The nicest migratory trout of this solo trip on the Salmon River!
La plus belle truite de ce trip solo sur la rivière Salmon!

 A rare and beautiful Spring run Chinook salmon !! A great moment to start the 2015 season!
 Un superbe et rare saumon Chinook en migration printanière!! Un super moment pour inaugurer la saison de pêche 2015!

 The gear of this trip - Beulah Platinum 12'6'' 6wt, Sage 6080 and Cortland Switch 425gr. line
 Le matériel de cette sortie - Beulah Platinum 12'6'' 6wt, moulinet Sage 6080 et soie Cortland Switch 425 grains

 Nice Lake run Brown trout -  Belle truite brune migratrice

 This superb hen gave a hell of a fight!
 Cette superbe femelle Steelhead m'a donné tout un combat !

 Quick photo before release
 Une photo rapide avant la remise à l'eau

 I had no clue this fish had a blind eye until I saw the photo!
 Je n'avais pas réalisé que ce poisson était aveugle d'un oeil avant de voir la photo!

 Paradise headwater -  Une rivière magnifique

 Another beauty -  Une autre truite magnifique

 All fish were released with care to live another day
 Tous les poissons ont été reposés puis remis à l'eau

ENGLISH VERSION FOLLOWS....

CLIQUER SUR LES IMAGES POUR LES ÉLARGIR.

[FR] QUAND LES ÉTOILES SONT ALIGNÉES, LA PÊCHE DES TRUITES STEELHEAD ET SAUMONS CHINOOK PEUT ÊTRE EXTRAORDINAIRE! 

Ces 2 journées de pêche à la mi-octobre sur la rivière Salmon dans le comté d'Oswego, New-York ont été magiques pour plusieurs raisons:  

1. Le plus important, mon père, en visite depuis la France, était à mes côtés! 
2. Les berges de la rivière étaient parées de magnifiques couleurs d'automne!
3. Nous étions accompagnés par Tony Gugino qui, encore une fois, a partagé sa grande connaissance de la rivière et de cette pêche des grands salmonidés migrateurs.  
4. Nous avons pêché des zones de transition de la rivière Salmon, c'est-à-dire des sections moins profondes entre les fosses. Tous les pêcheurs étant regroupés le long des fosses, nous étions seuls sur ces sections! 
5. Nous avons pu pêcher les truites Steelhead à vue, une pêche super excitante rendue possible sur ces zones de transition par un débit de la rivière autour de 350 cfs et une très bonne clarté de l'eau.
6. Nous avons eu la chance de pêcher des truites Steelhead non seulement fraîchement rentrées dans la rivière mais aussi de bonne taille....les combats ont été épiques!
7. J'ai pêché avec du matériel plus léger que les années précédentes à la même période, une canne Hardy Jet 10' #7 avec une soie 7 flottante sur moulinet Sage 4280. Malgré sa légèreté, ce setup s'est avéré parfait sur les grosses truites Steelhead et beaux Chinook avoisinant les 20 livres.....QUE DU BONHEUR!  

Cette année 2014 restera elle aussi pleine de merveilleux souvenirs de pêche!

BONNE ET HEUREUSE ANNÉE ET BONNE PÊCHE À TOUS!

CLICK ON ANY PICTURE TO ENLARGE IT.

[EN] WHEN THE STARS ARE ALIGNED, FISHING FOR STEELHEAD TROUT AND CHINOOK SALMON CAN BE SURREAL!  

These two days fishing trip mid-October on the Salmon River in Oswego County, New York, was magical for several reasons:  

1. First and foremost my father, who was visiting from France, was at my side!
2. The river was surrounded by beautiful fall colors! 
3. We were accompanied by Tony Gugino who, this time again, has shared his extensive knowledge of the river system and the fishing of migratory salmonids.  
4. We fished transition zones on the Salmon River, i.e., shallower sections between the larger pools and runs. Most fishermen were fishing along the pools, and we were alone on these sections! 
5. We were able to sight fish for steelhead trout which was super exciting. This fishing was made ​​possible on these transition zones by a flow around 350 cfs and very good water clarity.
6. We had the chance to fish not only for steelhead trout fresh from the lake but these were good size fish too....fights were epic!
7. I fished with lighter gear compared to previous years during the same period: a Hardy Jet rod 10 '# 7 with a WF7 line on a Sage 4280 reel. Despite its light weight, it turned out to be a perfect setup on these large Steelhead trout and beautiful Chinooks around 20 pounds .....A PURE BLAST!  

2014 will remain a year full of wonderful fishing memories!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU AND TIGHT LINES!

