Salmon River in Pulaski NY is yielding big steelhead and kings

Joe Chelak, of New Boston, PA,, shows off a chunky 12-pound steelhead he recently caught on the Salmon River in Pulaski, NY. Photo by Tom Marchetto

For Lehigh Valley anglers looking to catch some large, tough fighting fish, now’s the time to make the trip up to the Salmon River in the Pulaski, New York area. 

My friend, Tom Marchetto, from Easton, recently returned from there with some of his buddies and here is what he has to report:

“Our annual trip to Pulaski NY and the Salmon River was exciting but with very few fish landed. Although there were fish throughout the river, the hot spots seemed to be at both the lower end and upper end of the river with very little action in the middle. 

King salmon were the dominant species with no Coho seen during the week. There were Steelheads mixed with the Kings at the lower end (the Staircase Hole), and we did manage to land a nice 12-pound Steelhead. 

We had lots of hook ups at the Staircase as well as the Ellis Cove area (upper river). I managed to latch onto two Kings which were released upon landing. Several types of bait were used ie.. egg sacks, plastic eggs and flies. There seemed to be no difference in what type of bait was used, so I favored the plastic eggs. 

Air temperatures were a bit on the warm side and the water stayed around 50-55 degrees. Reports indicated a large amount of salmon loaded in the estuary waiting for Mother Nature to pull the trigger and make their run, but it did not occur during our time there. Compared to previous years, I would say fishing was fair at best - but always a thrill when one hooks onto your line. As always, we look forward to our next fishing trip in 2019."

Since my friend fished there during a warm weather week, the cold front that just blew in and should continue, could be the incentive needed for more fish to start moving into the river. 
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