As is true with many spawning fish,wild atlantic salmon generally eat little or no food during their spawning runs.

Although they can be caught by a variety of lures and baits.

Salmon angling is almost exclussively by fly fishing,and is considered by many anglers to be the number one of fresh water sport fishing.

Many artificial flies can be created for the purpose of catching salmon.

The greased line system is used more on atlantic salmon streams than it is on pacific salmon coast for steelhead trout.

The method of presenting a fly to the atlantic salmon is very much the same as to the steelhead trout.

One of the most widely adopted theories is that the fly should be presented in such a manner that it affords the fish a side veiw of the fly.This method of fly presenation calls for some skilled manipulation of the rod and fly linein keeping the fly drifting broad side of the current.

Unlike most steelhead fishing,salmon fishing is done mostly over waters in which the fish are visible,of course this does not apply to murky waters or high water.

Sometimes it takes numerous cAsts to lure a fish too bite or strike.You will have to have alot of patience in fishing a fly over spawning atlantic salmon.

In dry fly fishing,the flies are in the most part large patterns such as lee wulff.The take of the salmon is slow and therefore time should be given the fish before the rod is raised in a striking manner.A fast strike will most likely pull the fly away from the fish and scare it away.    

This is one of the most highly prized game fish,and was abundant in New England rivers.

Whether fresh run or sea run,the salmon is silvery in color with dark spots and dark fins.In fresh water they loose their luster and become brownish or yellowish and sometimes have red spots or blotches.Salmon spawn in the fall but may ascend streams from the sea in spring or summer.

Young salmon known as parr remain in streams 2 to 5 years before migrating back to sea.Their sides have heavy dark blotches,called parr marks and are spotted with black or red.

When young salmon start migrating to sea they are called smolts and become silver in  color.They vary from 4 to 8 inches in length.Once in the ocean the young salmon grow fast.Some of them mostly males mature after one year of sea life,and then participate in the spawning runs.These salmon are called grilse.They range from 2 to 5 pounds at this time.The salmon returning from sea after two or more years generally weigh from 10 to 20 pounds,the average size depending on the river involved.They have been caught up to 70 some odd pounds.

 Atlantic Salmon are now found in only a few streams in Maine and Canada,although they formerly abounded in larger New England streams.Impassable dams on the rivers blocked their movement too their spawning grounds and therefore they died off.

Atlantic salmon ascend rivers in the fall ,and their eggs are deposited in gravel and hatch 5 to 6 months later.After hatching each fish lives on the food in the egg sack for a month.

Young salmon or parr as they are called ,feed on small equatic insects in much the same manner as trout except that they spend more of their time on the bottom of the stream.Migrating to the sea as smolts they then feed on launce,capelin and herring..