# O.M.G. they say its on, Betsie River.



## wintrrun

In the last 5 hours i have had 3 phone calls from people fishing at or near the Homestead Dam area.
Say there are Salami's all over the place.
Smells alot like this run might happen a bit early.
Anyone else care to share there knowledge?

Its on!


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## luv2havemoartime

ok, I'm a rookie to this stuff, salamis?


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## Andydeerslayer

Salami's, salmon, kings, chinook


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## gillhunter

There were fish hanging out in harbor for past couple weeks. Its prob just those finally moving up after rains. Doubt whole river is flooded, prob just that group movin along.


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## wintrrun

Salami's: a slang for king salmon.
Used in a sentence: Some say that upon entering the river a Salami is the best eating.


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## wintrrun

Probably right Gill.
I think they were premature as well.
Heres a pic that was sent and i'll explain my theory.










It's not Wed so Marvin does not play into this.
Everyone knows the dam is just someplace to hang out.
And finally no one looks at the dam when the fish are not jumping.

Theres 3 fish on the left next to the guy in the blue jacket.
Thank god it was a fluke.


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## stod15

Was there yesterday and it is loaded with fish from homestead down. Pick a hole any hole. Problem is it is also full of Darryl and his other brother Darryl. Saw guys fishing with downrigger rods with levelwind line counter reels no joke. The hot bait of the day was splitshot and treble hooks.


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## roo

I think its kinda like big baits... bigger fish. But with treble hooks...

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## wintrrun

stod15 said:


> Was there yesterday and it is loaded with fish from homestead down. Pick a hole any hole. Problem is it is also full of Darryl and his other brother Darryl. Saw guys fishing with downrigger rods with levelwind line counter reels no joke. The hot bait of the day was splitshot and treble hooks.


Thanks stod15.
Every report i got today was included with whats C.O. Vanderlinde's cell number.
Oh well.
Thanks for your honesty.


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## tannhd

stod15 said:


> Was there yesterday and it is loaded with fish from homestead down. Pick a hole any hole. Problem is it is also full of Darryl and his other brother Darryl. Saw guys fishing with downrigger rods with levelwind line counter reels no joke. The hot bait of the day was splitshot and treble hooks.


Actually we use those rods BUT it is when we use a thunderstick on a planar board working the holes or up close to downed tree limbs. Works really well to move those fish.


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## stod15

We were fishing thundersticks but the snaggers had the fish so freaked out we had no takers. I did land one by snagging remnants of line attached to a treble in the side of a nice male. I removed the treble from his belly and set him free to go find some ladies.


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## REG

wintrrun said:


> Salami's: a slang for king salmon.
> Used in a sentence: Some say that upon entering the river a Salami is the best eating.


Good thing you clarified this. Otherwise, you'd have half of Saugatuck up there with you.:yikes::yikes:


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## wintrrun

REG said:


> Good thing you clarified this. Otherwise, you'd have half of Saugatuck up there with you.:yikes::yikes:


Thats ironic because the one buddy who sent the pic i posted said most of the people fishing were from around Saugatuck.:lol::lol::lol:


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## troutguy26

You boys better keep your waders zipped up tight round that part. Holy cow i bet they were all checkin each others rods out. Lol


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## scottsinift

some people would fish all day with a home made fly and land two fish and be happy some people want to snag their five in a hour and go home if u cant figure out how to catch em u become a snagger


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## Roger That

Bahahahahahaha


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## Fishslayer5789

I would be so embarrassed if I was captured in a photo of the Betsie Gauntlet. That's worse than a mugshot in the newspaper.


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## greatlakesanime

Hows it looking for this weekend?(8-27 and 8-28)


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## johnny5alive

Tell'm where you caught 8 fish yesterday, errr ummm I mean between yesterday and today, uh yeah.


