Spawning

Hi Folks, Guided up on the river of big fish with the fly rods yesterday morning.  Pretty chilly start to the day with air temps. in the 20's.  The water temperature was 42 degrees and low.  The Landlocked Salmon are now in full on spawning mode.  You can see them in the river on gravel.  Big females with aggressive males holding behind the hens jockeying for position.  You can see the females twisting and turning as they roll to lay eggs.  We leave the females alone.  We swung streamers and had a pretty good fish whack a #10 Mickey Finn on the swing.  Happened pretty early in the morning.  They come out of no where (in front and behind big rocks) to eat streamers.  After that, we could not move a fish on a streamer so we resorted to nymphing.  We hooked two good salmon a #14 prince nymph and lost both fish.  Had a few other strikes but the fishing was not fast and furious.  Pretty tough getting them to eat when they are spawning and I am not a big fan of foul hooked fish.  Does not count if you don't get them to eat the fly and remove from their mouth!  The state should probably close this fishery down in mid October to let the salmon do their thing unmolested.  Three days left in the season and I have two more days on the water.  Been a good October.  Remember to clean your gear and leave the non-native species at home.  Have Fun, Willy