Smith River today

[Langenbeck]

Went to the lower Smith today. The usual line up of prams with old geezers. My neighbor briefly hooked and lost a salmon and later I did the same. Then I caught & released this fish of about 25 pounds. Used an old glass Fenwick 9010 that I have had for almost 40 years. Saw about 12-14 fish hooked out of the 10-12 prams fishing.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/gordonl/Salmon2Dec09002.jpg

[koffler]

Gordon-

It looks like your in a Clackacraft not a pram - so your not old, your just traveling in style :)

On to the important stuff; what the heck is that you're holding? Is that a chinook? Surely it can't be a steelhead (it sort of looks like one of those fat rainbows you caught from one of those lakes in NZ).

Jason

[Langenbeck]

You're right. No pram. That is my neighbor holding a chinook salmon

[Don Powell]

After all the "doom and gloom" I felt in the pit of my stomach watching "Rivers of a Lost Coast", you have restored my hope for the present and the future! Personally, I believe the sport beloved by many, exists into the far distant future.
The dedicated few will continue to reap the pleasure of species that demand dedication and perserverance to ever experience...and that is the way it should be!

[STEELIES/26c3]

Damn!

Nice to see you give those Rogue River fish a break for a change...

What a nice belly full of ROE, er uh... I mean king salmon hen you caught and released there...

'Gratz

M

[Rick J]

it is interesting that the Smith is having one of its best runs of salmon in a few years. I was up last weekend and it was pretty amazing - good to see alot of the old timers some in the movie but most who came in at the tail end. The pram line up is more a social event with fishing thrown in!! May need to head back up there this weekend

[norcal tom]

What kind of shooting head are you guys using is it just 27 to 30 ft of t-14 to a mono running. I have sat and watched these guys for the past two season getting kind of inrested ? How are new faces welcomed in the line up?

[Rick J]

you need a compliment of heads depending on where you are fishing - I was using everything from lead core, type 8, to a type 3 and I have used intermediate lines as well.

The group is generally very friendly and helpful - know that you absolutely need a two anchor setup. Generally you come into a lineup and drop your back anchor slightly upstream of where you want to end up (but downstream of the next guys anchor). You then row forward letting line play out and pull slightly forward of the line up - then toss your second anchor out and up from where you want to be- you the tighten both ropes and if it works right you will end up between two prams.

When crowded, prams can end up very close together - so you need to be able to cast without hooking the guy next to you (no belgian loop casts!!!). It has not been that crowded when I was there so there can be more room between prams.

If you decide to come up I will be fishing out of my 10' little drifter probably next to my friend Brett Jensen and we promise to be friendly!!!!

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Hi Bill,

I saw that this morning. I was there last weekend and we did very well. This season was the best in years up there. With no commercial fishing off California, rivers like the Smith and Eel will be very good. Let's hope they come back to the Sac! The Smith & Eel are gems and are as pretty of rivers as anything in Oregon or Washington. The best part is it's the same drive time to the Smith from here as it was from Santa Rosa(6 hours), so when I moved I didn't have to give up this fishing.

Talk to you soon,

Jason Leopold

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I think we are heading for the end of the fresh Kings (mid-Oct/Nov/mid-Dec) on the Smith River and now the big Steelhead could arriving Dec/Jan/Feb.

A big storm can end all this too.

__________________________________________________ _________________________

Funny story from the draught in California of the late 1970s:

In the fall everyone was catching big King Salmon on the lower Smith River and the word got out, even without the Internet.

Two friends from the Davis Flyfishers headed up their in with their 8 foot prams for the first time on the river.

They got out early with some instructions from fellow fly fishers and anchored in a line up.

They landed some nice ones but nothing much over 20 pounds but extremely fresh.

That evening after the fishing had ended they felt good but hoped for some of the larger Smith River King Salmon they had heard about for years.

Well, after talking with some veterans they were told that the Kings had slowed coming to the end of their run, but there were nice fresh large Steelhead coming in for the past few days.

Now they had to re-think their adventure.

What they thought was only nice medium size King Salmon where actually over 20 pound fresh-run wild Smith River Steehead?

All was good.........

(Name were not used to protect the innocent)

[Langenbeck]

Rick J. has really given a good answer. A two anchor system is mandatory and stay in line with the other prams. If you do that the old crowd is friendly. Most yesterday were using a Type 4 heads.

[Rick J]

Tom,
PS - always good to ask if you can slip in between two prams especially if they are fairly close together

[Rick J]

Fished the Smith Sat/Sun - boy was it cold in the morning with ice on the banks

The ff in prams setting up
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a395/RickJ/Chetco001.jpg

The drift boat folks below us
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a395/RickJ/Chetco002.jpg

It was a circus if you got in the middle of the bait guys - they are all a good group of folks and friendly but casting bait and flies don't mix when you fly line is swinging!!

Unfortunately though I would say a very high percentage of the fish hooked by the bait guys were fouled - and it is hard to break them off when using 15# or better so it got ugly!! There were a very large number of fish in this reach - when you hooked up and went into the pool you could see them all daisy chaining! There was rarely a time when someone was not into a fish among the bait guys

Here is a friend of mine Mark Gervase with a fish on

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a395/RickJ/Chetco003.jpg

My friend Brett hooked up

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a395/RickJ/Chetco008.jpg

and fish about to be released

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a395/RickJ/Chetco011.jpg

I hooked probably 10 or so and did not get one to hand - they either pulled loose or more frequently broke off in the roots and branches along the shore - the fish averaged 25# or more and are freight trains - they just shoot for the branches and you try to hold on but they pull your pram right into the stuff - pretty wild really.

