Salmon Fishing Video

This clip was shot on September 21, 2005 on the lower Salmon River in Pulaski, New York. The videographer is Jay Turnure of New Jersey. On the day preceding this video shoot, Jay and his mom, Cathy, accompanied me on the river and both landed their first Chinook salmon. While doing so, they got a taste of how aggressive these fish can be when targeted correctly. They learned about the behaviors of these fish and how to present a fly to capitalize on those behaviors. Furthermore, they were shown how to fight these fish in order to land them quickly and release them successfully. This video is intended to give you a taste of that action. The clip is uncut and not narrated. It's not intended to market my services; instead, it's sole purpose is to provide videographic proof that these fish are going to bite a fly, using stout tippet and traditional fly-fishing skills.

The clip starts with my casting to a run where I promptly lose a fish after a few headshakes.

If you watch closely you'll see that I am casting a large fly on a floating line. Look even closer and you will see that there is no weight on my leader; I use an upstream cast and mend to acheive the depth I need. Watch my line very closely and you will see it jump when the fish takes the fly.

At the hookset, the fish will shake it's head and come to the surface. Notice how I react to the fish's movements with rod pressure and angle. Notice also that the fish never leaves the run it was hooked in. If you want to time it, you can see that this fish was landed in well under 2 minutes. Good rod pressure and angle, stout tippet (15# in this case), and understanding how to react to the fish allows me to land this fish with plenty of life still in it.

Finally, as I prepare to remove the hook from the salmon's mouth, notice the size of the fly. Every part of my technique has a reason. It's an efficient and effective way to catch these great gamefish.