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## JerryBoy1984

but its the people who want to snag 5 in an hour that take a spot away from the people who want to fly fish or use some other legitimate method...that actually took the time to learn how to present a fly or skein to legitimately hook a salmon....id say easily 70 percent of the people on the rivers during salmon season are snagging...whether an illegal setup...or using chuck and duck (which has its place..but i think its for steelhead)...pretty sad that the rivers are packed with people raking in fish...i dont know how they can find that fun at all.


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## Pier Pressure

greatlakesanime said:


> Hows it looking for this weekend?(8-27 and 8-28)


Probably gonna look pretty crowded.


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## Queequeg

I love seeing broken white tuna rods lettering the banks, so pristine. Really adds to the up north experience. 

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## murraydrew

Getting busy, cars at every access and many trailers also, not sure how the fishing is but the people are all over the river.


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## Trout King

> the people who want to snag 5 in an hour that take a spot away from the people who want to fly fish or use some other legitimate method...
> 
> Read more at Michigan-Sportsman.com: O.M.G. they say its on, Betsie River. - Page 2 - The Michigan Sportsman Forums http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=389758&page=2#ixzz1WHBUx7PN


Unless swinging streamers, snagging and fly fishing is one in the same. 

I was up to the area last weekend for a camping trip with my girlfriend. a buddy and myself were the only people fishing legit. The rest were a bunch of yahoos with tuna rods treble hooks yarn and rubber eggs. Thank god I don't fish Homestead during peak people traffic.


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## Big Jon St.Croix

I love these betsie threads, keeps the masses away from the pine


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## SpartanAngler

Fished there Friday A.M. Went 3-3 on skein under a float with one really nice hen, I let them go as I had no place to clean them, there were approx 20 vehicles in the parking lot when I arrived and 40 when I left. I walked about halfway down river between 31 and the dam, it was pretty nice as apparently the snaggers dont like to walk very far because I only encountered one other person in two hours and he came walking down to see the fish I was fighting and then left. I had to leave at 8:30 because of a golf outing or I would have stayed longer. I went back tonight after day two of the outing and the parking lot was REDICULOUS! I turned around and left, I will fish during the week when the crowd is a little less. 

on a side note...I usually dont get involved in the snagging debates as they usually become pretty heated, but I was appalled by what was going on down there. I have heard all the arguments on either side of the snagging debate but for me it just comes down to the fact that my stomach turns when I watch people ripping large treble hooks into pods of fish, and that alone tells me it is wrong.


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## Magic Rat

Trout King said:


> *Unless swinging streamers, snagging and fly fishing is one in the same. *
> 
> I was up to the area last weekend for a camping trip with my girlfriend. a buddy and myself were the only people fishing legit. The rest were a bunch of yahoos with tuna rods treble hooks yarn and rubber eggs. Thank god I don't fish Homestead during peak people traffic.


Huh?


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## easton_archer

Yup I agree with trout king. One in the same! Hard ware or gut!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## JerryBoy1984

you can easily legitimately catch fish on flies..i dont use chuck and duck..u will snag way too many fish...but dead drifting an egg sucking leech or wooly bugger under and indicator works well...also swinging streamers on sink tip...people that put a ton of weight on their line and chuck and duck with a fly rod and long leaders...thats snagging...the method is legal...but they cant kid anyone...its snagging...swinging streamers and indicator fishing is not snagging..plain and simple.


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## easton_archer

JerryBoy1984 said:


> you can easily legitimately catch fish on flies..i dont use chuck and duck..u will snag way too many fish...but dead drifting an egg sucking leech or wooly bugger under and indicator works well...also swinging streamers on sink tip...people that put a ton of weight on their line and chuck and duck with a fly rod and long leaders...thats snagging...the method is legal...but they cant kid anyone...its snagging...swinging streamers and indicator fishing is not snagging..plain and simple.