CLICK ON ANY PICTURE TO ENLARGE IT.

[EN] Two years ago, I came across this excellent text from Dana Sturn on the blog of the Deneki BC West lodge. Reading that a species of fish could affect the mind of a fisherman to a point where it would transform his aproach to fishing looked exagerated to me. Although skeptical, I became intrigued and excited about fly fishing for Chinook salmon. I eventually started to think about trying some day. This became one item in my fly fishing To do list. But it was far from the top of my list, I have to admit.

And then came my first fishing trip for Chinook... 

This 2011 mid-October day spent fishing for Chinook with my Dad has been fantastic! We are still regularly remembering this particular day during our conversations. It was the peak of the run on the SR and my father and I were fortunate enough to fight many of these fish on that day. They are as tough as you can imagine. They do everything to brake you off....they make a bunch of jumps, they take you around rocks....CRAZY!

But my Dad and I eventually also landed some great Chinooks that day. This trip has been JUST PERFECT...the fact that I shared it with my Dad made it the trip of a lifetime!

But you know what? I was still feeling that text on the Deneki blog was exagerated.

This has remained the case until this fall...

My friend François and I made the trip to the SR mid-October this year. And this is during that trip that I started to understand. The fishing was very difficult. We fished some productive mid-river waters with a variety of streamers. We fished wooly bugger patterns in many different colors....we tried dead-drifting these flies, animating them with different stripping motions....no bite.

After a few hours of trials, I sighted a couple steelheads. I decided to change the #8 salmon setup for my #7 switch rod. I went for a long-leader nymphing setup using 8lb. test tippet material to dead-drift an egg pattern.

And I started to get connected to......CHINOOKS!! Who said they don't eat eggs?!?

Among several hook-ups, I went through that epic fight with a big Chinook. 40 minutes... 300 yards of downstream ride through riffles....crossed the river twice to unlock my line that was taken around rocks......to eventually arrive to a deeper pool where I could tail that superb fish after several additional strong rushes. I took a long period of time to savour the moment.

When finally my heart-rate decelerated and my level of adrenaline eventually dropped a little, I remembered that sentence in Dana Sturn's text :

“It doesn’t take many.”

I could not agree more.

Tight lines! - Bruno.

 Reviewing lake run trout and salmon gear
 Thank you François for capturing this moment
 Superb specimen!
 François after landing a beautiful salmon
 Releasing a king...

CLICK ON ANY PICTURE TO ENLARGE IT.

[EN] My father and I had been wanting to organize a fishing trip together for more than 10 years! He was visiting me last october from France and we were finally able to have that day together! I drove him to the Salmon river, Oswego County, NY without telling him about the quality of the fishery HEHE....we got non-stop action all day with most Kings in the 25-30lbs range and he got a superb steelhead! What a surprise for my dad! I cannot thank enough pro guide Tony Gugino (http://www.salmoncountryguide.com/) for the great father-son fishing experience! Here are some of the photos taken by Tony to accompany this first post.............and Happy Birthday Dad!

[FR] Mon père et moi voulions organiser un voyage de pêche ensemble depuis plus de 10 ans! Il m'a rendu visite depuis la France en octobre dernier et nous avons finalement réussi à avoir cette journée ensemble! Je l'ai emmené pêcher la rivière Salmon, du comté d'Oswego dans l'État de NY sans lui parler de la qualité de pêche qui nous attendait HEHE....on a eu de l'action non-stop toute la journée avec pour la plupart des saumons Chinook dans les 25-30 livres et il a pris une superbe steelhead! Quelle surprise ça a été pour mon père! Je ne remercierai jamais assez le guide Tony Gugino (http://www.salmoncountryguide.com/) pour cette journée de pêche fantastique! Voici quelques-unes des photos prises par Tony pendant la journée pour accompagner ce premier post.............et un très Joyeux Anniversaire Papa!

Tight lines! Bonne pêche à tous! - Bruno.

 Perfect river flow, fabulous sunshine and strikingly colorful trees
 A great fall day with tons of smiles
 Tony's favorite workout exercise
 My first salmon of the day was an incredible fighter
 So was the second one
 Tony made us fish the perfect spots
 Several times that day my father and I both had tight lines!
 My favorite fish of the day.....this monster took me a lot of backing
 This chrome was breathtakingly beautiful
 Can a fish be more beautiful than that?
 Fly fishing is so much fun!!
 My father took many Chinooks that day
 He had great smiles for the camera
 All fish were quickly photographed for immediate release
 These will be everlasting memories...I hope we will be back next year