Fishing the North Coast

Rivers Are Prime but Steelhead are Lacking

By Kenny Priest

fishing@northcoastjournal.com

Last week’s storms fi nally provided some of the fl ushing and scouring our coastal rivers desperately needed. As they’ve all now dropped back into fi shable shape, the question has become, “Where are the fi sh?” Other than the Chetco, which is dealing with some slides, all the coastal rivers are some shade of green and fi shable. There just seems to be a lack of steelhead in all the rivers. But before we hit the panic button, we went through this same scenario last year. For reasons unknown, the fi sh were late to show last year as well. By the time February rolled around, all the rivers were full of steelhead. Let’s hope for the same this year.

Weather outlook

According to Kathleen Zontos of Eureka’s National Weather Service, our next chance for rain will be Thursday and Friday. “It will be wet but totals will be very small,” said Zontos. “We could see up to 1/10 of an inch but it won’t be enough to increase any river fl ows. The next system is forecast for Sunday through Monday, but the totals are still up in the air. There are indications that a bigger system is building for next Tuesday that could stick around through the week. There’s some uncertainty with this one but the Climate Prediction Center is predicting above normal precipitation from Jan. 24 through the 29th.”

The Rivers

Smith River

River conditions were excellent over the weekend but the fi shing was tough.

341 West Harris St., Eureka 707 445-3138 poletskis.com

Eight-year-old Bryson Blevin, along with dad Tyler, are all smiles after the young angler landed his first-ever steelhead while fishing the Mad River on Saturday. Photo courtesy of Ashley Christie weekend.

With the Chetco still o color Saturday, the boat pressure was extremely high on the Smith. A few fi sh were caught but not many. The river is dropping and clearing, and conditions will get tougher. Hopefully the next round of storms will bring in more fi sh.

Chetco/Elk/Rogue

A couple slides have prevented catch rates from busting wide open on the Chetco, reports Andy Martin of Wild Rivers Fishing. He said, “Flows are below 3,600 cubic feet per second and there are plenty of signs of fi sh, but slides on the South Fork and just above Loeb Park have visibility down to just a foot. Steelhead can be seen splashing as they move upriver and plunkers are getting some fi sh, but drift boaters are fi nding them few and far between. Expect the color to improve signifi cantly as the river drops.”

Fishing has been good on the lower Rogue for shore-based plunkers and boaters anchoring and running MagLip plugs, according to Martin. “There are hatchery and wild fi sh being caught, and fl ows are good for steelhead fi shing. The Elk also has been fi shing fairly well. Pressure is up since some other rivers

Eel River (main stem)

The main stem is fi shable and dropping quickly. Flows were down to 3,600 cfs on Monday and it was turning green. Predicted to be down to 2,200 cfs by the weekend with lack of rain this week, it will be a good option.

Eel River (South Fork)

The South Fork was in great shape over the weekend and drew quite the crowd. The fi shing wasn’t red hot. Most boats got the opportunity at a fi sh but there were plenty of skunks. It’s predicted to be down to 600 cfs by the are still high and muddy,” added Martin.

Van Duzen

The Van Duzen was down to 300 cfs as of Tuesday and is very fi shable. There were plenty of bank anglers taking advantage over the weekend but reports were hard to come by.

Mad

The Mad is in perfect shape and fl owing at 550 cfs as of Tuesday. Prime conditions drew lots of boats and bank anglers over the weekend, but the fi shing wasn’t red hot. Anglers caught some nice fi sh at the hatchery, including one that weighed nearly 20 pounds. The river should be in great shape the rest of the week and it’s probably your best option to land a steelhead.

● Read the complete fi shing roundup at www.northcoastjournal.com.

Kenny Priest (he/him) operates Fishing the North Coast, a fi shing guide service out of Humboldt specializing in salmon and steelhead. Find it on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and www.fi shingthenorthcoast. com. For up-to-date fi shing reports and North Coast river information, email kenny@fi shingthenorthcoast.com

• Servicing Humboldt County for over 40 years • Largest in stock new & used inventory • Competitive price guarantee • Delivery and Service after the sale

“LARGEST BRAND SELECTION IN THE COUNTY”