I can't count how many " indicator" fisherman I have seen rip redds clean! Now streamers is a different story. Fly fishing salmon ( unless throwing streamers) equals lining/flossing/snagging. If u want a fun salmon trip. Start throwing hardware. Nothing beats a king crushing a hot n tot as u crank it in!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Pier Pressure

JerryBoy1984 said:


> you can easily legitimately catch fish on flies..i dont use chuck and duck..u will snag way too many fish...but dead drifting an egg sucking leech or wooly bugger under and indicator works well...also swinging streamers on sink tip...people that put a ton of weight on their line and chuck and duck with a fly rod and long leaders...thats snagging...the method is legal...but they cant kid anyone...*its snagging*...swinging streamers and indicator fishing is not snagging..plain and simple.


We like to refer to it as "flossing".


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## wolverinefan

easton_archer said:


> I can't count how many " indicator" fisherman I have seen rip redds clean! Now streamers is a different story. Fly fishing salmon ( unless throwing streamers) equals lining/flossing/snagging. If u want a fun salmon trip. Start throwing hardware. Nothing beats a king crushing a hot n tot as u crank it in!
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


So all of the guys indy fishing with a Pin are also snaggers????

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## kwcharne

Went to the Betsie this morning. Had some delays and got there about 6:30am. I could not believe how many people were already there. The lot was almost full, with a line of people pulling in behind us (I didnt realize it was coho festival). We didnt even get out of the car. Went up stream from the dam and found some fish. No fish landed, but no people either. Every other access point we checked was full of people. Hopefully after the coho fest ends it will die down a little, but I doubt it.


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## Magic Rat

There's an awesome video of the fish jumping the Homestead Dam on the "Platte Lake Honor Michigan" Facebook page.


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## Ed49663

Snaggers were in full force Saturday. I wonder why no CO's ever show up and hand out tickets.


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## johnnie555

Cause our states too poor lol:lol:


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## STEELnICE

ya that was funny when that kid came up to the parkin lot so excited with his salmon tk says "what are they bitin on?" "A big treble hook!" the kid exclaims then his dad carryin the tuna rod adds "with a rubber egg on it" That thing looked reeaal tasty too (where's the barf 'smilie'?) they're already turning brown bring on the steelies


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## brookies101

I was there yesturday from 7am until around 300pm. There were lots of people, and every single one of them that I encountered was snagging. We park at Homestead and walk down a long ways. The beauty of that is most of the snaggers don't like to put much effort into their fishing, so they don't hike as far as I do. So we didn't see another person on the river until almost 10 or so.

The jokers that did show up went straight to a huge hole that is always packed with fish (we found a huge pod of fish just upstream from this spot, so we stayed put). They started "hooking" fish on the first cast, and were very loud and obnoxious about what they were doing. They seriously didn't seem to care at all of anyone knew about their tactics.

A couple times they had a chromer shoot upriver to our holes, and we would have to wait for them to gain control of their fish. Once they seen that we were using skein they started to get a little more quiet about their fishing methods, other than to tell us that if we wanted to get into some serious fish we should switch to something green. So I took them up on that advice and switched to a firetiger shad rap, and hooked a fish on my second cast :evil:. Just about ripped the rod out of my hands. Nothing better than a king crushing your crankbait...... 

What really chapped my a** about these guys was when they realized how many fish my 13year old little brother had in his hole, and came to fish his spot while my brother was being taken for a ride upriver with his fish. This type of thing is why I enjoy trout fishing so much, as that would never happen out there. I wanted to say something, but it just isn't worth it. I realize that it just comes with the territory, I suppose.

The highlight of the day was walking back with the 5fish that we kept, and as we approached "ground zero" (the dam) we had a guy stop us and ask how many we caught, and what we caught them on. We told him we caught a bunch of fish, kept these 5, and that we caught them bouncing skein. His aswer was priceless. 

He goes: "man, i've been here for two days and haven't caught a single fish. And what the hell, you guys were using steak for bait. Where'd you get that idea???"

Me:" LMAO. No, we were using skein, salmon eggs".

The guy:" Ohh you mean like these".

And he proceeds to show me the dime sized spawn sac at the end of his line. I shouldn't have laughed, as he obviously was new at this, and at least he was using real bait, but the steak comment made my day.

