Fishing the North Coast

from North Coast Journal 10-15-2020 Edition

On The Cover

High School Board of Trustees voted Oct. 8 to participate in athletics but continue classes remotely. If Eureka High School and others — possibly Arcata and McKinleyville — also vote for starting athletics with remote education, many may question why other programs, such as agriculture and band, are not granted exceptions, too. Only four schools’ students are currently attending in person: Fortuna High School, Ferndale High School, St. Bernard’s Academy and Del Norte High School.

Many (if not all) counties in the North Coast Section are in much worse shape than we are concerning COVID-19 and shelter-in-place restrictions. Humboldt County has recently moved to the yellow “minimal” tier, the least restrictive zone, whereas some East Bay counties are at the highest levels of restriction, purple and red. It is hard to imagine the NCS pulling o a sectional championship series until the COVID crisis is gone. High school sports are not high on the agenda for some of these counties. Ethnic disparities in terms of contraction and impact of the illness makes advancement to less restrictive codes even harder for areas with larger Black and Latinx populations.

Face masks will have to be mandated to a certain degree. Despite consensus among county public health departments, there is no agreement among participants and community members concerning how safe masks are to wear during exercise, and there is certainly no agreement about when and where to wear masks in athletics.

Schools are always responsible for monitoring themselves concerning violations. I can foresee some major disagreements between schools as guidelines and rules are interpreted di erently.

The nature of competitive sports is to be closer than 6 feet apart. Even in a low risk sport like cross country, a runner needs to be within 6 feet to pass another.

High school sports thrive on fans — there is no policy for allowing fans in any of the models.

The COVID-19 crisis is far from being over.

There are so many questions and concerns. We want our athletes to compete and have a chance to show themselves to fans, family and, for some athletes, future colleges. This is a heartbreaking time for everyone, including the fans of local high school sports. I feel we have a shot this year to have some version of local high school sports. Even so, it is not going to be the same. ●

Rod Kausen (he/him) is a retired teacher and coach. Eric Woyce, of San Francisco, holds a 25-pound king salmon caught Oct. 7 while fishing the Chetco River estuary with guide Andy Martin of Wild Rivers Fishing. He was trolling a herring behind a Fish Flash flasher. Photo courtesy of Wild Rivers Fishing Chetco Estuary Best Bet for Kings

By Kenny Priest

fishing@northcoastjournal.com

If you’re looking for fresh kings with the Klamath River from 3,500 feet downthe potential for a big one, the Chetco stream of the Iron Gate Dam to the State estuary is the place to be. Salmon have Route 96 bridge at Weitchpec. been staging in the tidewater since the The Upper Trinity follows a week later, latter part of September. And they’ll with no adult retention beginning Oct. 25. continue to do so until ample rain allows No closure date has been provided for the them to make their way upriver. Following Lower Trinity. The Upper Klamath and Upper last Saturday’s rain, which bumped the fl ows Trinity will remain open for harvest of jack from under 100 cubic feet per second (cfs) (two-year-old) Chinook salmon (less than or to nearly 500, some salmon were able to equal to 23 inches). All adult Chinook salmon navigate out of the tidewater. But there caught must be immediately released and should be plenty more heading in from the reported on an angler’s North Coast Salmon salt to take their place. “The biggest king Report Card. For more information, visit caught last week was around 45 pounds, www.cdfgnews.wordpress.com/2020/10/13/ with several near 30 and an impressive upper-klamath-river-adult-chinook-salmonnumber of jacks,” said Andy Martin of Wild quota-met. Rivers Fishing. “After fi shing well for a week, the fi shing slowed over the weekend as rain The Rivers: allowed many of the salmon schooling there Lower Klamath to shoot upriver.” Catch rates went from two The salmon action has slowed on the to three fi sh a rod last week — mostly jacks lower Klamath but there are still some bright — to just a handful of fi sh overall on Sunday fi sh around. The few boats still fi shing are and Monday. One adult salmon a day, wild fi nding most of their success above Blue or hatchery, may be kept per day on the Creek. There isn’t much pressure this time of Chetco, with an annual limit of two wild fi sh. the year but the fi shing can be good as some Anglers must “rack their rods” once an adult of the late-run kings start to stage in front of is kept. The river remains closed above mile the bigger creeks. The daily bag limit is two 2.2 because of low fl ows. jack Chinook 23-inches or smaller and two

Over on the Smith River, the tidewater hatchery steelhead. fi shing hasn’t been as good. But that may Trinity not be for a lack of fi sh. The rain that fell on According to Junction City Store owner Saturday pushed the fl ows up to 600 cfs, Frank Chapman, the section from Junction which is plenty for the fi sh to move out of City to Del Loma is seeing a good number of the estuary and into the heart of the river. kings. “There’s lots of jacks and a few adults According to Britt Carson of Crescent City’s around,” said Chapman. “Most of the adults Englund Marine, there aren’t many fi sh stag- I’ve seen are older but there are a few fresh ing in the estuary right now. “There’s been ones mixed in. There are some steelhead one or two fi sh caught per day,” said Carson. around, too, but not a ton.” Reportedly, “There’s been a few boats trolling sardines salmon are in the lower river as well, but the and anchovies as well as bank anglers tossing bulk of the salmon are being stopped behind Kastmasters and Cleos. The Sand Hole has the CDFW weir at Kimtu. some fi sh in it but the seals were making ● their life miserable,” added Carson. Kenny Priest (he/him) operates Fishing Upper Klamath/Trinity quota update the North Coast, a fi shing guide service out

According to Dan Troxel, an environmen- of Humboldt specializing in salmon and tal scientist on the Klamath River Project, the steelhead. Find it on Facebook, Instagram, Upper Klamath quota for adult king salmon YouTube and www.fi shingthenorthcoast. will be met as of 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. com. For up-to-date fi shing reports and 18. This triggers the closure of the adult North Coast river information, email Chinook salmon fi shery on the main stem of kenny@fi shingthenorthcoast.com.