feeling the fight, hearing the scream of the reel. Two days since feeding my need. Some may say I've been distant these last two days, while some may say I've been cranky. I personally would say none of them are correct. I'm an addict, an addict for big fish. I need to experience the fight , the thrill, the challenge and reward of fishing for chinook salmon. Not just fishing,but chasing the king on the fly. Tying our own creations, tasty morsels of thread feathers and yarn that these monster fish just can't resist lashing out at. The run is ramping up, more and more fish are going from staging in the lake right off the mouth of our tribs and running upstream to spawn and eventually meet their maker. More and more fish to chase means less and less days of the annual run. The run will die off the fishing will succeed and I'll be back at square one. With drawling for one more fish, one more hook up, one more acrobatic display or run upstream while my fly reel empties out. Sure there are lake run steelies and browns that temporarily feed the urge, but that last king salmon will always be in the back of your head. Urging for the next hook up the next season of another chinook king salmon.

Billy

River Report: Salmon River pulaski, ny

Not knowing what to expect from the salmon river set me up for a great experience. The town of Pulaski itself is a perfect American fishing town with river side lodges cleaning and smoking fish for a nominal fee. The waters did not disappoint. Picturesque landscapes, rippled waters, bends turns and pools were all amazing experiences. With miles of public fishing access the salmon river has a spot or situation for all to enjoy their day on the water.
Only having two days in the salmon river region we got to work on different locations along the river. First day we fished the sportsmans pool. The better action day of the two, Monday we had multiple hook ups on the fly, but like the many other anglers we seen, not one was landed. Close, but no fish in the nets. Broken leaders, straightened hooks, dislodged hooks, we saw or experienced many disappointments. Out of the over one hundred hook ups we seen throughout our long day on the water about ten were brought to a net. Still the fight, the screaming of the reel, the jumps and acrobatics of chinook salmon made our trip.
On Tuesday we moved our adventures to a fly fishing only section upstream of the salon river salmon hatchery. The day started out amazing with three hook ups right away in the morning. More screaming reels and laying line while doing battle with the salmon river kings, but once again more dislodged fish. After a couple hours in the upper fly section I hooked into a large chinook salmon and battle we did do. Upstream, down stream, line laid out and brought in for more time then I had in any previous fight this trip. 6-7 jumps, air acrobatics, summersaults and leaps. While maintaining great pressure and finessing the drag of my reel the salmon came in for us to get a great look at him. A king of fish darkened and silver all at the same time. This fish was about to cap off an amazing trip when it decided differently and took off on a last minute dash, a run for it. Down stream and into the heavy currents my line peeled off, a jump and roll and like that the battle was over. The fish had spit my fly, dislodged the hook once again. Defeat gave way to my sore wrists that had tired throughout the battle with the fish of the weekend.
Shortly after all the negativity was wiped clean as I looked down shore and josh was hooked up with a king salmon of his own. He had drifted an orange imitation sack through a pool and fed it to a beautiful hen. Finally for the first time of the whole trip we got a fish into the net, landed. Team GTO had landed a famed salmon river salmon. Our homework paid off, our custom tied flies hooked many fish, probably a dozen for the trip. It was a success.
All in all a great trip with great friends and great beers. Fat tire from New Belgium brewery and a harvest pack from Boston brewing company kept the soreness to a roar dull all trip. We have finally experienced the famed salmon river and already have another trip planned for steelhead fishing and one more for next years salmon run. Like previously stated in past blogs its like an addiction. A sickness if you will. The fight of the fish, the screaming of the reel, the pull of the drag. Energy shoots through me like a main line of adrenaline. The salmon sickness, if this is the only cure, that's alright with me.

The Salmon Run

One can't explain the craziness that I experience during the annual fall Lake Ontario salmon run. I don't know if its the acrobatic aerial displays that the fish put on or the screaming of my fly reel. It could possibly be the fight, oh the biggest fight felt from any game fish in the WNY area. This year has been no different. The salmon started entering the Lake Ontario tributaries in the beginning of September and have really started coming upstream now that the evening temperatures have started to drop. We have been seriously filling our sickness, I mean addiction to these beautiful fish for two weeks now. Lots of hook ups, lots of broken lines and leaders, and one straightened hook have paid off a couple of times when team GTO has had the pleasure of not only landing the salmon, but and early run beautiful brown trout. While we have mostly fished locally, 18 mile creek or oak orchard, this coming week we will be traveling to the world class east coast fishery known as the Salmon River in Pulaski NY. Reports coming in say we will be hitting the Salmon and the Oswego rivers in the peak of the season. Lots of Chinook, Browns, and Steelhead are being reported throughout the river. Telling this to a salmon addict is like dangling smack in front of a crackhead. Everything I do I cannot focus on, all I think about is throbbing in my forearms as my fly reel screams with line tearing off into the backing. The long drawn out fight and finally if I'm lucky grabbing that huge trophy from the net, twenty pounds plus of muscle that just fulfilled my salmon addiction.
I'll try to get serious about this blog and post regularly again. My partner in GTO, Josh, has also agreed to contribute to the blogosphere. Stay tuned for more stories as we get into our busy season hunting, fishing, and grilling the outdoors. Until then here's a couple picks of some nice fish we've gotten this week in the WNYarea.