I knew it was gonna be busy up there, considering it was saturday, and that its close to labor day, but that was unreal. And its only gonna get worse from here on out. Next time up I might just hit the river at like 3am and toss cranks for a bit until the sun gets ready to rise, then switch to skein. Or go on a wednesday, but being there midweek during the middle of the run still won't guarantee anything as far as finding a spot goes


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## Ryan Goward

I guess I just don't understand why people get on these forums this time of year and wanna have these snagging debates that last this long or tell stories about all the idiots that they ran into on the river and then turn around just tell the whole world how many fish are in and bitch about how they couldn't find a hole...There still would be people around snagging but why in the hell do you wanna tell em right where to go....this internet forum crap has been the worst thing for crowds ive ever seen....its pathetic


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## johnny5alive

easton_archer said:


> Yup I agree with trout king. One in the same! Hard ware or gut!
> _Posted via Mobile Device_



and here we go.


yep you never see a fish get snagged with hardware or spawn. haha except for that one episode of Michigan out of doors when the only fish they caught was snagged and the guide was positive it was in the mouth and mustve just moved to the back


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## Downriver Steel

To begin with, I fished all last week and yes there are fish. However, I was not going to be the one to start the snag fest by posting that they run has begun on the Internet. However, the snag fest is on. 

Secondly, the CO was there on Thursday in the afternoon. I saw him leaving. I am not aware of the extent of his actions.

Third, for those that are looking to legitimately catch fish I would recommend the following. Try clown eggs (fished well) or white bunny leaches with a pink head (swinging - fished very well). Lastly, the skein bite was GREAT... until the fish started to get ripped to shreds. After the snaggers moved in the skein bite was still great first light and within a half hour of sunset. If you want to shock some people fish skein. Others standing there and watching your float go down become so amazed. I heard at least 5 times with people watching me pinning "wow they really will bite." Good god yes they will. Go BIG on the chunks tho. Golf ball size for sure.

Please guys, lets also try to keep the river bank clean when we head out there. By Friday it was littered with garbage that others like myself are forced to pick up. Your mother is not with you on the river. CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELF!!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!


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## deathroe

We hooked lots of chrome kings for 3 days straight on spawn. It was on...looked like trout run in P.A :lol: All the locals said they never saw a run like this in August.














































:SHOCKED:


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## wintrrun

is it me or does anyone else hear carnival music??
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Pier Pressure

:lol:


Ryan Goward said:


> I guess I just don't understand why people get on these forums this time of year and wanna have these snagging debates that last this long or tell stories about all the idiots that they ran into on the river and then turn around just tell the whole world how many fish are in and bitch about how they couldn't find a hole...There still would be people around snagging but why in the hell do you wanna tell em right where to go....this internet forum crap has been the worst thing for crowds ive ever seen....its pathetic


:Welcome: Such a cheerful fellow. Welcome to the site.:lol::evil:


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## REG

wintrrun said:


> is it me or does anyone else hear carnival music??
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


 Live....from the Betsie River parking lot....we give you......


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## Frogpoopin

Big Jon St.Croix said:


> I love these betsie threads, keeps the masses away from the pine


 
LOL


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## Frogpoopin

wintrrun said:


> is it me or does anyone else hear carnival music??
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


 
Yep..when I read that I was thinking the same thing !!


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## Frogpoopin

REG said:


> Live....from the Betsie River parking lot....we give you......
> 
> Calliope - Circus Music Organ (Manual) - YouTube


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## Brett_68

Everyone who mentioned that the only way to fly fish for salmon is ripping streamers is a *moron...*

Just because you've witnessed people snagging using other flyfishing methods doesn't mean a thing. Ive seen people snagging using nymphs, cranks, skien, roe, worms, streamers....therefore every time i see someone using these tactics i should call a CO, right?

It doesn't matter what you use its the way you use it that determines if your snagging or not...how that's not obvious to some of you is beyond me


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## Carpmaster

Time to get out the popcorn......


