Fishing the North Coast

Storms Put Steelhead Fishing on Hold

By Kenny Priest

fishing@northcoastjournal.com

Just as most of the coastal rivers were dropping into fi shable shape, another fi erce round of storms took aim at the North Coast. For now, the winter steelhead season has come to a screeching halt. From the Chetco south to the top of the Eel River system, you’ll be hard-pressed to fi nd any water that resembles anything close to green. And the dirty water conditions may be with us for a quite a few days as rain is in the forecast throughout the week. The Smith should be in good shape by the end of the weekend and the Chetco shouldn’t be too far behind it. For the other coastal rivers that aren’t so quick to clear — it could be a week or more before they resemble anything close to green.

Weather outlook

Rain is in the forecast for the rest of the week, but it looks like the heavier amounts are behind us. According to Ed Swa ord of Eureka’s National Weather Service o ce, the Smith basin could see 1.5 to 2 inches through the end of the day Wednesday. “The Eel basin will see ¾ to 1 inch, with higher amounts falling in the mountains,” said Swa ord. “Light rain is forecast for Thursday, but not enough to keep the river levels going up. The next system will arrive overnight Thursday and stick around through early Saturday morning. The Smith basin could see up to 1.5 inches and the Eel could see up to ¾. After this system, it looks like we’ll be dry through at least next Tuesday.”

The Rivers:

Running at 8,000 cubic feet per second as of Tuesday afternoon. Predicted for additional bump in fl ows Wednesday and Friday before it begins to drop Saturday night. Will need a week to turn green. Mark Parrish holds a steelhead he caught and released Dec. 30 while fishing the Chetco River with his daughter, actress Janel Parrish, and guide Andy Martin of Wild Rivers Fishing. They landed five steelhead side-drifting roe and Corkies.

Photo courtesy of Wild Rivers Fishing

Main stem Eel

The main stem was fl owing at nearly 40,000 cfs on the Scotia gauge Tuesday. Predicted to drop until Friday when the next round of water pushes through the lower end. Will need a solid 10 days of dry weather before it’s fi shable. Will start to fi sh well at 3,500 cfs.

South Fork Eel

The South Fork peaked at 12,200 cfs Tuesday and will be on the drop through Thursday. After a small rise on Friday, will be dropping through the weekend. Should be fi shable late next week if the weather remains dry.

Van Duzen

The Duzen peaked at 8,600 cfs Tuesday morning and will be dropping through Friday morning. Another small rise is predicted for Friday and will then drop through the weekend. Could fi sh late next week depending on snowmelt.

Smith River

The Smith blew out Monday and, with more rain in the forecast, it won’t be down to a safe, driftable height until Sunday. Plunkers should be back on the water by Thursday, but fl ows will continue to fl uctuate through Saturday. River conditions should be excellent by Monday. Prior to blowing out, boat pressure was light and a few steelhead were being caught daily.

Chetco River

The Chetco dropped into perfect shape for plunkers last Monday and was in good shape for drift boats by Wednesday reports Andy Martin of Wild Rivers Fishing. He said, “From Thursday through the weekend, guides were averaging three to six steelhead a day, with a good mix of hatchery fi sh on the lower river. Steelhead were spread out from the South Fork to Social Security Bar. Flows dropped to 2,000 cfs Sunday evening, but blew out big time on Monday and likely will be too high all week.”

Rogue/Elk/Sixes

The Lower Rogue winter steelhead season busted open last week, with a handful of guides anchoring and running MagLip plugs getting half a dozen or more fi sh a day, according to Martin. “All of the fi sh have been wild so far, but native steelhead can be kept on the Rogue e ective Jan. 1. Hatchery steelhead will begin arriving in good numbers in January. The Rogue is now blown out, but could drop back into shape as water is held back at Applegate and Lost Creek dams. Steelhead fi shing was slow overall on the Elk and Sixes. Fishing has been good on the South Umpqua and the Coos and Millicoma systems.” ● Read the complete fi shing report 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.

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