Hi Sturmer,and all.

Sorry I just lost my return post punching some wrong key so here it goes again.

I just now got in off the river and am glad to say everybody is still around, stripers, shad and salmon.

Quite a few shad are floating down half dead but I'm still seeing large spawning balls on the surface.
Better yet, the large stripers are gorging on these floaters like bass chasing poppers. I usually pull the boat out around 10:00pm because I get too nervous about leaving my truck in the dark otherwise I'd be out all night. These guys that are taking the biggest stripers do just that, ALL NIGHT. Big fish this week was 43lbs. Sad, and I told the guy so too.

As for early season salmon, use flash flies, anything that imitates bait in the ocean. These really fresh fish are still geared on eating anchovy and they'll chase baitfish imitations. Try small striper flies with a lot of flash.
Later I'll switch to coventional steelhead patterms in size #4 and #6. I fish them the same way as for steelhead with a quartering swing and short strips. I never fish egg patterns and never with an indicator. Use the old fashioned conventional steelhead swing for both the steelies and the salmon.
Hope to see you guys out on the water,
TONY