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## Fishing2much

Is it odd to float eggs under a bobber with a fly rod? Lol

Spent the weekend, 26-28 around betsie river and all I have to say is that it was fantasic!!! There are alot of salmon and like many have said, these guys are much bigger than the past years I've fished here. Me and my cousin in law were able to only land 6 fishes releasing 2 due to bad hookup but one of the released was a really nice chrome female. :sad: The rest of the hook ups were all lost to trees or just plain brute strength of the fish.

I would like to say a big thank you to the ms forum!!!! I've read the forums for years now and the knowledge shared is invaluable to me. So finally after 5 years of learning and applying the knowledge, I've felt the heart pounding, gut wrenching force of a king!!!! Seeing my float just take a dip in the river, setting up the hook up, and getting ready for the ride was just plain out great!!! And seeing the backing of my fly line reel.... 

THANK YOU!!!

And one last thing, the crowd? What crowd? Lol they are there to but just take a hike and enjoy other parts of the river. Me and my cousin in law had a whole stretch of the river to ourselves the whole day on sat!! :lol:


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## deathroe

Betsie River Baby!


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## johnny5alive

deathroe said:


> Betsie River Baby!
> 
> betsie river salmon 2011 - YouTube



deja vu.

I think I might have seen that somewhere else a few days ago.


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## Hemish

:lol: That is SO classic..."At the Betsie River, Baby!"


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## SpartanAngler

I swear I saw that guy when I went in to McDonalds in Benzonia to wash my hands when I got off the river, I started laughing out loud. I had to walk out and go to the drive thru. 

Just a heads up to everyone some guys told me when they were heading off the river that the hot bite tonight was on brown yarn :lol:


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## JerryBoy1984

about as well spoken as it gets....of course some people are going to abuse any method, but that doesn't mean the method, when done right, isn't legitimate....for instance earlier i replied about how indicator fishing works real well...dead drifting a wooly bugger or something else...somebody replies ive seen indicator fisherman ripping fish off the gravel all day....well yea of course..they werent indicator fishing legitimately...duh...then people say that skein or hardware are the only legitimate methods....which is not true at all...ive seen people raking with skein and cranks...dont rip on other tactics that obviously are legitimate just because you have a preferred method yourself



Brett_68 said:


> Everyone who mentioned that the only way to fly fish for salmon is ripping streamers is a *moron...*
> 
> Just because you've witnessed people snagging using other flyfishing methods doesn't mean a thing. Ive seen people snagging using nymphs, cranks, skien, roe, worms, streamers....therefore every time i see someone using these tactics i should call a CO, right?
> 
> It doesn't matter what you use its the way you use it that determines if your snagging or not...how that's not obvious to some of you is beyond me


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## TSS Caddis

I had a conversation a few weeks ago with a fly guides wife. She was beaming talking about her husband and how the other guides are jealous of him because whatever fly he ties he catches ton's of fish on when no one else is catching anything. Doesn't need to fish anything but flies because he catches more on flies than people do fishing bait. I just smiled.


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## gillhunter

are the fish biting the flies or the flies biting the fish?


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## wintrrun

gillhunter said:


> are the fish biting the flies or the flies biting the fish?



Good question.
I have had 3 fish freight train a certain streamer pattern that I have been swinging since I have been up in the area.
The chased and hit the fly so hard there's no hook set needed kinda strike.
Most guys I have seen are fishing the floss and rope method, the 2 fly gizzy 
getter or indicator fishing hex and eggs.
My take so far is that a lot of bad habits have been formed by a lot of people.
What I have seen played out in the last 5 days would be best described as " Sheer Ignorance performed by Ignorant people".

Would really like to see a lot of people develop some some patience in fishing methods.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## lostontheice

thinking of trying my hand at skein fishing again this weekend,and would like to try the betsie for the first time..any chance one of you can pm me directions to a good section of river(prefer one a little ways away from the dam and the 3oz fly tossers)..or if you think you might be up that way sat.am,and dont mind showing this salmon rookie a trick or two,send me a pm..im always looking for a new trick to try..thanks lost..


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