I had at least that many fouled - they just run into your line - you do you best to just give slack when you feel them but sometimes they snag themselves and you just have to break them off.

Brett on again

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a395/RickJ/Chetco014.jpg

And fish to hand
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a395/RickJ/Chetco017.jpg

There was a guy (I think his name is Dave) who had a lab in his boat who showed great interest any time Dave hooked up

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a395/RickJ/Chetco018.jpg

Brett and I camped out in the back of our trucks at a nearby camp ground - it was bitter cold and we were in our sleeping bags by 6:30 PM - up at 5:30 to grab a cup of coffee and get down to the river.

I really do enjoy this social event - I know it isn't for alot of folks but Many are good friends from 25 years ago or more in the same lineups!!!

[norcal tom]

Rick i love your pictures and report. Wife is going to kill me when i come home with a pram it's bad enough i have the spey bug. So what size pram should i being looking for something in the 8ft should do, what was your rod set up?
Thanks again your pics made my day Tom.

PS. you see any steel hooked in the lower river?

[Rick J]

Tom - 8 foot prams are perfect - mine is a 10 foot so I can fish two guys out of it - the guy who makes them up in Crescent City just got arrested for tweaking guns so they could go full automatic which is a bummer as they are great river boats. Just look for a used one and rig with two lead anchors.

Rods are anything from 8 wt (pretty light) to 10 wts. I have a couple of 9 and 10 wt Fisher glass rods I love but also use my Scott 10 wt HP. Any reel will do with a good drag as you really need to crank the drag down. For running line I normally use amnesia but also use Berkeley Big Game solar green in 40# test. Complement of shooting heads - we were mostly on a type 2 where we were. - leaders of around 10 feet or so to 10# ( I normally just have butt section with a loop then go straight 10# with a double loop in it (bimini , spider hitch or king sling loop followed by a surgeons knot to double the loop). Flies are comets - mainly orange or chartreuse fro #4 to #8

[Langenbeck]

Rick J. With pictures and words you have really captured what happens on the lower Smith. Excellent summary.

[norcal tom]

When i first moved over to the coast last year i pick up a copy of Fly fishing for pacific salmon 2. I read front to back a couple times . I have sat for a few hours on some of the lower holes just watching these famous rodeo gunslinger types fishing . Now i need to just get out there . Thanks guys

[Rick J]

Tom - regarding steelhead - did not see any hooked but think I heard that they have got around 500 fish at Rowdy Creek Hatchery? already so fish are coming in.

[norcal tom]

Thank you think i will go play around tonight ?

[Fats]

Any chance you could do that in a Pontoon boat? It may be difficult to work a double anchor however... Hmmmm... some engineering and it could work!

[Ned Morris]

Tom - 8 foot prams are perfect - mine is a 10 foot so I can fish two guys out of it - the guy who makes them up in Crescent City just got arrested for tweaking guns so they could go full automatic which is a bummer as they are great river boats. Just look for a used one and rig with two lead anchors.

Rods are anything from 8 wt (pretty light) to 10 wts. I have a couple of 9 and 10 wt Fisher glass rods I love but also use my Scott 10 wt HP. Any reel will do with a good drag as you really need to crank the drag down. For running line I normally use amnesia but also use Berkeley Big Game solar green in 40# test. Complement of shooting heads - we were mostly on a type 2 where we were. - leaders of around 10 feet or so to 10# ( I normally just have butt section with a loop then go straight 10# with a double loop in it (bimini , spider hitch or king sling loop followed by a surgeons knot to double the loop). Flies are comets - mainly orange or chartreuse fro #4 to #8

Excellent pics. Will get up there one of these days and try for Salmon. Only make it up there every other year for Steelhead and this is an off year for me. Are you talking about the guy at Redwood Welding who got arrested? If so I am super bummed. I talked to him last summer and it seemed he had the best prices in the market and heard they were built great. Guess until further notice I will now need to look elsewhere. Koffler and Spring Creek are too $$$$ for me. I heard of some cool ones called Endure Prams that are similarily priced made out of Medford but know nothing about them. Any advice you could give me would be much appreciated!

[Rick J]

Troutdog- yeah it was the guy at Redwood Welding - I think these are hands down the best river prams made - I bought one of the early ones in 10' so I could do floats with one other guy. They are hell for stout so a bit on the heavy side but I had mine blow off the top of my truck maybe 20 years ago and all that happened was a bit of a dent in the front end.

I am out of it when it comes to where to look for prams now - they are all pretty pricy - might fire off a message to Bill as he knows alot about boats. There was a guy making small prams up in Canada? My friend Don Rotsma has a couple and Bill knows about them - they are very light but on the tippy side so would think twice about standing up and casting out of them but price was very reasonable.

Fats - regarding fishing out of a pontoon - I guess it could be done though I have not seen anyone doing it in the lineup - it helps to be able to stand and cast and strip rather than sitting down - when the lineup gets tight you can have boats within a couple of feet of each other or even touching so you casting needs to be spot on and it would be tough to cast sitting down in those conditions. But you could likely move a bit out of the line up and use one - might get your out of the bucket though?

[michaeln]

Look for a used pram. I bought a used Spring Creek Prams Hopper II (8 foot) for $500. The same pram new would have been close to $2400 shipped to me. Keep an eye on the classifieds here and on craigslist.

A brand new pram isn't going to help you catch fish any better than a good used one.