I was invited and fished the North shore off Orient Point, yeaterday, Oct. 26, 2008. We first fished for Blackfish, a first for me, and we all did well. The captain did, however, have to cut off one of his two anchors after hooking the telecommunications cable off Plum Island. (The sign on the shore pointing the cable out to captains was as large as the HOLLYWOOD sign.) After that we fished in a way that was new to me and I had no choice in the matter despite the fact that I asked the captain at least 3 times. The mates set out 6 rods along one rail, loaded with unbreakable spider line, they added a a large lead wt. and trailing 3 feet behind a bucktail with a fluttering pork rind. There were 11 “fishermen” on the boat so we took turns. The captain would tell us to drop to the botton, reel up a few times and he trolled. The first pass produced 2 keeper stripers and 2 monster blues and I was thinking this was not a bad thing. That was it for the large stripers as only 2 more were caught, both shorts. Many more blues were caught and many were released to grow even larger. There was action everywhere and this is an amazing place. A long ride (2 hrs. from the GWB) and I did not see anyone fishing from the shore. The boats at the marina were all private or small boats for charter. I’ll stick to the Jersey shore for now but the trip was totally free so it was worth the time and gas money.

If anyone is going to Sandy Hook or anywhere else, give me a call. The stripers are just starting here. Glenn

I was full of excitement, anticipation, and, yes, some trepidation as I thought about Doc’s arrival a few Thursday afternoons ago, on the Salmon River. I had arrived the previous Sunday. The King Salmon had predominated the catch for the previous 5 days (not a bad thing) with a few Coho’s and steelies tossed into the mix for variety. The flow had dropped steadily from 800cfm, high but fishable, to a perfect 400. The weather had been amazing with the promise of continued more of the same, so why the trepidation? Simple- I had talked about my previous trips and had shown pictures of last year’s amazing fishing and now I had invited fellow Louts, and Doc decided to join me. I wanted him to have the trip of a lifetime without even leaving NY state. You all know the feeling of setting up a trip and praying it would live up to expectations. Well this one did as you can see from his post and the representitive photos.

We fished hard every day, drank a bit each night and ate 5 nights in a row at a great steakhouse that we could walk to. Life does not get much better than that. After catching a lot of Kings for the previous 5 days I had the freedom to move around and try different spots and tactics. That is when I found a lie under a fallen log where georgous Brown trout loved to rest and hide out. Doc and I also enjoyed amazing runs of Coho’s. These may be my favorite fish in the river; they grow large, absolutely attack the right fly, go crazy like the steelies do when hooked, and are beautiful!! Then you have the steelhead. What can I say about them that you don’t already know except that this trip proves you do not have to freeze your ass off in horrible conditions to catch these fish. My sources, those people I talk to, tell me that during the last weeks in Oct. and part of Nov. the kings are gone and leave behind a river full of browns and steelies. The upper fly zone, which Doc and I did not even explore is supposed to be great for this type of fishing and a lot of the crowds leave with the Kings. I’m going to watch the weather and try to get back up for a couple of days.

This is a trip worth looking into although I can not promise the same outstanding fishing or weather. The drink and food are easier to predict and the company will always be great. I have remarked to people who have suffered through my fish photos that if we had spent thousands of dollars in say, Alaska, and had the chance to catch 4 distinct species, of the quality and quantity we did, while enjoying glorious weather and great food we would have felt we got our money’s worth!! All within driving distance and about $50 per night per man for a decent room.

Doc and I have a room reserved for next year and if you are interested call me. The Portly Angler, the largest hotel in the area, where I usually stay is purportedly sold and will likely be closing, so hotel rooms for prime time can be hard to come by. I’ll have some suggestions for you. Glenn

    You don’t have to die - though your casting arm will feel like it did - to go to “Lout Heaven” on the Salmon River in Pulaski, NY. Unlike recent other Lout trips afield which have produced prodigious e-banter but nary a Trout Lout site post, allow me to provide appropriate fish-porn and commentary in hopes of promoting a second yearly Lout venture in future Octobers.

    Glen Kamp had already staked out the Salmon River for five days when I arrived. The fact that the gin bottle was untouched, yet the Alleve bottle nearly empty and spools of medical tape littered the hotel room floor was the first give-away: This was gonna be fun (Editorial note: The gin, and in my case vodka, oversight was quickly remedied with nightly generous celebratory Lout cocktails before ravenous consumption of various meat products after long days on the river).

     Glen has generously dubbed me ‘Steelhead King” in honor of ten steelies in one day in the Douglaston Salmon Reserve, along with another dozen or so during the rest of our five days on the no kill fly stretch of the Salmon River in Altmar. Despite five or six monster Kings (which were first-ever’s for me) I humbly report that Glen has apparently dedicated his retirement years to becoming one-with-the-salmonoids. That man can hook (and land!) salmon: Kings & Cohos alike. In between we managed to do our fair share of damage to monster browns as well. (and, ahem, one creek chub keeping the Lout tradition of honoring the bottom-feeder alive). The attached photos are just a few of the fish we brought to justice. Fair to say the average day saw us each with 25-30 hookups and maybe a dozen landed. The fall weather was truly remarkable and watching the behemoth salmon jump, smash and rise again all day was a sight and sound which will haunt my dreams (hopefully replacing the existing recurring screaming, sweating nightmare of watching DeBie deposit my new $600 rod combo overboard some years back… but I digress).

    Here’s the new Lout Heaven formula: Sleep in till 830, grab breakfast, stuff pockets with apples, bananas, candy bars and the like and drive to the river. Hike in, set up, unsheathe your 7-10 wt., tie on one of those pansy mini-swivels at the end of your leader, add 47 7/8″ of 10# fluorocarbon tippet and the trout/salmon candy of your choice and start the party! (For those keeping score, flies of choice were SMALL: dark stone-fly, golden stone-fly, single salmon eggs, anything glittery and pink, beaded hair’s ears with a touch of green, and then anything small and black that was still in your box at the end of the day. Figure on losing 30 flies a day, easy. I’ll also admit to using a rather large pink-salmon-egg-sucking white leech (in honor of Joe Schmidt’s “Goat Dick” lure story) in the midst of a ferocious autumn-leaf blitz that left the water saturated with multicolored yellow/red leaves … I’ll admit to it ‘cuz you’ll see it hanging off my rod next to the photo of the monster male king which whacked the shit out of it, thereby making me look brilliant.

    Deep riffs and fast water were generally the key, though slow pools and some sight fishing also prevailed at times. While Doc honed into one of six or seven favorite spots and figured out every possible sang in each, Glen “I should run for office” Kamp wandered the entire river, met and personally interviewed every angler, and fished every square inch of water … usually to return to “the glen” just before the hatchery where he personally discovered and decimated a holding pod of browns nearly every day. (Note to Brian “Float King” Cowden: The man didn’t teach English back in the day as an accident, he can TALK).

    What say you Louts? Anyone up for a return next fall?