With my brothers arrival only a few short days away I really wanted to scout out the condition of the chinook (king) salmon run on the Wisconsin Rivers. With Paul only around for ten days I didn't want him to fish the urban settings of the SE rivers and I know the Manitowoc gets a good push of big salmon. Very late Thursday night I left Plainview heading east. I arrived at the park about a mile or so downstream of the dam and climbed in the back of the truck for a couple of hours sleep. I rose with the first light and it wasn't too cold at all. In fact it was surprisingly warm for October. I knew the weather forecast was for clear skies so I figured my best chance of fish was early and before the sun got high in the sky.
As I climbed into the river there were a few fish pushing up through the shallows but not many at all. Within a few minutes I drifted through a knee deep pool and my fly stopped as though it hit a rock or stump. I lifted the rod to pull the fly free and the "snag" shook it's head and charged doggedly upstream. It was a heavy fish and I could see clearly in the low light it was a large one as it charged through the shallows with it's deep, broad back exposed. Unfortunately it was hooked in a stretch of river with many riffles and not many pools so there wasn't much water for it to run in. In under five minutes or so I had it netted and on the bank. It was dark and the only camera I had with me was my phone. Let's just say it doesn't take the best pictures in low light. I released the buck and went off in search of other active fish.
There really weren't many fish in and finding sparring males was too challenging. There were a few spawning pairs with eager males hanging around so I tended to focus on them. I got another with an egg-sucking leech and then had to resort to drifting small egg flies to "hook" (probably more like floss) another one. There just weren't the numbers of fish in to seek out the fish that were going to actively eat a fly.
By 10am I gave up on that river and figured I'd just go and check what was about. I'd only fished the Branch River in spring but because it was about a five minute drive I headed there. When I arrived at my usual spot there was three trucks there. I wandered upstream and soon spotted fish. There had been very few redds on the Manitowoc but there was a lot of spawning activity on the Branch. Also, the fish were very much in spawning mode and clearly this tributary was at least a week or so ahead of the Manitowoc. It's so shallow I knew it must get beaten up by gravel-rapists and that was confirmed as I got upstream and saw a couple of guys practicing their method of "fishing" with oversized stringers. I did get one fish to eat an egg fly but again it may well have been flossed and then headed much further upstream to water I hadn't fished before.
These fish seemed less spooky and perhaps even looked at the fly. The sun was high in the sky at this point and I was sweating in just a half buttoned up shirt. It certainly wasn't conditions conducive to salmon fishing. I landed one or two more then just lost the sport of it.
Time was getting away from me and I wanted to go south and check the Sheboygan and Pigeon rivers. They were very disappointing. Really low and warm water clogged with Illinois fishermen. It was a lovely afternoon for a stroll along the Pigeon River. I remembered back to another pleasurable walk along this river back in the spring and even before then, when I hooked my first steelhead, and later both Ted and I caught our first steelhead in this little gem. I have some nice memories along this stream. But I had to get going before dark so I could get the family out for the weekend and I wouldn't sit around counting the minutes before Paul got into town.
The big buck
Another decent buck
First Salmon from the Branch River
Upstream section of the Branch River
Last fish of the day
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