Thanks,

Billy

River run

River rage has been the state of most of our spots

River has been the state of most of our minds

Swelling subdues, weather does too

Come Sunday next FISH ON we will be saying too

Report from the Genesee River Part 1

Heading out of town on Saturday night there was a certain giddiness, an eagerness.  I could not wait to get to GTO's southern tier camp.  I could not wait to get in the river and stack the browns and brooks up like cord wood.  We would have four guys there was no way we were striking out this trip, there was no way even with two members fly fishing beginners.  We made great time leading our caravan of vehicles down through many small trout towns. Max had arrived first and opened up camp so upon our arrival we plugged in our generator and we were officially in business.  Saturday night may have involved some random hoopla and a few too many drinks, but we were all ready for the next day, the river was alive with trout and the weather was supposed to be beautiful.

Shaking off the previous nights activities we ventured to town for some breakfast and hot dogs, yes hot dogs.  After breakfast it was time, time to venture to the Genesee.  We chose the bottom of the dam in Belmont to start our search from some beautiful browns and brooks.  

I was planning to drift nymphs all weekend and help josh learn how to cast his newly purchased fly rod with some great on water experience.  Gary and Max would be conventionally fishing with spinning reels and jigs and spinners.  They also drifted some Gulp eggs that were recommended by a local at a local bait store.  After throwing the nymph around for twenty to thirty minutes I was being nosey and watching all the other anglers on the river and noticed one gentleman over waist deep in the water right up by the base of the dam catch two nice size browns within 15 minutes of one another.  I started casting and moving up stream, but didn't receive the bite I was looking for.  Walking back downstream to the rest of the guys I stopped by to see how Josh was doing and to give him some pointers while gracefully stepping off the rocks into the river I performed the falling swan dive right into the water.  Good thing it was warm out cuz my right arm and shoulders were soaked.

Ok I may have came in a little hot, but who knew these rocks were so damn slippery

After fishing this beautiful area downstream of the dam for awhile and not landing any fish (Gary had some bites and was having his bait stolen but could not land one) I wanted in on this dam area where the previously mentioned gentlemen were hooking up with nice size brownies.  We took a little break, changed flies to the white/yellowish nymphs i could see floating in the river, and trekked back upstream to the low head dam in the middle of downtown Belmont NY.  Where the dam empties over and another tributary empties into the Genesee Gary and myself attempted to cross out to a stone island out near where I had seen gentlemen landing nice fish.  We were going to go land us some nice size fish and feed all four of us and Syd back at camp on trout all night.  We are the backups for that show River Monsters, we can concur mother nature and her mighty swift currents..... OR not!!!!  Trying to cross the river out to the island I slipped again on some river slime and went completely under.  Gary being right behind me grabbed me and all was good at the moment.  Now to just get back to shore hahahaha. We managed back, I walked downstream a ways to fish in the sun cuz now I was completely soaked.  Wet

COLD

and no fish

Thats how day one goes down

Genesee 1

team GTO 0 and wet

Recipe: Creekside pan fried potato encrusted trout

Creekside Pan Fried Potato Encrusted Trout

Ingredients:

2 12-14 inch trout of any kind (my favorite-rainbow)

2 russet potatoes sliced thin on a mandoline

salt and pepper

tbsp garlic powder

canola oil

flour for dredging

1. filet fish and remove the skin, the potatoes will act as the fish's skin to protect the meat

2. season all 4 filets with salt, pepper, and garlic powder

3. shingle potatoes and place filet onto the potato sheet so that potatoes take the place of where the skin was before it was removed

4. dredge each potato encrusted filet in flour

5. heat 1/2 cup of oil in a cast iron pan over med to med high heat depending on your range

6. place filets potato side down in the pan and cook for 6-8 min

7. flip and cook for 3-5 minutes

8. flip back to potato side and finish to a golden crispy brown

9. finish with a lemon butter sauce and fresh scallions

WHAT A BREAK

It has been weeks since we last conversed indirectly through the expansive technological feat known as the Internet.  There has been reasons, some planned some not, that has led to our tardiness and lack of motivation to publish a blog post. I had a surgical procedure done on my nose and the weather in western NY has been less than optimal most will say.  The conditions have been some of the most brutal spring climate I have seen in years.  Still team GTO has been on the water grinding it out.  From steelies to the trout opener we have plenty of material and pics to bring you multiple posts in the next coming weeks.  

Most of the GTO pro team will be together this week at camp for a half week of trout fishing the Genessee river along with the many small creeks and tribs branching off.  Trout season is in full effect and we plan on landing plenty of fish and having plenty of laughs.  NY state DEC has dumped thousands of hatchery browns and brooks into the waters we fish in Alleghany, Cattaragus, Wyoming, Genessee, Erie, and Niagara counties.  This aggressive stocking plan coupled with beautiful projected weather should lead to plenty of hookups, a great time on the water, and some awesome camp cooked meals.

We have been busy doing some business moving our young company forward during our hiatus also.  We have plans to produce an independent film chronicling our on water adventures this year with possibility of producing a full length DVD and/or YouTube series.  The film will also be an entry into the 2014 fly fishing film festival.  check out their website to learn more about this awesome tour bringing the sport to many around the US and Canada via awesome film makers and fly fisherman alike.  To go along with this we are in talks with Steve Tedesco to help GTO out with filming, editing, film production, etc.  Steve is a highly talented, artistic film maker and photographer.  The way Steve looks at the world and the items in it are no where near how you or me see them.  Having Steve on board highly excites me to get this film project moving along with maybe some test shoots uploaded to YouTube for ya'll to check out.  To view some of Steve's work check out Sonny Westgate Photography on Facebook or check his IMDb.

In the mean time still shots on this awesome blog are gonna have to hold you over.  We'll be back with the next 12-24 hours with various photos and blogs about some on water and upcoming plans for the ole Grilling the Outdoors crew

Thanks

-Bill