How to Fish for Red Salmon

Red salmon are generally smaller than kings and silvers, but are considered the best eating salmon, with exceptionally firm, dark red meat. They're good fighters and pound for pound may be the strongest salmon.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Baits
• Fishing Hooks
• Fishing Lines
• Fishing Lures
• Fishing Poles
• Fishing Rods
• Fishing Tackle
• Fishing Vests

1. Choose an overcast day. Reds strike best on overcast or rainy days, in clear-running areas of the river.

2. Obtain a 15-lb. test line and a rod rated at the same weight. Use larger line weight and poles if you're fishing for meat, not for sport.

3. Add weight to the line to keep the lure bouncing on the bottom. Add more weight in rivers with faster currents.

Tips & Warnings

• Red salmon, also called sockeye, have spawning runs from the Pacific Northwest to Alaska. They weigh up to 15 lbs.
• Red salmon spawning runs are seasonal and often last only two or three weeks.
• Casting reels are preferred, especially in rivers with fast currents.
• Reds will strike on flashing lures like other salmon, but seem to prefer streamer flies or Russian river flies, as they're known in Alaska.
• Salmon of all kinds strike best in faster currents. The deep channel on the outside of a bend in the river is an excellent area to fish.
• Contact your local Department of Fish and Game for a complete list of license fees and fishing regulations.
• Specific lures, bait and hook types may be forbidden in some rivers. Check regulations.

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[bobwhite]

on 4/6/2007 The most important tip I learned for reds is that the typical flies used have too much hackle. In a swift-running current, this draws the fly too high up from the river bed even if your weight is dragging on the bottom (Alaska regulations require that the weight be at least 18 inches away from the fly). To get the fly down where the fish are, you should cut off half the hackle of a "Russian River" fly, or use a regular wet fly so that it is at the level of the fish's mouth. If the fly isn't right there, you're not going to catch anything.

My experience was not that you have to jerk the fly into their mouth; I see a lot of people trying to do that, but they didn't catch any more than the ones who really knew what they were doing - just put the people next to them in danger. It is crucial that when the fly enters the fish's mouth you have to set the hook quickly, or they will let it go. Occasionally they will actually strike at a fly, but usually they just mouth it.

It's also important to note that reds are more likely to take a fly if they are in a pack than if they are coming upstream one by one, so casting into a pack is always a more productive strategy.

[Bassfisher]

on 1/29/2007 you cinda left out that THEY DONT BITE, really they dont you have to JERK the bait or fly in their mouth in order to catch them cause when their sponning and becoming REDS they just dont bite anymore.