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Fishing for salmon is one of America’s favorite pastimes. Salmon tastes great just smoked, in many sushi recipes and in many traditional recipes. When you want to fish for salmon you will have to go to his habitat. Salmons like cool water temperatures (below 60 degrees Fahrenheit) with quickly moving rivers, riparian vegetation and many hiding places. Salmon like a gravel waterbed for the spawning process and go upriver for spawning, usually late in the fall or in the early spring. At certain times of the year, the salmons join the steelheads (a type of trout) for the annual salmon run. This is a good time to fish for the salmon.
The Salmon can be caught with different fishing techniques such as fly-fishing or just regular fishing out of a boat or near the shore of a fast moving river. The salmon will retreat to clear, deep lakes after their spawning run, which is also a good place to fish for them. They like bait that have a strong smell such tuna fish balls, or even meat that has been “aged” for a few days. If you are going to fish make sure you are familiar with the pool or the fishing area where you are going to fish. Know where the salmon gathers to wait until the afternoon heat is over and know their patterns. The salmon will bite best when it is bored and sluggish but still hungry.
When you are casting your line, do it quickly, clean and don’t make a large disturbance on the water. The fishing spot should not be in the blazing sunlight since the salmon likes cool temperatures and will retreat to shady places or deep down under logs or other natural hiding places. Try to aim the lure so it will be near the fish, but not too close as not to startle the salmon. Make sure that you have sure footing where you are casting from since the salmons tend to be avid fighters once they are caught and you will need all the advantages you can get.
Try to fish for the salmon you can see instead of for the ones that you can’t. Then you can react faster to a bite and will have a better chance of landing the catch. If you are fly fishing, let the fly float freely, let it look natural and don’t repeat the same pattern over and over. The salmon needs to think the fly is a real one, and unpredictable. Let it fly near the water but don’t let it hit the water. Make sure the fly goes directly over the fish to taunt him into biting. If you are fly fishing, make sure that you don’t fish when the sun is directly overhead since the fish will have much trouble seeing the fly. The best time would be near dusk or dawn, when the sun lights up the fly and the fish will be hungry for a snack. If you loose sight of the fly, make a new cast, since you will need to keep track of where it is to make it look realistic and to successfully lure the salmon.
If the fish doesn’t bite after a while, try to use a different lure or fly and don’t jerk the fly or lure when you see the salmon going for a bite. Keep acting natural, since often catches can be lost if a person reacts with panic and give the line a jerk. The salmon will not bite again for a long time if he has been startled. Once you have a bite, tire the fish out. Don’t let him rest and keep pulling in the reel. As soon as the fish gives a tug, give him more line and just keep reeling it in if you don’t feel the salmon’s pull. This will tire him out in no time.
Once you have pulled your catch to the shore make sure you kill the salmon correctly with one hit with a blunt, heavy, hard object on his neck to break it. Don’t make the fish suffer, and right after killing drain out the blood. If you want to keep the fish alive for a while, make sure your bucket contains fresh, cool water and that it is large enough to let the fish be in a horizontal position. Sometimes the fish will suffer a panic attack and might die just from that, so it is better to kill him before that happens since you want to be able to drain and clean him as soon as he dies to ensure the best results.
A great salmon recipe is to simply barbecue marinated salmon steaks about 5 minutes per side. To test for doneness the fish should flake when prodded with a fork. To create the marinate combine a tablespoon liquid smoke, 3 crushed cloves of garlic, 2 tablespoons of vinegar, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, fresh chopped herbs or Italian dried ones, and salt and pepper to taste. Leave the salmon steaks in the refrigerator covered in the marinate for about 2 to 4 hours. Then barbecue the steaks, brushing them alternately with the left over marinate and with soy sauce. Serve with fresh lemon wedges and soy sauce that you infused with the juice of a small piece of ginger pressed in a garlic press and let the guests dip their salmon in this zesty sauce.
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